New music is coming from Tim McGraw! The Louisiana native announces the release of “Hey Whiskey,” out on Friday, June 23.
McGraw announced the new song on social media.
.”I’m putting out a new song, ‘Hey Whiskey,’ tomorrow, and I have some big news for you.,” McGraw teased. He also shared a clip of the song, which says, “All I ever did was give you my attention /. Every Friday night since I turned 22 / I trusted you with my naive intentions / Hey whiskey, what did I ever do to you.”
For everyone asking about new music…. #HeyWhiskey is out tonight!! And that’s not all… pic.twitter.com/Ra2NodwkWg
— Tim McGraw (@TheTimMcGraw) June 22, 2023
McGraw has been sober since 2008, after a moment at home with his wife, Faith Hill, and three daughters made him realize his drinking had become a problem, and a big one.
“I remember a moment when I was getting out of bed and going to the liquor cabinet and taking a big shot at 8:00 in the morning and thinking, ‘I have to wake the kids up,’” McGraw recalls to Esquire. “I went straight to my wife and said, ‘This is where I’m at.’ I was scared. She just grabbed me and hugged me and changed my life.”
It was Hill who gave McGraw an ultimatum about his partying ways. which he recounted in his 2019 book, Grit & Grace: Train the Mind, Train the Body, Own Your Life.
“My emotional absence was noticed and it was not scoring any points,” McGraw said. “Getting real like only she can do, Faith told me, ‘Partying or family, take your pick.’”
“Hey Whiskey” follows “Standing Room Only,” which is the title track from his forthcoming new album, out later this year.
“There are a couple of really life-affirming songs that I can’t wait for everybody to hear,” McGraw previously revealed on Audacy’s Katie & Company. “One called ‘Letter From Heaven’ that really just tears me up every time I hear it. You’re gonna have to have a Kleenex for that one. But there are some fun songs too.”
The video for “Standing Room Only” was shot in a junkyard — an intentional juxtaposition for McGraw about the meaning of the song.
“This video brings the song to life by really giving you a visual of shedding the past and bringing light, literally, to the old junk,” McGraw explained to CMT. “I love the metaphor of standing in a junkyard and watching it light up. Then we had these sweet vignettes – of a mother and son, of a dad and daughter and others, that showed old junk items coming to life because of their memories. I thought that was a cool concept. That it’s not the ‘stuff’ but the memories of life we hold dear.”
The 56-year-old also hints that his new record will include a nod to traditional country music that McGraw grew up listening to, and still enjoys.
“There are some really good, sort of throwback country things on this that I really enjoy doing, and got into my George Strait vein a little bit,” he added. “There’s a good mixture of stuff. I always try to do that with every album. I never want to just have one style of song on the album. I want to give you sort of a smorgasbord to choose from.”
Find “Standing Room Only” and all of McGraw’s music and upcoming shows at TimMcGraw.com.
