New Album Review: Tim McGraw- Standing Room Only

Tim McGraw- Standing Room Only

Label: Big Machine

Producers: Tim McGraw, Byron Gallimore

The country icon returns for his seventeenth studio release, and Standing Room Only is a strong record that finds Tim McGraw, one of the only remaining voices from his generation with a seat on the mainstream radio bus, sticking with what has worked so well for him over his three-decade, Hall of Fame bound career. The overall sound of the record is distinctively and straight-forwardly country, forgoing some of the more gimmicky production tricks that provided mixed results on 2020’s Here on Earth. He continues to meld heartfelt, well-written mid-tempos like the title track and “Remember Me Well” with breezy, everyman anthems and stories like “Paper Umbrellas” and “Fool Me Again”. And like most any McGraw LP, it also melds its share of filler with some truly outstanding cuts, among them “Hey Whiskey”, a sobriety tale that mirrors McGraw’s own life journey over the past two decades, and a charming Lori McKenna duet in “Nashville CA/L.A. Tennessee”. The man is definitely due for a truly great record in this era of his canon, and perhaps that will take him finding the courage and desire to finally mix up his surroundings a bit. He prefers to use the same songwriters (McKenna, Craig Wiseman, The Warren Brothers), and Byron Gallimore has been his producer of choice for every record in his entire discography, and there’s no denying they’ve all served him superbly well. That said, I’d love to hear a producer like Dave Cobb or Jay Joyce mix it up with McGraw on a creative, messy pivot of sorts. Until then, Standing Room Only is precisely what we’ve come to rely on in terms of a Tim McGraw album, nothing more and nothing less.

Track Listing:

1. “Hold On to It” (Ryan Larkins, Seth Mosley, Jimmy Yeary)
2. “Standing Room Only” (Craig Wiseman, Tommy Cecil, Patrick Murphy)
3. “Paper Umbrellas” (Monty Criswell, Drake Milligan)
4. “Remember Me Well” (Heather Morgan, Jimmy Robbins)
5. “Hey Whiskey” (Brad Warren, Brett Warren, Brad Hutsell, Joel Hutsell”
6. “Her” (Tim Nichols, Jason Gantt, Yeary)
7. “Fool Me Again” (Kameron Marlowe, Warren, Warren, Rob Williford)
8. “Small Town King” (Jaren Johnston, Jeremy Stover, Jenn Schott)
9. “Beautiful Hurricane” (Mike Lane, Tony Lane)
10. “Cowboy Junkie” (Bill Luther, Lance Miller, Justin Weaver)
11. “Nashville CA/LA Tennessee” featuring Lori McKenna (Tim McGraw, Lori McKenna, Bob Minner)
12. “Some Songs Change Your World” (Josh Kear, Mark Irwin, Miller)
13. “Letter From Heaven” (McKenna, Chase McGill, Parker Welling)