by Brian Mansfield & Thom Jurek

Three songs -- "Welcome to the Club," "Memory Lane," and "Two Steppin' Mind" -- appeared on the bottom half of the Billboard singles chart, which suggested that Tim McGraw had some talent but wasn't anything special...yet. In a year that introduced Clay Walker and Doug Supernaw, hardly anybody noticed this young-hat act at the time (but they would), while his contemporaries have already become has-beens. Signed to Curb Records, McGraw, a Louisiana native, would quickly establish himself, becoming a superstar and a modern-day legend of contemporary country music who has yet to rest on his laurels. Produced by Byron Gallimore, this debut is memorable if only for those three singles, and the trademark voice that harked back to the tradition begat by Merle Haggard and George Jones, though McGraw is also deeply stylistically indebted to singers like Randy Travis and George Strait. And even though McGraw's sound at the time was a bit generic, he would soon delve deeply -- with his own crack band, the Dancehall Doctors -- into country-rock, blues, and even hip-hop for inspiration. Not only would he find them, he would turn the country world on its ear in doing so. Of all his peers, McGraw is the real thing, and the roots of that individuality are heard on this set; it contains the grain of that now instantly identifiable voice.
蒂姆·麦格罗（Tim McGraw ，本名Samuel Timothy Smith），1967年5月1日出生于路易斯安那州的德里市。美国著名乡村音乐歌手，作品曾多次登上乡村音乐榜的榜首，出品过六张超白金专辑，唱片总销量超过2500万张。蒂姆·麦格罗是乡村音乐歌手菲丝·希尔(Faith Hill)的丈夫，他的父亲是棒球运动员塔格·麦格罗（Tug McGraw)。蒂姆·麦格罗演唱过的著名歌曲有《Don't Take the Girl》, 《Down on the Farm》, 《I Like It, I Love It》, 《It's Your Love》 (同菲丝·希尔合唱) 和 《Live Like You Were Dying》。 　　“这是我生命中最精彩的日子。这是我真正能够正视自己，评判自己和明确方向的时刻。当你有了家庭的时候，你取舍的目标就会发生变化。”