Tim McGraw is full of gratitude after being announced as one of the inductees later this year into the Country Music Hall of Fame. McGraw will be inducted this fall, along with songwriter Paul Overstreet and bluegrass pioneers, The Stanley Brothers.
“Anybody that knows me knows that I’m a crier. I mean, I cry at bad commercials,” McGraw begins, his voice full of emotion. The Louisiana native recalled coming to Nashville from his home state of Louisiana, arriving on a Greyhound bus on May 9, 1989, around 1:00 in the morning. He went to the Hall of Fame lounge, a bar inside a Nashville hotel, where he met some people, and ended up going to someone’s apartment to play songs.
“As the sun was coming up, the phone rang, and one of the guys answered, and was told that Keith Whitley had just passed away,” McGraw recalls through tears. “I couldn’t believe it. Keith was one of my heroes, and one of the main reasons that I got on that bus to start with. That night, country music suffered a terrible loss, but I gained some new friends. I found a community who loved country music as much as I do.
“I found my home,” he continues. “I found my wife, my family, my band, my team. So, to go from a bar called the Hall of Fame to be here in the actual Country Music Hall of Fame, surrounded by all of these legends and a lot of my friends, is just almost impossible — it is impossible for me to believe, not almost.”
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Tim McGraw Thanks His Wife, Faith Hill
Not surprisingly, McGraw also took time to honor his wife, Faith Hill, during his heartfelt speech.
“It’s also fitting that it’s National Women’s History Month. And everyone who knows me, knows that I wouldn’t be standing here today if it weren’t for the great women in my life, if it weren’t for my grandmother, to my mom, my sisters, my daughters, and most of all, my wife,” McGraw says, looking at Hill. “Thank you, baby. I would not be standing here today if it wasn’t for you, nor would I want to be. And, I can’t wait for the day when I’m sitting there, and you’re standing here.”
“I’m so grateful, and so humbled,” he concludes.
McGraw has been vocal about all the ways Hill has impacted his life. The couple has been married since 1996.
“Once I met her, I didn’t want to lose her,” McGraw says on The Tim Ferriss Show. “She’s magic. Not just her singing and her looks. Of course, that’s all a bonus. But as a person, she’s just magic. She just lights up a room, and she lit me up. And still does. I wouldn’t be the same artist had I not met her. I certainly wouldn’t have the career that I’ve had, had I not met her.
“I would have burned out really quickly, I think,” he adds. “Especially if I had lost her, after I found her, if I had lost her because of not bringing myself around a little bit. Then, I definitely would have been in a downward spiral.”
A date for the induction ceremony has yet to be announced. The event is closed to the public.