Tim McGraw - Live Like You Were Dying (2004)

On the back cover of his ninth album Tim McGraw sits atop a horse, which just happens to be standing in the foyer of an elegant home. McGraw sits backwards in the saddle, looking not at where he's going, but where he's been. The image tips off the theme of this solid, 16-song album--for a singer who doesn't write, it's as close to autobiography as it gets. "How Bad Do You Want It," for example references not only bluesman Robert Johnson's crossroads chat with ol' Lucifer, but also the kind of relentless drive that got McGraw to the top of the Nashville heap. The dryly funny "Back When" finds the man who recently bought a $6.4 million Beverly Hills mansion yearning for a simpler time. "Walk Like a Man" talks about the kind of abusive father McGraw himself had before he discovered he was the son of baseball legend Tug McGraw. The late pitcher is surely the subject of three songs here about death, loss, and carrying on, especially the title track, a big, uplifting affirmation of life. If it's also a little sappy, so be it--singing about the most painful thing he's ever endured, he gives it a dignified, understated reading (and only a week or so after his father's passing). It takes an artist to do that, and while McGraw may not be the greatest of warblers, nobody in country can touch him at conveying emotions too deep to express in words. Look for this to be the album of his career. -- Alanna Nash