Mainstay McGraw to headline an all-boys show
It is hard to believe what has been spawned by the goofy “Indian Outlaw.”
Tim McGraw’s first significant hit, a 1994 country novelty song that raised the ire of American Indian groups and was shelved by some radio stations, seemed an unlikely way to kick off a music career that is going strong well into its third decade. Now 48 years old, McGraw’s time has been split of late between music and making Hollywood movies. McGraw’s successful turn in the Oscar-winning movie The Blind Side was followed by a featured role in the recently released Tomorrowland.
Despite that activity, McGraw has remained a consistent figure on the country music charts, landing the single “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” there in 2014. Even as country music has built up and tossed aside dozens upon dozens of would-be competitors, he has remained sellable.
McGraw’s Shotgun Rider tour rolls up to North Little Rock’s Verizon Arena at 7 p.m. Friday. Opening for McGraw are Billy Currington and Chase Bryant, two younger singers who clearly hope to follow the steps McGraw took to the top of Nashville’s music mountain.
Currington, 41, and a Georgia native, has five full-length albums, starting with the 2003 self-titled debut. He’s had a handful of No. 1 country hits, including “People Are Crazy,” “Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer” and “Good Directions,” which has a co-writing credit for fellow country singer Luke Bryan.
The other opener, Bryant, 22, is so new to the game that he doesn’t have a full record out.
“My EP is out on iTunes,” Bryant says. “My first fulllength record will come out early summer or late fall. I have to pinch myself to be in this position. McGraw was one of my idols growing up for sure.”
Bryant does, however, have music in his blood. His grandfather played piano for Roy Orbison and Waylon Jennings. Bryant’s uncles formed the group Ricochet, which earned a bit of fame in the 1990s.
“I watched [my uncles] play a lot of shows,” Bryant says. “It kind of lit the flame. It was the ignition in my career. Watching them do what they love, that is what I wanted. My mom is a schoolteacher and my father is a farmer. But I wanted to do music from when I was 3 years old. Even when I was that young, I knew I wanted it to become the rest of my life.”
Growing up in the small Texas town of Orange Grove, Bryant wasn’t discouraged from pursuing his music dream. He graduated from high school early and then took off for Los Angeles.
“Somebody asked me to go out there and write [songs] for this little company and I took the first flight,” he says. “That didn’t last and I eventually left for Nashville, where I am now. This is it. This is where I should be.”
Bryant eventually got the attention of Orbison’s widow, the late Barbara Orbison, a noted song publisher. Bryant says that he has written a lot of “lousy” songs to ultimately get a good one.
“I look at the albums of Keith Urban as an influence,” Bryant says. “I knew that I could write songs with guitar riffs and still be considered a country guy. I say I am influenced by [older] acts like Conway Twitty. My family listened to him. He was a man of few words. But he had a show that was a string of hits. He set the tone for people like me.”
Bryant has landed a small hit on the country charts, “Take It on Back.” The McGraw tour is the second national tour for Bryant, following up his time on the road with Brantley Gilbert.
He is still wowed by the arenas he plays and the size of the audiences he knows will be there for the McGraw concert: “Tim’s crowds are so big and so amped. It’s definitely a heart rush.”