Tim McGraw got sober in 2008, and has stayed sober for the past 15 years since.
Tim McGraw’s Sobriety Journey
Throughout that journey, McGraw has been supported by his wife, Faith Hill, who McGraw called “my rock” in a new interview with Yahoo! Music.
“She’s my rock in everything that I do,” he said. “I don’t think I could stand up straight without leaning on her in everything that I do.”
Despite the strong support system he has, the country star noted that sobriety is “not a linear path.”
“There’s setbacks and there’s times you move forward and do great, and there’s times you set back,” he explained. “And that’ll probably [be] a process throughout the rest of my life and something that I have to be diligent about and really continue to work at.”
“People Were Worried About Me”
In 2013, Tim McGraw told PEOPLE that before he got sober, he never had just one drink.
“I wasn’t a beer drinker. I was more a whiskey drinker. And I wouldn’t just have a drink. If I was going to drink, I’d have some drinks,” he said. “People were worried about me. It was to the point where I felt it was negatively affecting my relationships and getting in the way of things I wanted to accomplish in life. So I quit.”
He also shared that he initially began drinking before shows to help with his nerves.
“Drinking helped me get past the wall of shyness and self-doubt,” he explained. “I ran into a lot of problems after a show where you wanted to keep the party going. I had to relearn how to do a show without alcohol.”
McGraw and Hill share three daughters, and McGraw shared that they are the main reason he put the focus on his health.
“The driving force for me to be healthy and fit is ultimately for my kids,” he said. “I want to be around for them.”
“Standing Room Only”
McGraw is currently preparing to release his latest album, Standing Room Only, on August 25. While plenty of songs in country music are alcohol-related, one track on Standing Room Only, “Hey Whiskey,” is a “very personal and very emotional and very honest” one for McGraw.
The song is a ballad detailing the regret that comes with heavy drinking, and McGraw reflected on his own personal experiences while recording it.
“The vocal that we kept on that song, that was the very first run-through at about 10 o’clock at night, when my voice was shredded and I had no voice left,” he recalled. “That’s the vocal we ended up keeping, because it was so pure and honest. … I’m so glad we ended up keeping the rawness that we did.”
McGraw added that the song “was very cathartic to me, in a lot of ways.”
Standing Room Only Tour
In early 2024, McGraw will hit the road to promote his new project on his Standing Room Only Tour. The arena trek begins on March 14 in Jacksonville and wraps on June 27 in Phoenix with support from Carly Pearce.
“I always want to deliver the best possible concert I can for the fans,” McGraw said in a statement. “We’ve got some really special plans to make this the biggest and the best tour we’ve ever done.”
For more information on McGraw’s upcoming concert schedule can be found at www.TimMcGraw.com.
