Tim McGraw knows what he's doing, proof in that he has sold more than 40 million albums over the years! As an artist there is an art in trying to connect with the listener and not everyone has mastered it like he has.  One trick he uses?  Doing it in the dark.

"I like it to be dark in the studio when I'm doing vocals," Tim tells Billboard. "I don't have any lyrics to look at, and I try to picture me sitting there on a bar stool right across from somebody, me just talking to them, trying to get a message across."

By the way, McGraw is hitting the road on his Two Lanes of Freedom Tour starting May 2 in Birmingham. Brantley Gilbert and Love and Theft will be on the bill.

Here are the tour dates:

5/2 -- Birmingham, AL, Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
5/3 -- Charlotte, NC, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
5/4 -- Raleigh, NC, Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion
5/10 -- West Palm Beach, FL, Cruzan Amphitheatre
5/11 -- Tampa, FL, 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre
5/12 -- Atlanta, GA, Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood
5/17 -- Philadelphia, PA, Susquehanna Bank Center
5/18 -- Pittsburgh, PA, First Niagara Pavilion
5/19 -- Detroit, MI, DTE Energy Music Theatre
5/23 -- St. Louis, MO, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
5/24 -- Chicago, Il, First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
5/25 -- Cincinatti, OH, Riverbend Music Center
5/26 -- Darien Lakes, NY, Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
5/30 -- Indianapolis, IN, Klipsch Music Center
5/31 -- Cleveland, OH, Blossom Music Center
6/1 -- Washington, D.C., Jiffy LubeLive
6/7 -- San Diego, CA, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
6/8 -- San Bernardino, CA, San Manuel Amphitheatre
6/9 -- Mountain View, CA, Shoreline Amphitheatre
6/13 -- Albuquerque, NM, Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque Presents the Pavilion
6/14 -- Salt Lake City, UT, USANA Amphitheatre
6/15 -- Denver, CO, Fiddler's Green
6/20 -- Beaumont, TX, Ford Park Pavilion
6/22 -- Dallas, TX, Gexa Energy Pavilion
6/28 -- Hartford, CT, Comcast Theatre
6/29 -- Boston, MA, Comcast Center
6/30 -- Holmdel, NJ
7/25 -- Toronto, ON (CAN), Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
7/26 -- Bethel, NY, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
7/27 -- Virginia Beach, VA, Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach

FYI...McGraw's new album Two Lanes of Freedom out February 5th.

~Vanessa

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