Tim McGraw’s ‘1883’ Co-Star Says He Liked To ‘Toy’ With Him

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's 1883 series, which debuted on Paramount Plus in December of 2021, tells the story of James and Margaret Dutton, played by the couple, as they travel through the Great Plains hoping to seek a better future in Montana. Actor Eric Nelsen plays Ennis, a young cowboy enamored with James' daughter Elsa Dutton, who is played by Isabel May.

Nelson talked to Fox News recently about playing opposite country superstar McGraw. He said, "[Tim's] got three daughters – three awesome daughters – who were always on set visiting and hanging out with us. But he didn't have a son, and so, I felt at times he was kind of not like I became a son to him because as soon as I would feel comfortable, he'd kind of throw me off my access and still let me know that our characters have some friction on the show just to… toy with me."

While McGraw acted more like a big brother at times with Nelsen, even pulling the occasional prank, he also wasn't afraid to stay in character as an intimidating patriarch – something that came easy to him. Nelson recalls, "He became a great friend, and I really looked up to him. But as the season goes on, and the viewers will see, our characters aren't always on the best of terms, and he liked to throw that around on and off set."

The 2021 1883 series premiered on the Paramount Network last week (6/18) and is simulcasted on Comedy Central, CMT, MTV, Pop, and TV Land. So, now you can watch it without a Paramount Plus subscription.

McGraw played CMA Fest earlier this month, and he stopped backstage before his set and saw country icon, Randy Travis. Tim greeted Travis and then started to serenade the legend, who is a wheelchair user and is challenged to sing. McGraw started singing Randy's big hit "On The Other Hand," and Travis started to sing along.

Randy posted a video of the moment on his TikTok. He captioned the clip, "I can't tell you how much it meant to see @Tim McGraw and Faith last night at @Country Music Association Fest! We don't get to see each other often enough — they are lights! And we loved meeting their nephew Timothy! #ontheotherhand #randytravis."

See that post here.

Tim McGraw released a new music video last week (4/27) for his latest single, "Standing Room Only." The video takes place in a junkyard where the cars appear to come to life.

Tim told CMT of the new video, "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. I love the metaphor of standing in a junkyard and watching it light up."

He added. "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."

McGraw celebrates his 56th birthday today (5/1), and one of the things he has been great at throughout his entire career is picking the right songs. Tim knows a hit when he hears it and has consistently released one hit after another for almost 30 years. As we celebrate all things McGraw on his special day, we rank what we believe are his very best 30 songs.