Tim McGraw's 2012 CD, Emotional Traffic. Photo courtesy of Webster & Associates.

After a court ruled in November that Tim McGraw had fulfilled his contract with Curb Records, his final album for the label, Emotional Traffic, is set for release next week on January 24. The record that Tim calls one of his ‘best ever’ is a tight collection of 12 songs that brings a close to one of the most successful Music Row partnerships of the last two decades.

The album’s lead single, the multi-week No. 1 hit “Felt Good On My Lips,” serves as a solid representation of Emotional Traffic’s overall sound. The polished work of Tim’s longtime Producer Byron Gallimore (Martina McBride, Faith Hill) is heard in the song’s crisp mix and pop-laden structure. Driven by a melodic bass line and a crunchy, sing-along chorus, Tim lightheartedly sings, I want to go crazy with you over a hook more suited for a dance floor than a bar stool. Much of the record makes a move to combine this modern, adult-contemporary feel with subtle country twang. Album-opener “Halo” works to achieve this by layering mid-tempo, ringing guitars underneath the lower range of Tim’s smooth drawl before breaking into a powerful chorus.

“I Will Not Fall Down” (written by Tim, Martina McBride, Brad Warren and Brett Warren) follows a similar path. Palm-muted guitar chords work methodically through a verse with the lines, I should probably just go out quietly / But I still got something left to say, before a dramatic chorus with lyrics that speak of thriving in someone’s love and gaining the strength to carry on in the face of adversity. While songs like these illustrate Tim’s mainstream appeal, he really is at his best in more traditional surroundings.

Possibly the album’s best song, “Touchdown Jesus” is a fresh description of divine intervention. With a similar feel to 2009’s No. 1 hit “Southern Voice,” Tim sings, I raised my hands above my head and said ‘Touchdown Jesus’, when witnessing the miracles made by recovering addicts and those who are sick. On the acoustic, traditional-leaning “Better Than I Used To Be,” Tim shows off his veteran ability to phrase lines and melodies to squeeze out every ounce of emotion. Standing in the rain so long has left me with a little rust, he sings with pure cowboy poetry of his own path to redemption.

Drawing from an array of influences, Emotional Traffic features a little bit of R&B. Though most clearly seen on “Only Human,” a duet with hit R&B artist Ne-Yo, tracks like “The One” and “Hey Now” feature a few funky guitar riffs. “Hey Now” is the most successful example of the album’s country/R&B twist with an ultra-accessible hook. Hey now, it don’t seem that late now, Tim sings through the upbeat chorus before calling to, break the Tanqueray out, in order to keep the good times rollin’.

And Emotional Traffic features plenty of good times. Despite its somewhat serious name, the album is much more lighthearted. Though it may draw a close to one period in Tim’s musical career, Emotional Traffic is a celebration of his rich history to date and an optimistic step toward the future.

Key tracks – “Touchdown Jesus,” “I Will Not Fall Down,” “Better Than I Used To Be,” “Hey Now”

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Tim McGraw photo courtesy of Webster & Associates.

Curb Records has released Tim McGraw’s “The One That Got Away” as the fourth of five songs being released ahead of Tim’s Emotional Traffic album, which hits shelves January 24. The single is available on iTunes.

Emotional Traffic will include 12 new songs and is the first new music from Tim since 2009’s Southern Voice. The album includes Tim’s current single, “”Better Than I Used To Be,” and “Felt Good On My Lips,” which spent three weeks at No. 1 and set a new industry milestone. With a total of 69 weeks at No.1 over the course of 32 songs, Tim has the most weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Country songs chart since the chart was established on the Nielson BDS system in January of 1990.

“Right Back Atcha Babe” was released to iTunes by the label last week. Curb will soon announce the release of another single that will serve to develop market awareness for Tim’s new album.

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Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Taylor Swift couldn’t ask for much better timing. As she heads into the last week of promotion for her new album, Speak Now, she was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year Sunday night during the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s annual songwriter awards at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.

Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin took Song of the Year for penning the emotional Miranda Lambert hit “The House That Built Me,” and Chris DuBois earned Songwriter of the Year for his work as an author of Craig Morgan’s “This Ain’t Nothin’” and the Brad Paisley singles “Then” and “Welcome To The Future.”

The awards were part of a formal evening that saw four new members added to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and had 11 titles recognized by the songwriting community as the cream of the crop: Songs I Wish I’d Written. That list included “Need You Now,” “White Liar,” “Big Green Tractor” and Taylor’s “You Belong With Me.”

“Since I can remember,” Taylor said, “my favorite thing in the whole world was a good story, going back to when my mom and dad would read me stories when I was little and then discovering poetry in English class. And then I discovered this town called Nashville, where they tell the coolest stories and in my opinion, they tell them in the most magical ways.”

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so generous with me,” she continued. “Whether it was telling fairytales or sad stories or stories that were just about my life and what I was going through, you’ve been wonderful to me, and I’m havin’ a blast telling stories.”

Chris deflected attention during his acceptance speech to Tom Douglas. In addition to writing “The House That Built Me,” Tom also penned Lady Antebellum’s “I Run To You” and Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice,” giving him a trio of high-impact No. 1 singles.

“I feel like Tom Douglas should demand a recount!” Chris said.

Tom had already claimed his honor for “The House That Built Me.” His acceptance speech found him contemplating one of songwriters’ biggest foes: over-used language.

“You see people at awards shows and you often think, ‘Gosh, how cliché,’ ‘cause everybody kind of says the same thing,” he acknowledged. “But I think the reason why it sounds cliché is because you feel so small at a moment like this and you realize how many people have invested into your life to make a moment like this possible.”

The 11 “Songs I Wish I’d Written” include:
• “Need You Now” (Lady Antebellum), Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood, Hillary Scott, Josh Kear, songwriters
• “Use Somebody” (Kings Of Leon), Nathan Followill, Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill
• “A Little More Country Than That” (Easton Corbin), Don Poythress, Rory Lee Feek, Wynn Varble
• “Big Green Tractor” (Jason Aldean), David Lee Murphy, Jim Collins
• “I Run To You” (Lady Antebellum), Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood, Hillary Scott, Tom Douglas
• “Red Light” (David Nail), Dennis Matkosky, Jonathan Singleton, Melissa Peirce
• “Southern Voice” (Tim McGraw), Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas
• “The Climb” (Miley Cyrus), Jessi Alexander, Jon Mabe
• “The House That Built Me” (Miranda Lambert), Tom Douglas, Allen Shamblin
• “White Liar” (Miranda Lambert), Miranda Lambert, Natalie Hemby
• “You Belong With Me” (Taylor Swift), Taylor Swift, Liz Rose

Which songs do you wish YOU had written? Leave us a comment below!

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Miranda Lambert at the No. 1 party for her song, "The House That Built Me," on Tuesday, August 3, 2010, in Nashville.

“The House That Built Me” touched a lot of people during its four-week stay at No. 1 this year. A bunch of people who were responsible for it — particularly Miranda Lambert and the song’s writers, Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin — were honored for the accomplishment during a No. 1 party Tuesday at the swanky Nashville restaurant Sambuca.

Miranda’s fiancee, Blake Shelton, was there with his producer, Scott Hendricks — fitting because they relinquished the song to Miranda after she heard the demo while riding home from the airport with Blake.

While Blake and Scott got verbal recognition at the party, Miranda, Tom, Allen and “House That Built Me” producers Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke were among a litany of people who were rewarded with plaques. They were hailed by Sony Music, by performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI, by the Country Music Association and by Country Radio Broadcasters, represented by GAC’s own Bill Cody.

“This song means the world to me,” Miranda said. “I cry every single night on stage singin’ it live — every single night. I still can’t sing this song without cryin’, and to me that’s a timeless song, and it should be Song of the Year.”

That sentiment is echoed around the music community by artists, songwriters, critics and record company executives. Unlike most years, it seems a foregone conclusion that “The House That Built Me” will walk off with that songwriting honor at the CMA awards Nov. 10 — amazing, because the nominations haven’t even been announced.

But Tom and Allen just laughed when asked if they had already prepared their acceptance speeches.

“I probably said ‘wow’ more about this than anything in my whole life,” Allen observed.

“The House That Built Me,” structured around someone returning to their childhood home to reconnect with their roots, has its own “wow” back story. Tom and Allen first wrote it about six years ago. It was essentially completed but got no interest. Tom decided they should get together a couple years ago and do a re-write, and the updated version clearly struck a chord.

“The context of time kinda lets you in some corners that you otherwise wouldn’t have seen before,” Tom explained.

Both writers know a thing or two about creating songs. Tom’s previous hits include Lady Antebellum’s “I Run To You,” Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice” and Collin Raye’s “Little Rock.” Allen’s authored Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” Randy Travis’ “He Walked On Water” and David Ball’s “Thinkin’ Problem.”

But “The House That Built Me” has touched people in a manner beyond anything either of them imagined.

“It’s special to me in that I feel that [in] our culture, there’s a breakdown in community, and something about this song has encouraged people to reconnect,” Allen said. “I can’t tell you how many people have told me they’ve gone back to their hometown, or even to their old house, or called up an old friend, and that right there is probably one of the most special things — to be part of a song that’s encouraged people to come together and love each other.”

Love was at the heart of the song, too, since Miranda’s relationship with Blake was a key to her even hearing it in the first place.

“It’s all because of Scott Hendricks and my ‘financee,’” Miranda said, deliberately mispronouncing “fiance.” “I like to call him my ‘finance-eee,’ but I guess I’m gonna finance him now after this!”

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Trace Adkins (l) and Blake Shelton rehearse on Friday, April 16, 2010 for the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. Photo courtesy of the Academy of Country Music.

From the minute Tim McGraw and Faith Hill announced plans for their multi-artist flood-relief concert Nashville Rising, the event looked like the kind of evening ripe for surprises. And it was.

Even after Brooks & Dunn were forced to cancel because of Ronnie Dunn’s throat problems, a few unannounced stars made their way Tuesday to Music City’s Bridgestone Arena, one of numerous downtown facilities that took in water during the early-May flood. Trace Adkins popped onstage to join Blake Shelton on “Hillbilly Bone,” according to USA Today. And Sandra Bullock — who worked with Tim on the movie The Blind Side — took the spotlight and comically picked out the opening chords from Deep Purple’s classic-rock standard “Smoke On The Water.” Then she got serious.

“They say a community is only as strong as its weakest link,” she told the crowd, according to The Tennessean. “And from where I stand, I see no weak links.”

It was definitely not a weak show in terms of star power. Carrie Underwood kicked things off with a set that included “Undo It” and “How Great Thou Art,” the Associated Press reported. Taylor Swift chipped in “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story,” Martina McBride sang the ultra-appropriate “Anyway,” ZZ Top cranked out “La Grange” and “Tush,” Jason Aldean served up “She’s Country” and “Big Green Tractor,” Faith offered “Piece Of My Heart” and Tim closed the night with “Southern Voice” and “Live Like You Were Dying.”

In all, about 20 acts took part, including Miranda Lambert, Toby Keith, Amy Grant, Miley Cyrus, Luke Bryan, LeAnn Rimes and Michael W. Smith. Dolly Parton, Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey sent videotaped messages, and a plethora of companies and organizations offered donations.

Flooding at the Bridgestone is documented in the GAC special Brad Paisley Underwater, which re-airs at 11 p.m. ET on Thursday and three more times on Friday. Floods also hit the Wildhorse Saloon, which reopened nearly three weeks ago; the Country Music Hall of Fame, which took water in the theater where new members are typically inducted; and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, which sustained a whopping $42 million of damage, according to The Tennessean.

Organizers anticipate Nashville Rising brought in $2 million to $3 million in aid, a drop in the bucket compared to the $2 billion in estimated damages from the disaster.

“These things always seem to happen to people who really can’t afford for it to happen, people that are livin’ paycheck to paycheck and barely gettin’ by,” Tim said recently. “It’s not rocket science, what we do. We’re musicians and we sorta get to goof off for our whole career, so all we can do is put on a show and have all our friends do it.”

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Tim McGraw photo courtesy of timmcgraw.com.

Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum are quite the dynamic duo on the spring concert circuit, and both of them check in from New Orleans with host Nan Kelley on this weekend’s edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

The Southern Voice Tour teams one of country’s veteran solo acts with a band that’s quickly become one of the genre’s new sales pillars. Tim can reach back as far as 1994 to put together a hit-filled set, and several of his tours — particularly those with wife Faith Hill — have set country sales marks. Lady A, which released its second album less than three months ago, is soaking up as much as it can while sharing the road with Tim.

“He’s [an example] of a career with great length,” Lady A’s Hillary Scott says. “He has had longevity. He has really loyal fans. There’s something to be taken from that because that’s what we shoot for. We wanna be a successful touring act with fans that are gonna wanna see us perform ‘Need You Now’ [when we’re] a little older, a little wrinklier, in 25 years.”

Top 20 Country Countdown counts down the week’s top country videos from No. 20 to No. 1 as voted by viewers on each week on GACTV.com. A new countdown premieres every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on GAC and airs again Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET; Sundays at 1 p.m. ET; and Mondays at 10 a.m. ET. Viewers can vote for their favorite videos, as well as purchase Top 20 artists’ albums and ringtones at GACTV.com.

THIS WEEK’S CHART:

1. Carrie Underwood “Temporary Home”
2. Zac Brown Band “Highway 20 Ride”
3. Carrie Underwood “Cowboy Casanova”
4. Jewel “Stay Here Forever”
5. Bomshel “19 And Crazy”
6. Uncle Kracker “Smile”
7. Taylor Swift “Fearless”
8. Lady Antebellum “American Honey”
9. Kellie Pickler “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You”
10. Danny Gokey “My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me”
11. Keith Urban “‘Til Summer Comes Around”
12. Reba McEntire “I Keep On Lovin’ You”
13. Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins “Hillbilly Bone”
14. Alan Jackson “It’s Just That Way”
15. Luke Bryan “Rain Is A Good Thing”
16. Chris Young “The Man I Want To Be”
17. Gary Allan “Today”
18. Easton Corbin “A Little More Country Than That”
19. Martina McBride “Wrong Baby Wrong”
20. Miranda Lambert “The House That Built Me”

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Tim McGraw photo courtesy of timmcgraw.com.

It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what constitutes the perfect Tim McGraw song. Or should it?

His career hit, “Live Like You Were Dying,” made a sweeping statement about life. “Indian Outlaw” and “I Like It, I Love It” were lighthearted ditties. “Back When” revolved around wordplay. “Just To See You Smile” and “I Need You,” a duet with wife Faith Hill, were love songs. “Southern Voice” is essentially a laundry list of ideas built around a central theme.

OK. Maybe it isn’t so easy to figure out the perfect Tim McGraw song. As it turns out, Tim can’t really put his finger on what works best for him, either.

“It’s different every time,” he told The New Orleans Times-Picayune. “I don’t know. I never know. That’s why I have to listen, because I don’t know what I’m looking for. I know what I’m feeling, and where I’m at in my life and the kind of songs that I want to do. But sometimes that goes out the window when you find a song that has nothing to do with any of those things that you’re thinking and you just love it.”

Fortunately for him, Tim has access to a lot of songs. When you’ve been making hits for more than 15 years, songwriters tend to send you the best material they’ve got, and Tim’s able to run through volumes of titles every time he gets set to do an album. As a result, he’s confident that the 12 titles on his current album Southern Voice are the biggest pluses on the project.

“The strongest things are the songs, and my band, and the weakest thing’s me!” he laughed. “You hear great songs and great playing, but you have to trudge through my singing to get to the songs. Other than that, I think it’s a great album.”

The album went gold in January, and Tim’s had plenty of travel time since then to seek out songs for a future release. He’s in the midst of his Southern Voice Tour, and he sandwiched shooting for the movie Love Don’t Let Me Down. He’s also found time to throw the ceremonial first pitch before a minor-league baseball game last week in Tulsa and to attend the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in New York with Faith.

One more thing on Tim’s to-do list: He’s part of the cast of the indie movie Dirty Girl, along with Dwight Yoakam, Milla Jovovich, Mary Steenburgen and William H. Macy. The film is already in production.

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Brad Paisley on the set of "Welcome To The Future". Photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

As a kid growing up in Altoona, Iowa — a very white suburb of Des Moines, I had almost no firsthand exposure to the racial divide that newspapers and the TV news regularly referenced in the 1970s.

Until I began working in Des Moines at the age of 16, the main way I learned about the issue was through Stevie Wonder albums. In songs such as “Living For The City,” “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” and “Cash In Your Face,” Stevie described the unfairness of being denied work or shelter because of an arbitrary physical trait — skin color — and I got an education through music that was not present on the street where I lived.

Tuesday was the anniversary of Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a Caucasian man. The date went by with little fanfare, though the results of her noble revolution can now be seen in country music, where she’s referenced in not just one, but two hits from the last six months: Brad Paisley’s “Welcome To The Future” and Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice.”

“Welcome To The Future” has brought me close to tears on numerous occasions, including the first time Brad played it publicly: for President Barack Obama at the White House. Brad wrote the song after seeing the celebration in New York’s Times Square over the election of America’s first black commander in chief. The moment came more than 50 years after Rosa Parks’ daring personal stance, but it was — as Brad noted in the song — a direct result of her decision.

Tim’s nod to Rosa is a mere four words — “Rosa Parks rode it” — but it comes in the middle of “Southern Voice,” a veritable laundry list of Dixie-bred public figures. What’s particularly satisfying about the song is that in the middle of its simple construction, it makes its own statement about the progress of race relations. It’s loaded with Caucasian names such as William Faulkner, Billy Graham, Paul “Bear” Bryant and Charlie Daniels. But it also includes a bevy of African-Americans such as Rosa, Martin Luther King and Henry Aaron (who received a ton of hate mail when he pursued Babe Ruth’s career homerun record in the 1970s) — and does so without making a big deal about the fact that they just happen to be black.

All of that comes at a time when Darius Rucker is ironically lodged in country’s Top 15 with “History In The Making.” That song itself has nothing to do with issues of discrimination or fairness, but Darius got a lot of ink just last month when he became the first African-American ever to win the Country Music Association’s New Artist of the Year award.

Reporters, always looking for an angle, have focused heavily on Darius’ pigmentation over the last year and a half, though in the several times I’ve seen him perform over the last 18 months, I’ve not heard a single concert-goer even comment on his skin. Because it doesn’t matter.

Which is what’s particularly heartening about the Rosa Parks anniversary. “Welcome To The Future” recognizes her contribution. “Southern Voice” matter-of-factly — perhaps accidentally — tips its hat to the change she influenced in the cultural landscape. And Darius’ ascension in a medium with an audience that is primarily (though not exclusively) white validates the view that race doesn’t have to be the divisive issue that it once was.

Thanks to Rosa for the effort. Thanks to Stevie for the education. Thanks to Brad, Tim and Darius for the confirmation.

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Tim McGraw photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of Curb Records.

There are five Southern voices in the home of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and it looks like that’s the limit. Tim, who occupies the cover of the newest edition of People magazine, originally had more kids in mind, but with three girls already in the family, there’s not much thought of expansion.

“We talked about it once,” he says in the story. “We even have names for boys. I would love to have a boy also, but if we start again now, we’re going to be old when they’re gone. We started out wanting five [kids], and life just…got busy.”

Busy indeed. Tim and Faith have kept their music careers intact, and Tim is currently active as an actor as well. His Southern Voice album came out last month; his next film, The Blind Side, arrives Nov. 20; and his next tour, featuring opening acts Lady Antebellum and the Lost Trailers, begins Feb. 11 in Omaha.

He’s living well, and he says Faith is a big reason why.

“Faith saved my life in a lot of ways — from myself more than anything,” he notes. “I can go down a dark road sometimes, when you’re not feeling good about yourself, and she pulls me out. My wife makes me a better man.”

The new edition of People appears on newsstands Friday.

Look for Tim to perform in Wednesday’s telecast of the 43rd annual Country Music Association Awards. Among the other acts slated: George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and co-hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.

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On Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Brad Paisley performed for the President, First Lady and family, members of Congress and White House staff in the historic East Room of the White House. Photo credit Ben Enos.

Tuesday is Election Day in many parts of the U.S., and the week is a monumental anniversary as well: Barack Obama was voted the nation’s first African-American president on Nov. 4, 2008.

That same date marked the release of Brad Paisley’s Play album, and he couldn’t have created better timing if he’d planned it. He was in New York to promote the CD the day the nation went to the polls, and he witnessed hysterical celebration in Times Square. That helped inspire his song “Welcome To The Future,” which hit No. 1 this anniversary week in Country Aircheck.

“Welcome To The Future” had even better timing this summer. Brad performed the song live for the first time in the East Room of the White House with Obama sitting just a few feet away. Neither the president nor his staff were aware of the song when Brad was invited to perform.

Brad didn’t know when he started writing it that “Future” would be a single, and he didn’t know the rest of its destiny either — that he would play it for the man who inspired it or that it would become his 12th No. 1 single. And, as things go, it’s just as well.

“If you had made me aware of that when we were writing it, it would’ve been a different song,” Brad says. “It would have been very hard to focus thinking about performing that in the East Room.”

Whatever statement the election made about the red state-blue state divide, Brad felt the real focus of the song was the social progress he’s witnessed.

“I caught a little bit of flack from some people that didn’t quite understand, that thought for a second that maybe I was getting political with this song,” he concedes. “This isn’t that. This is my tribute to the emotions of Nov. 4th and that, just that verse, regardless of where you stand, to me, a year prior to the election, comments were made among friends and people that said to me, ‘I kinda like that guy… but I just don’t think this country’s ready to elect, you know, essentially a minority.’ And on Nov. 4th we proved that we were willing to sort of put things aside.”

“Welcome To The Future” makes its biggest impact by drawing a line from Obama’s victory to Martin Luther King and to Rosa Parks, the African-American woman who refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus in 1955. Brad’s song isn’t the only current one to reference them. Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice,” which hit the Top 15 this week, namechecks them both.

Meanwhile, Brad continues his impeccable timing. Just as “Future” hits the top this week, Brad released his new single, “American Saturday Night,” to radio stations on Monday. And all this activity rolls him toward next week’s 43rd annual Country Music Association Awards. He’ll join Carrie Underwood as co-host of the Nov. 11 show, where he’s the top prospect with seven nominations.

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