Tim McGraw Knows What Song He Can’t Skip

Tim McGraw knows what song he can't skip on his 2024 "Standing Room Only Tour" with opener Carly Pearce, which plays to packed crowds every weekend. 

McGraw has been touring and playing shows for nearly 30 years and has mastered his craft. Tim knows which songs on his hit list he can't avoid playing every night. 

He recently told us, "Probably 'Live Like You Were Dying.' I don't think I could get away with leaving that one out more than any of them. I think that song is just such an impactful song. We don't treat that song as a ballad; we treat that song as a production."  

That song brings tears to fans every night. Tim said, "You see people cry every time we perform that song, and sometimes it gets to us. I feel like I am just a megaphone for that song. It's one of those songs that belongs to everybody in the room." 

As for getting ready for each tour, McGraw says, "We just wanted to step on the gas from the beginning and hit go. The hardest thing when you're putting a tour together is getting the set list right because you play an hour and a half, and you've got to play maybe 20 songs if you're lucky."

He concluded, "We don't like to talk a lot in our show; we just press the gas and play song after song. But you're always going to miss something that someone wants to hear.   

RELATED: Tim McGraw's Daughter Shares Rare Home Movie

Tim recently took some time getting ready for his latest concert tour to share with fans something on stage that is a "flex" in his world.

McGraw posted a video clip to Instagram, responding to the question of what a "flex" in his world is. He said, "I have to say when I'm working and on stage, my mic stand. I mean, it's got a little bit of the design of my tattoo on my arm. It's got all my daughter's initials and my wife's initials as well. It's on my mic stand all the way around, so whenever I'm losing focus or feel like I'm not having a good night, which sometimes happens, I'll look down at my mic stand, and it sort of re-gathers me, and makes me think of my purpose."

He concluded, "So that's kind of a flex in my working world for sure. And it translates into my personal world, too, because everything I do is for those guys."

The stand has three words along with the markings: Family, Love, and Music.

Today (9/8) is National Actor's Day, a day set aside to celebrate the work that actors all over the world give us in telling stories and entertaining us. Actors' Day aims to show appreciation for actors in our lives by showcasing their history and how they have influenced people's lives.

According to Days of the Year, actors began way back in 534 BC. During that year, Thespis stepped onto the stage at the Theatre Dionysus to become the first known performer to speak a character's words and express their story.

Because of Thespis, actors today are sometimes commonly referred to as Thespians. Of course, today's actors are currently on strike.

In honor of Actors' Day, we focus on five country music superstars who have had significant success in the acting profession. We know that many country singers over the years, like Randy Travis, Kenny Rogers, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Trace Adkins, Bill Ray Cyrus, Willie Nelson, and even Blake Shelton, have dabbled in acting, but these five stood out.

Tim has been making movies for years now, with credits that include the Oscar-winning movie The Blindside from 2009 to 2017's The Shack and a 2010 movie called Country Strong starring Gwyneth Paltrow as a budding country music star. While he's done many films, it's his role in the 2021 Paramount Plus series 1883 opposite his wife Faith Hill that has critics raving for his emotional and stirring performance as Jame Dutton, the ancestor of Yellowstone main character John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner.

Before the series aired, McGraw told us, "This is truly a dream job. Taylor (creator Taylor Sheridan) has found a way of storytelling that brilliantly creates these epic dramas and family sagas with so much depth and creativity. The Duttons are tremendous characters, and it's so thrilling to be able to bring them to life."

Reba, like Tim McGraw, has done a lot of acting; most notably, she starred in her own sitcom for the CW dubbed Reba, which lasted for six seasons. She most recently played in a lifetime TV movie called The Hammer, where she plays Kim Wheeler, an attorney who is appointed as a judge for Nevada's 5th district after the former judge's death. The country icon produced the movie and co-starred her real-life boyfriend Rex Linn and buddy Melissa Peterman. Reba has also starred in the ABC sitcom Malibu Country, which lasted for just one season, and has had various roles in movies like the cult classic Tremors (1990) and Barb + Star (2021), to name a few.

Dolly Parton began her movie career in 1980's 9 to 5 playing opposite Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin after Fonda heard of the Parton's songs ("Two Doors Down") and thought she would be great in the role of an office worker with dreams of singing country music. That was just the beginning of Parton's movie career, which cast her opposite movie stars like Burt Reynolds (Best Little Whorehouse In Texas) and Sylvester Stallone (Rhinestone). In 1989, she starred alongside Julia Roberts, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, and Shirley McClaine in Steel Magnolias. That movie won Robert a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in 1990.

Dolly also produced and starred in her movies for TV for Lifetime and two films based on her song "Coat Of Many Colors" for NBC.

The King of Country Music, made his acting debut playing country star Dusty Chandler in the movie Pure Country, which premiered in October of 1992, and he did great on screen.

According to Rolling Stone, even though he ended up enjoying the role, it was said Strait was nervous about a few things. Namely, he was not at all a fan of the movie's title. He believed that "Pure Country" made it sound like the movie was all about country. He thought it was much more than that and asked the studio to consider changing the name. They did not.

George had said that he feared starring in a movie would hinder his career as a recording artist. However, this was clearly not the case since Strait has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Lainey has one acting credit to her name to date: her role as Abby on TV's Yellowstone, which has helped catapult her to country music superstardom. Wilson told USA Today for her first acting role, "I didn't really know what I was doing, but you go in there head-first. I was going to give people their money's worth." She told her mom and dad,"'You might not want to watch this show.' I don't want to be on their prayer list."

Lainey also said that the show's producer, Taylor Sheridan, wanted her to be "pretty much myself." She said that was a "dream come true." Before she did the role, Sheridan only told her that she would play a musician who would fall in love with one of the boys. She noted, "He didn't even tell me which one."