Tim McGraw is back with his first solo album in five years. ‘Here On Earth’, released Friday, has a nice blend of vintage and fresh, with plenty of unexpected pivots in story. If you’ve been a fan of him since 1994 or if you’ve recently discovered him, you can find something to cling onto with this album.
It’s very clear that his longstanding marriage to fellow country artist Faith Hill had a significant impact on many songs on this album. ‘Damn Sure Do’ is a standout track that details how she saved him from a bad path and made him want to be a better man. There’s also a three-song block of ‘Good Taste in Women’, ‘Hard to Stay Mad At’ and ‘Sheryl Crow’ that detail the impact that she has had on his life. ‘Sheryl Crow’ in particular is the gem in this group, with a similar vibe to the song named after him by Taylor Swift.
That twist in storyline I spoke about is prevalent on songs like ‘7500 OBO’, ‘Gravy’, ‘Doggone’ and title track ‘Here On Earth’. ‘Doggone’ in particular was a perplexing one at the start and I wondered what the point of the title was. What it turned into was a heartbreaking tale of the loss of man’s best friend. My personal favorite among this group is ‘Here On Earth’, which was an ode to the meaning of life. As I listened to this song, I imagined a baseball player who is a fan of country music using it as his walk up music to give him an adrenaline rush.
Overall this album was a solid effort from an artist that knows who he is and what his fans want. I doubt it would be in any discussions for Album of the Year, but as he details in ‘War of Art’, that’s not really the point of his music. If you’d like to give ‘Here On Earth’ a listen for yourself, click here.
