![]() ![]() Paper Umbrellas, Songwriters ( Monty Criswell, Drake Milligan).Standing Room Only, Songwriters ( Tommy Cecil, Patrick Murphy, Craig Wiseman).Hold On To It, Songwriters ( Ryan Larkins, Seth Mosley, Jimmy Yeary).His first new record since 2020, the album was produced by McGraw and his longtime producing partner Byron Gallimore. “Standing Room Only” is released this Friday, August 25, via Big Machine Records. ![]() It may not bring in many new listeners, but if you enjoy his work, this won’t let you down. So it’s potentially one of Tim’s stronger and most consistent efforts across his long career. Overall while “Standing Room Only” doesn’t have a particularly coherent and distinct character as an album, six or seven songs are strong enough to demand repeat listening, and at least four would sit comfortably on any McGraw mixtape of his finest work. “Fool Me Again” is another fine song, with terrific guitar work in the background, “Small Town Kings” could well prove a grower, and “Some Songs Change Your World” is pleasant if something of a clichéd sentiment, saved by another tremendous, and lengthy, guitar coda. “Cowboy Junkie” is another album highlight, one of those terrific McGraw earworms that you’ll have in your head for days (definitely in a good way!). There’ll be a lot of personal taste in reactions to that closing song, but there’s no denying the craft. And “Letter From Heaven” another beautifully crafted, if inevitably very sentimental lyric about a letter found in a late mother’s house. ![]() Tennessee” co-written by Lori, Tim & Bob Minner, featuring Lori herself on vocals and the kind of very strong lyric Lori is noted for. Other highlights include two Lori McKenna (Humble & Kind) co-writes: the excellent “Nashville CA/L.A. It’s followed by “Remember Me Well” a pleasant enough song, lifted by an excellent guitar coda, leading into recent single “Hey Whiskey” which seems somewhat predictable – another, unremarkable whiskey song, which the world perhaps really doesn’t need. “Here On Earth” had a kind of Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb vibe running through, and was something of a pleasant surprise after a number of “another Tim McGraw album” albums, if always consistent and featuring several outstanding songs. The albums have been at their best when they have that sense of coherence: “Set This Circus Down” and his 2020 last album, “Here On Earth”, being prime examples. But it’s always been about the songs for me, albums were less consistent, perhaps because he writes very little himself so while strong material is never in short supply in Nashville, the results can feel like another collection of Tim McGraw songs rather than a coherent album with a distinct identity. Twenty-four years and 12 albums since have brought a multitude of classic McGraw songs, songs such as “Live Like You Were Dying”, “Set This Circus Down”, “Angry All The Time”, “That’s Why God Made Mexico”, “When The Stars Go Blue”, “Nashville Without You” and “Humble & Kind”. His terrific voice and a terrific song that, once heard, you just couldn’t get out of your head, made it one of the songs of my year, and a favourite to this day. Tim McGraw first came onto my radar in 1999 when “Something Like That” from his 4th album, “A Place In The Sun” made it onto what little country radio there was here at the time (pretty much two shows on BBC Radio 2). Standing Room Only is out on Friday Paul Lewis took a preview spin around the album and had this to say about the much-anticipated new record from the three-time Grammy® Award winning country superstar: ![]()
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