Tim McGraw‘s long-awaited Standing Room Only album is out! The 13-track record, which marks his first since Here on Earth was released in 2020, was a labor of love for McGraw, who decided very early in the process to only write and record songs that had a message of hope and healing.

“We all make mistakes, and we’re going to make mistakes, and we’re going to do bad stuff,” McGraw tells Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “And all you can do is try to get up the next day and be the best you can be that day, and know you’re going to screw up again later down the road. You got to figure out how to put that behind you.

“And I’m lucky because music is cathartic and for me. It’s my therapy,” he adds. “So, to be able to go in the studio and have these great songs and sort of work out your emotional baggage through these songs is a blessing.”

The 56-year-old has said Standing Room Only is the best record of his career, although he hints that his next one might be even better.

“I think the moment that I feel like I’m not improving and learning and getting better every time I go in the studio, getting better with how sonically I want things to sound, how I want to sing, the songs that I want to record, if I get to the point where I think that I’m not improving, that’s going to be the time to stop doing it,” McGraw says. “Because I never want to be the guy that’s just doing the same thing over and over and over again.”

In a video shared on social media ahead of the release of Standing Room Only, McGraw explained why he wanted all of the songs on the record to be positive and uplifting.

“There is a reason we’re here,” says the singer. “There is a purpose we’re here. Again, life affirmation, life affirming. Songs that said that there is a purpose that we’re here. There is a reason that we’re here. There is good. There is light. There are plenty of people out there who care, and plenty of people out there who just want the motivation to do better, including me.

“I can get very insular and isolated, and like it,” he remarks. “Especially over the last three years or so. You had to force yourself to go out there and not get lost inside your own head.”

It was when COVID-19 was beginning to wreak havoc across the globe that became the impetus for McGraw to begin working on Standing Room Only. What began as a sort of therapy for him, became a message of hope for the world to hear.

“I started working on this pretty much right after our last album, Here on Earth, came out right in the middle of the pandemic,” McGraw says on The Morning Show. “What else was I going to do? You couldn’t do anything else, so I was just working on the music. My process usually starts where, I have an idea of the kind of music I want to make. And certainly, because of the period of time that we were all going through, I started out with that mindset that I wanted to write something positive, and I wanted to have some positive stuff on my record.”

McGraw will embark on his Standing Room Only Tour in March, with Carly Pearce serving as his opening act for all dates. See a track list for the album below, and find Standing Room Only and all of his music and upcoming shows at TimMcGraw.com.

Read ‘Tim McGraw: 11 Things to Know About the Singer and Actor’ here.

Standing Room Only Track List:

1. Hold On To It, (Ryan Larkins, Seth Mosley, Jimmy Yeary)
2. Standing Room Only, (Tommy Cecil, Patrick Murphy, Craig Wiseman)
3. Paper Umbrellas, (Monty Criswell, Drake Milligan)
4. Remember Me Well, (Heather Morgan, Jimmy Robbins)
5. Hey Whiskey, (Brad Hutsell, Joel Hutsell, Brad Warren, Brett Warren)
6. Her, (Jason Gantt, Tim Nichols, Jimmy Yeary)
7. Fool Me Again, (Kameron Marlowe, Brad Warren, Brett Warren, Rob Williford)
8. Small Town King, (Jaren Johnston, Jenn Schott, Jeremy Stover)
9. Beautiful Hurricane, (Mike Lane, Tony Lane)
10, Cowboy Junkie, (Bill Luther, Lance Miller, Justin Weaver)
11. Nashville CA/L.A. Tennessee, (Featuring Lori McKenna), (Tim McGraw, Lori McKenna, Bob Minner)
12. Some Songs Change Your World, (Mark Irwin, Josh Kear, Lance Miller)
13. Letter From Heaven, Songwriters (Chase McGill, Lori McKenna, Parker Welling)