On Tim McGraw & Reba McEntire Switching Labels
When it comes to saving country music in the mainstream, Tim McGraw and Reba McEntire both have played important roles recently. During Tim McGraw’s time at Big Machine Records between 2012 and 2017, he showed a somewhat unexpected but welcomed turn to his roots, releasing songs and records that helped counterbalance the Bro-Country era, and most importantly, he was commercially and critically successful in doing so.
Reba McEntire is a country legend by anyone’s assessment, but spent much of the latter half of her career chasing trends in between taping sitcom episodes. Yet Reba’s last record Stronger Than The Truth was a strong testament to her talent and the power of country music, becoming one of the best mainstream country records released in recent memory.
Now both have new label homes as part of a rearrangement that could have important implications in the future. Tim McGraw left Big Machine for Sony Nashville in 2017 to release a duo album with wife Faith Hill, and released a couple of mild singles through Sony ahead of a new album supposedly due this summer called Here On Earth. But now he’s left the Sony and returned to Big Machine. Reba, who was on Big Machine when she released Stronger Than The Truth, has returned to Universal Music Group Nashville where she spent much of her early career.
With Tim McGraw, you could see this coming. When he left Sony Nashville in the middle of February, it was easy to see why it wasn’t a right fit. McGraw had reverted back to the trend-chasing mess of his mid career and it wasn’t a good look, and he was finding no real traction or support for his radio singles, unlike what he saw with Big Machine. Tim McGraw saw four #1’s hits, and nine Top 5 singles while on Big Machine, including “Humble and Kind,” which resulted in a win for the CMA Song of the Year, and a Grammy for Best Country Song.
Meanwhile the best McGraw could muster on Sony Nashville was #17 with his recent single “Thought About You,” and he was paired with fellow Sony artist Shy Carter on a terrible country rap collaboration called “Way Down.” With lyrics that allude to oral sex, it might be the worst song released in the country music in 2020.
But McGraw moving from Sony to Big Machine puts him in somewhat of a weird position at the moment. As part of a recent concert ticket bundle, fans were promised a copy of the new album Here On Earth during Tim’s upcoming summer tour. Right now we’re not exactly sure how Here On Earth will take shape seeing how he’s switched labels, let alone if Coronaviorus cancellations could become a factor. Either way, Big Machine feels like where Tim McGraw belongs, and hopefully his return is a positive development.
For Reba McEntire, the considerations are somewhat different. Signing to Big Machine as part of their now defunct NASH Icon endeavor, she’s an older artist not likely to receive radio play, but looking to age gracefully with her music. Stronger Than The Truth received very high critical praise, but only sold some 57,000 equivalent copies at last count. Hopefully moving labels doesn’t mean Reba is moving away from her plan to return to her roots, but we’ll have to see.
Artists move labels all the time, but these moves feels especially significant. It will be interesting to see what happens from here. Tim McGraw is supposed to release a new single momentarily, and that could be a good bellwether of things to come.
March 15, 2020 @ 11:58 am
It’s like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic…
These artists have a massive fan base & are legends in the music industry. Why change and move labels?
Reba will likely never have another Top 20 hit at radio, and granted Tim could still grab another Top 10 hit I’m sure ….But he’s changed labels pretty much all decade long with little benefit to prove why a move was necessary in the first place…
March 15, 2020 @ 12:02 pm
Universal Music Group Nashville /Capitol is my favorite label!! It seems the most successful in terms of awards and radio hits. I’m glad Reba is with UMG , she’s along side other legends like Alan Jackson, George Strait, and Vince Gill. I’m pretty sure Randy Travis is still part of UMG too..?!!!
March 15, 2020 @ 1:43 pm
All Tim and Reba need is a career reset single. “Humble and Kind” did it a few years ago. Look at acclaim Tanya Tucker received just by surrounding herself with a great producer and some career-making songs. No, TT did not become a radio staple again, but her name is no longer attached to a nostalgic act list. I would love to see Liz Rose/Lori McKenna write a career rebirth single for Reba. Chris DeStefano, Wendall Mobley, Josh Kear could also add some juice to a new album.
March 15, 2020 @ 2:02 pm
A different take on your viewpoint: While I agree that the Tanya Tucker comeback album was good, I don’t know if anything outside of “Bring Me My Flowers Now” would be considered career-making songs – especially in a career like Tanya’s that are filled with strong songs. With Brandi Carlile as co-producer, it made for a golden PR plan that had every major publication fawning over it. I don’t know that it really impacted country music or the fans. Tanya’s team got the Grammy awards, appearances, and was listed in all the buzzy online publications. Not taking anything away from that, but anyone can craft a campaign like that with the right strategic people, regardless of the quality of the album.
I say that to say this. Tanya has talked openly about her first impressions of the songs that were presented to her and how she didn’t click with them And Tanya knows quality songs. So does Reba and Tim McGraw. What I would like to see is all of them to continue to find those gems….those songs with meaning and stories. For the past decade or longer, we’ve seen the same circle of songwriters and vapid concepts rule the radio. It would be nice to see consistent efforts from Reba and Tim.
March 15, 2020 @ 1:57 pm
For me Tim has been hit and miss for many years now. Hopefully the new record wont be anything like the two singles that were released. I didn’t like the productions.
Reba’s latest record is phenomenal. I think her team or the label didn’t do enough promotion & missed huge opportunities. Releasing Freedom as the lead single was a weak/ safe choice. Then she hosted an award show & performed that single. You get a lot of attention performing on those shows. That was her chance to really showcase her latest record & reach a ton of people. Was that also the only single released? Too many missed opportunities to help the success of that record.
Fyi I just read the award show in april was postponed if people here tune in to those things.
March 15, 2020 @ 2:04 pm
Reba did do quite a few big interviews and such leading up to the album, but otherwise they seemed to be resigned to the album not selling well instead of crafting a winning strategy like they did for the Tanya Tucker record. Perhaps that is why she wanted to move to a label that has a better vision for her new music moving forward.
March 15, 2020 @ 2:18 pm
True! Tanya’s team definitely had great strategy. I personally think Reba’s record is much better plus it’s actually country and deserved that type of strategy & attention. Hopefully the new label will be able to provide that.
March 15, 2020 @ 2:34 pm
I agree with you that Freedom was a single that didn’t represent the best of what Reba’s album had to offer. I guess they chose it because the lyric was a positive sentiment and because Freedom was really the only uptempo track on the album that wasn’t ultra-traditional Western swing, which would’ve had even less chance on radio. But the song that ended up on a lot of year-end best lists — including Trigger’s — was Tammy Wynette Kind of Pain, so I wonder if that might’ve been a smarter single choice, or perhaps The Bar’s Getting Lower, which was also well reviewed but was less of a ballad and so might have been more radio friendly.
Regardless, I think it’s worth noting that though Big Machine does a lot of pop-country, they should be given credit where credit’s due for letting Reba release that album and, presumably, campaigning to help her get the Grammy nomination. I also think 55,000 isn’t bad sales numbers in this streaming age, and if I recall, Reba made it to No. 2 on the album chart, sandwiched between Strait and Combs, which as Trigger wrote at the time, collectively told a positive story for traditional-leaning country music. And, as Trigger has highlighted in his article today, McGraw’s best recent creative output, whose apex was Humble & Kind, was also with Big Machine.
March 15, 2020 @ 3:09 pm
Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, and Blake Shelton are the only “mainstream old timers” capable of getting hits on radio. Regarding Tim, it’s all about the power of a song. I think he’ll get there again..
March 15, 2020 @ 5:16 pm
At least it wasn’t significant others like the LIBS want.
March 16, 2020 @ 7:17 am
Thought About You had a personal meaning to me. My wife passed away from breast cancer a few years ago and the lyrics always made me think of her. I still miss her…..
March 16, 2020 @ 11:38 am
I know that this is off-topic, but does anyone know anything about Hall Of Fame induction date? I’m sure the announcement has been pushed to April (because of the whole building being closed thing), but the announcement was March 18th last year. So, I figured that there would have been at least some chatter about it by this point.
March 16, 2020 @ 11:44 am
They usually announce a week before the press conference when the press conference will be. It’s ben in March the last few years, but for a while it was trending later and later in the year. With the COVID-19 stuff, my guess this is a low priority for the CMA Committee. If I hear of when the announcement might be made, I’ll try to let everyone know.
March 16, 2020 @ 1:35 pm
My guess is Tim left Big Machine so The Rest of Our Life album could be released because Scott probably wasn’t going along with it?????
July 22, 2023 @ 8:50 pm
Reba’s 1st album for Big Machine stopped at Gold Status. I remember thinking to myself uh oh. Every album since 1987s Whoever’s In New England had achieved platinum or multi platinum status with the exception of two albums not selling beyond gold record status, Secret of Giving and GHV3. Something about her move from MCA to Valory just seemed to throw her off. Her declining record sales had nothing to do with the producers her talent or the quality of the songs even though I wasn’t as impressed with 2015’s “Love Somebody”. I own copies of everything shes done and that one is my least favorite.