Since Tim McGraw recorded his first album in 1993—his self-titled debut — he has been recognized throughout Nashville as one of the best song music pickers in country music.
In other words, he does not compose his own music, but he’s freaking good at making the songs that he does record sound like he did.
And his new No. 1 album, “I Called Mama,” is yet another fine illustration of this. It was written by Marv Green, Jimmy Yeary, and Lance Miller, who is going back with McGraw. During his 2007 Bread & Water post-show, he opened for him.
“Lance Miller, one of the writers on it, is a great friend of mine. And people ask me, did I write it? Those that know me know that I write, but I rarely cut stuff that I write. If I write something, I’m pretty hard on it. I write for every album, but I always put the song first,” McGraw explained in a recent radio interview. “I mean, the song’s gotta win and that’s just the way I am. And mine’s gonna have to really just scratch my eyeballs out to make me cut it, cause I’m so hard on myself with it.”
