CURRENT #1 SINGLE: “I Called Mama”
Like so many of us, Tim McGraw has found that things like music have taken on new meaning and new significance during the pandemic. “You find more meaning in things, for sure, in all art,” says Tim. “Music to me, not only because of what I do for a living, but it’s always been this way, music is the top of my list for stuff that’s sort of soul food for your heart and for your soul, and it’s something that can connect people in a lot of different ways. But when something like this goes on, when life seems like it’s completely out of your control, music has always been there for me as something that’s been sort of my best friend all throughout my life.”
Tim says he’s been going back and listening to a lot of music from the 80’s and 90’s, and from around the time that he started his music career and in some cases he’s hearing the songs in new ways finding new ways within them. “There’s so much meaning in stuff that you just let go past you when you’re just listening to stuff and you’re not really letting it settle in on you.”
Now, listening back to some of those songs that Tim heard so many years ago and dozens of times since then, he says, “Sometimes you can not see the extra meanings that are in things. What great music does, I think, is allow you to do that, especially in a revisit, to go back and hear something that comes to life for you in a new way because you see circumstances in a new way and it gives you a new perspective on things. I think that that’s what this [pandemic] has done, is given us a new perspective on what life is and what life’s gonna be, and how we need to be as people. And music can really light you up that way.”
In fact, “I Called Mama” was not originally the first song Tim planned to release off of his Here On Earthalbum. But then the pandemic hit, and the world changed. People were spending more time at home with family, or reaching out more to loved ones they couldn’t be with, and Tim realized “I Called Mama” was a song that the moment needed.
Tim McGraw – pandemic change view of music 1:06
“You find more meaning in things, for sure, in all art. Even going back and watching older movies and stuff, you find more meaning in things and music is no exception. Music to me, not only because of what I do for a living, but it’s always been this way, music is the top of my list for stuff that’s sort of soul food for your heart and for your soul, and it’s something that can connect people in a lot of different ways. But when something like this goes on, when life seems like it’s completely out of your control, music has always been there for me as something that’s been sort of my best friend all throughout my life. And you go back and listen to stuff now, and I’ve spent a lot of time too, going back and listening to music that I grew up with, there’s so much meaning in stuff that you just let go past you when you’re just listening to stuff and you’re not really letting it settle in on you. Sometimes you can not see the extra meanings that are in things. What great music does, I think, is allow you to do that, especially in a revisit. To go back and hear something that comes to life for you in a new way because you see circumstances in a new way and it gives you a new perspective on things. And I think that that’s what this has all done, is given us a new perspective on what life is and what life’s gonna be, and how we need to be as people. And music can really light you up that way.”