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Tim McGraw has released ten studio albums and scored 22 No. 1 hits, making him one of the most successful country artists of all time. Still, in spite of his overwhelming success, he has spent much of his career fighting with his label, Curb Records. But now, Tim says he is putting it all to rest."I didn't want to battle anymore," he tells Nashville's Tennessean newpaper. "You get in your own little world and sometimes you don't realize you're the only one battling."
Still, with an impressive tally of 44 Top 10 singles in the past 16 years, and seven albums that have achieved multi-platinum status, Tim has not won a major award in six years. And that, he says, is significant. "I'm blessed, and I don't like to complain about awards and nominations," says the superstar. "I do think it makes a difference to your fans, though. Someone may say, 'Nobody remembers who won last year,' and that's true, but there are fans who watch the awards and if someone isn't nominated they think, 'Maybe they're on their way out.' It does affect the mindset of fans, and the people in the industry know that or they wouldn't try to manipulate it. What's the criteria for Entertainer of the Year, anyway?"
He may be a crowd favorite, headlining major sold-out tours, but Tim acknowledges that the man offstage was at one time a stark contrast to the man his fans saw. Admittedly someone who was good at holding a grudge, Tim has now found freedom in letting it all go. "There was some legitimate anger and some illegitimate anger, and a lot of times I should have just shut up and sang instead of being worried about what someone said about my wife [Faith Hill] in the paper, or what someone on a radio station was saying," he acknowledges. "I probably had some legitimate gripes that I handled the wrong way. Plus, I drank too much for a while. I've been sober for two years now, and that's done a lot to help me let go of a lot of things."
It's his wife's own multi-platinum-selling career that unexpectedly stirred some of Tim's animosity, but not because of jealousy. "There was a time when I thought, and there's still a tinge of truth to it, that when Faith and I got married, there was this thing where people liked the idea at first, and then they didn't like the idea that both of us were successful," he reveals. "So they were going to figure out how to knock one of us down. I got the attitude in my mind that that's what was going on, and I fiercely defended her, to the point where I ticked a lot of people off. And if you're in a high-profile situation where you feel like you're fighting windmills everywhere you turn, it starts getting dark to you."Now happily shedding his bitterness, Tim finds yet another creative outlet -- acting -- helps keep him in balance. "Acting and music, one helps the other," he explains. "As an actor and as a singer in the studio or onstage, you're trying to create empathy. With both of them, you're creating these scenes and wanting someone to attach themselves to the character. In acting, I've seen myself get better. But I feel like I'm about 30 percent as good as I think I can be. It's like with singing, when I go into the studio and have these notions of, 'This is how I'm going to sing this song.' Then I hear it back and ... it's just me. There I am again.' I just want to be good."
On the heels of his wildly successful movie, 'The Blind Side,' Tim has just wrapped his next film, 'Love Don't Let Me Down,' with Gwyneth Paltrow. He's back in the studio finishing his final album for Curb, and is on the road with his Southern Voice tour, along with Lady Antebellum, Lost Trailers and Love and Theft.
Tim and Faith are acting as co-hosts for the upcoming 'Nashville Rising' concert on June 22, benefiting flood victims in and around Nashville.
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