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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][divider align=”center” type=”solid” title=”TOUR AUDIO (TIM McGRAW)”][vc_column_text]Tim McGraw talks about naming his new 2015 tour – which kicks off on Friday June 5 in Little Rock – after the big multi-week number one song he enjoyed earlier this year, “Shotgun Rider:”
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(:21) (Tim McGraw) “Shotgun Rider’ is a special song I think the feel of the song it just makes you feel good. It certainly fits my world perfect you know because it was such a big successful song and it spent so many weeks at the top I just felt like it was the perfect… And it fits a tour name, you know every now and then a song comes long that you do that really has an impact on people and makes sense for all the right reasons and that’s why we named the tour ‘Shotgun Rider.'”
Tim McGraw says that when it comes to doing a brand new tour a big part of its success is the set list. For this year’s “Shotgun Rider Tour,” McGraw has amped up the lights to fit the music perfectly:
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(:39) (Tim McGraw) “For us what we wanted to do was just sort of step on the gas from the beginning and go. The hardest thing when you’re putting a tour together is getting the set list right. You play and hour and a half an hour and forty five minutes or whatever it is and you gotta put maybe twenty songs if you get lucky to get that many songs ’cause we don’t talk a lot in our show we just like to press the gas and just play song after song after song after song, but you’re always gonna miss something that someone wants to hear. So our vibe this year is to try to play you know some of the things that we thought were the best grooves I think more than anything. I think because of the light show that we’re gonna have and the grooves that the songs have I think that that’s what we try to do pick songs that really fit a groove that the lights work well with.”
Tim McGraw has been touring for almost 25 years and he has played every hit he ever had, but with so many hits under his belt he just can’t fit every song into every show so he has to pick and choose. However, there is one song in particular that he really can’t get away with not playing each night:
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(:21) (Tim McGraw) “At some point we’ve left just about everything out of a show, probably ‘Live Like You Were Dying’ I don’t think that I could get away with leaving that one out of any of them. I think that that song (is) just such an impactful song for us when we’re performing it, it’s an impactful song for the audience, it’s an impactful song…you don’t treat that song as a ballad for us we treat that song as just a huge sort of production song.”
Tim McGraw explains that his song “Live Like You Were Dying” is so powerful that it makes his audience often cry and gets he and the band pretty emotional as well:
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(:30) (Tim McGraw) “You see people cry every time we perform that song and sometimes it gets to us and it’s tough to you know when we see those things it affects us. I feel like for that song that I’m really sort of just a megaphone for that song that it’s not really anything to do with me or the band or anything else. I think that it’s just one of those songs that belongs to everybody in the room at the same time. And when you get a reaction like that from someone else I think that it…That everyone in the room feels it. Not only us (and) not only them I think that everyone in the room feels it and I think that that’s just the power of a great song.”
Tim McGraw has always liked to give radio guys and friends who have helped him along in the music industry over the years a unique experience at his concerts and on this year’s “Shotgun Rider Tour” he is stepping that up with a working bar on stage:
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(:31) (Tim McGraw) “Throughout my years of playing I’ve made a lot of friends in radio and a lot of friends in promotion and a lot of friends in the industry so when they come to a shows I’ve always wanted to let them have an experience so they’ve been on the side of the stage and watched from the side of the show and you can’t really hear there so we’ve given ’em headphones and a little can so they can plug their headphones in so they can hear the front house from the side of the stage and experience it and from time to time they’ve come out on the stage and got a little feel of what it feels like to be out there. And we’re gonna have a few lucky winners throughout the year and throughout the tour that are gonna be able to come out on stage with us and hang out too and sit in that bar.”
During every show on Tim McGraw’s new “Shotgun Rider Tour,” he is giving fans a chance to text him before the show starts to get upgraded seats to see the show from the front row. As McGraw shares, sitting on the front row of a show is the full concert experience:
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(:32) (Tim McGraw) “I didn’t get to go to a lot of concerts growing up. You know I lived right outside of Monroe (Louisiana) so I didn’t see a ton of shows. I can count on probably one hand the shows that I saw growing up. To be close and to experience it and to sort of feel the energy that comes off the stage… You know we try to project that energy to the further sections of anybody that’s out there (and) we hope that we do that, but there’s just something about being up really close and just really seeing the guitar player’s fingers on the strings or something that’s just… It’s a concert event an emotion that you can’t get from any other event.”
Tim McGraw is known for working out before shows on tour, but what some may not know is that many of McGraw’s band and crew members also work out with him before a show and it has become somewhat of a pre-show ritual:
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(:42) (Tim McGraw) “I think my coach always told me that practice has to be harder than work. So I think that if you work really hard before the show and you get conditioned that by the time the show hits that you’re really ready to go. But for the band working out with me and some of the crew guys work out as well it’s a good team building exercise in a lot of ways. It’s a chance that we get that we might not get any other time of the day because everybody’s so busy and we’re running around that if we didn’t take that time to work out together and spend that quality time together. You know we’re getting in shape and we’re trying to make ourselves better for the show because people pay a lot of money to want to come see us live and we want to give ’em the best show that we can, but it’s also for us it’s a good chance to talk about the show. As much as anything for us it’s a good chance to hang out together and sort of just talk our way through what we’re doing work wise.”
Tim McGraw talks about why he chose Billy Currington to open on his “Shotgun Rider Tour:”
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(:24) (Tim McGraw) “You know I just love his music, I love his voice. I think he makes really good records and I think he has great songs and a great song sense and I think in this business that’s everything. I mean, singers are a dime a dozen but if you have a great sense about songs I think that really separates the men from the boys in this business in a lot of ways or the women. He just makes really good records he’s had a lot of success, so I’ve been wanting to have him on tour for a while and it just worked out great this year to do it.”
Tim McGraw shares why he chose newcomer Chase Bryant to open shows for him on the “Shotgun Rider Tour:”
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(:22) (Tim McGraw) “Chase you know he’s an up and coming guy, he’s a Texas boy he plays great guitar, he’s got a great presence about him he’s a really nice kid. I’ve met on quite a few well, two or three times actually. I’ve met him I’ve talked to him on the phone… I love his music I love his attitude that he brings… He just seems like a guy that’s just gonna fit in with our crew and our…sort of the whole way we function and the whole way we run and sort of the way we like to treat people. He just seems to fit right in with that.”
Tim McGaw will continue his work with Operation Homefront while out on his “Shotgun Rider Tour” this year and give more military families a fresh start with a new home. McGraw talks about the project he supports one hundred percent:
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(1:01) (Tim McGraw) “When you talk about your life and you talk about your family and you talk about security and the first thing you think about security is you think about your home, where you live and the bedroom that your daughters call their own and their teddy bears and their beds and their blankets and their pillows, their world where they feel comfortable. And then you think about who protects us well who protects us are the people that put their lives on the line whether it be police officers or whether it be Military personnel who go overseas and go find the fight and take the fight to people without it getting to our shores. And then you think about people that put their lives on the line and come home and they don’t have that security that you have every night when you lay down at night and you know your kids have their bedroom and the stuff that they love and the comfort and the security and the safety that they feel in their own home. So if you could give a little of that back and if you can at least do something for some and give them that sense then I think it’s a great thing and that’s what I love about Operation Homefront. Through the time that we’ve been working with ’em there have been 108 homes given away.”
Tim McGraw talks about the importance of supporting the military and their families through Operation Homefront and the fact that even though the war is over the families of military still need help:
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(:23) (Tim McGraw) “Their life goes on and their spouses lives goes on and their families live go on and their families lives are going on when they’re away and they’re working and they’re dealing with everyday life just like we are and their family is, their wives or their husbands while they’re overseas fighting and they are away training or whatever. They’re dealing with life on a regular basis and I think sometimes we don’t realize that. And we certainly don’t realize that when they come back home to the world that they have to get back into.”
Tim McGraw spends a good amount of time with Veterans and their families while on tour and supporting Operation Homefront and he shares what all of us can do to help:
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(:19) (Tim McGraw) “You know I talk to veterans all the time especially at shows when I meet guys and families who are getting homes and friends of mine who are veterans. I think just acknowledgment I think to just to say hi and thank you. They get more out of that than probably anything. They don’t do it for that but I think that if somebody pats somebody on the back that’s always good, that always feels good.”
On August 15, 2015, Tim McGraw takes his “Shotgun Rider Tour” home to play Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. It’s his first Nashville concert since 2010 and he’s excited about it. He talks about playing his beloved Music City:
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(:29) (Tim McGraw) “I look forward to coming home ’cause my daughters you know and all of their friends and all the family friends and all the people that work for us and their friends and family. So it’s gonna… I mean we could fill up the arena with just people that we know so that’s gonna be a lot of fun. Nashville’s always… it’s a lot of work because you know so many people and you have to say hi to so many people and you want everybody to feel at home but it’s always rewarding at the end because to be able to… And there’s a looseness about it too, you can go up and you can do your show but you can have a little bite more fun with it then typically because the people you know are out there.”
Tim McGraw’s “Shotgun Rider Tour” takes him to Red Rocks in Denver for two nights on September 9 and 10, 2015 and believe it or not it’s the first time he has played the beautiful venue:
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(:31) (Tim McGraw) “I’ve never played Red Rocks before so I’m really looking forward to that. Last night we were at a function at school because my daughter’s graduating in a couple of days so, we were at a function at school and a friend of mine was there and he said that he’d always wanted to go to Red Rocks to a show and he saw that I was playing there so he’s gonna fly out with his wife to come to the show at Red Rocks. And we started talking about the history of that place and all the great acts that have played there and all the interviews that you see of great artists who have played there and say it’s like a religious experience to play at Red Rocks because it’s just the atmosphere and you know the storied ness of the music in that place so I’m really looking forward to it.”
Tim McGraw’s “Shotgun Rider Tour” takes him to Washington DC to play a show on August 28, 2015 and he’s looking forward to taking a historical workout run if time permits:
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(:34) (Tim McGraw) “I’m always in awe when I walk around that city at the history there and what it means to our country and what it represents. And it’s always been good to me to play there. One of my things that I look the most forward to is not always because time doesn’t allow but when time allows to go in and run the mall. The run on the mall to the Lincoln Memorial and just around the mall there is just one of the greatest runs that ever can be. And in fact I ran that with our buddy Lieutenant Colonel Danny Knight who just a great guy and like I said before has been a friend of our families and Faith’s for year, I got to do that run with him one time which was really special.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][divider align=”center” type=”solid” title=”TOUR AUDIO (BILLY CURRINGTON)”][vc_column_text]Billy Currington – who opens for Tim McGraw on his “Shotgun Rider Tour” – is thrilled with his summer touring gig and as he shares, he’s always been a big fan of Tim and his music:
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(:19) (Billy Currington) “I’ve always been a fan of McGraw ever since ‘Indian Outlaw’ came out and he’s definitely got staying power, he’s been around for so long and during that time he had a ton of hits that I loved and played in my trucks with my buddies. I definitely have done covers of McGraw (I) for sure did ‘Indian Outlaw’.”
Billy Currington says that he is hoping to collaborate on stage with Tim McGraw during this summer’s “Shotgun Rider Tour” and he has one particular song in mind:
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(:29) (Billy Currington) “I believe there will be a collaboration on the Tim McGraw tour, I really think that will happen. What song I’m not sure it’s always up to you know him or the closing act. But if I could pick one my favorite song that he’s ever done was a song called ‘Just To See You Smile’ like people ask me ‘What song do you wish you would have cut that someone else did?’ and that would be one of ’em for sure. I would love to just sing it live with his band whose been playing it for years. I think that would be fun.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][divider align=”center” type=”solid” title=”TOUR AUDIO (CHASE BRYANT)”][vc_column_text]Chase Bryant – who is opening on Tim McGraw’s “Shotgun Rider Tour” this summer – says that growing up and loving music he and so many of his peers had a strong tie with McGraw and his music:
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(:28) (Chase Bryant) “There was a tie between people like me and Tim McGraw and his music. I think it was something that pulled you together you felt like you were part of something. To me that was the reason I loved Tim McGraw you know I mean he had great songs but not only that I wanted to be like him because any girl I ever dated was into him and I wanted to be like him because he was a guy’s guy. Whether he was wearing a cowboy hat or boots or whatever didn’t matter you just knew that Tim McGraw was the whole piece of the pie.”
“Shotgun Rider Tour” opener Chase Bryant is hoping to make this summer’s tour a learning experience with Tim McGraw as the teacher:
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(:24) (Chase Bryant) “Every time I’ve ever seen shows even on a DVD or seen ’em on TV he’s just got a way of locking you in and that has to do with songs to I mean you have to have the cred…I mean there’s no credits rolling when he’s playing it’s a film, you know what I mean? So, for me I think that’s the one thing I wanna learn is showmanship to you know I have things that I’m good at and things that I’m weak at and there’s things that we all learn and I think I could definitely learn from Tim.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][divider align=”center” type=”solid” title=”CITY-SPECIFIC LINERS”][vc_column_text]”Hi, this is Tim McGraw and I’m looking forward to bringing my Shotgun Rider Tour to (city name).” [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/112929111?secret_token=s-RinpI” params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]