Tim McGraw‘s long-awaited Here on Earth album is out! The eclectic record, which marks his first new set of tunes as a solo artist in five years, was released on Thursday, August 21.

“If you ever listen to much of my music, I have a pretty wide spectrum of styles usually in my albums,” Tim shared with his record label. “I’ve always felt like my voice is country enough that I can try anything and make it sound country so, I can pretty much expand my horizons, as far as the styles of music that I do. This one, I would say there’s three or four that stylistically are in this vein.

“But there’s some that lean more modern and there’s some that lean more traditional, and everything in between,” he added. “So, I think I’ve really got a pretty wide scope on this record. There’s a couple that are really traditional. Actually there’s one that’s a real sort of throwback to Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell that’s on this record.”

The 18-track project, which includes “I Called Mama,” “Hallelujahville,” starts off with “L.A.,” a surprising track that begins with soaring orchestral sounds. The Louisiana native admits that might have once been a stretch for him, but not anymore.

“I don’t know if I wanted to say it is an evolved Tim McGraw, because I don’t know if I’ve evolved … my wife said maybe I’ve turned 16 during this downtown that we’ve had, so that’s probably as far as my evolution has ever gotten,” quipped the singer. “But I did want it to kick the album off because of the strings at the beginning. I just thought it set a tone for the album.

“I mean, look, this is my music so I love it and I’m gonna think a certain way about it,” he explained. “That doesn’t mean it translates to everyone else in the same way. But what I wanted it to feel like was this sort of a timeless piece of music, and for the project as a whole so to have a timeless feel to it. And I think that that set the tone for that right away with those strings at the beginning of ‘L.A.’.”

Tim previously said he originally thought about making Here on Earth a double album, mostly because he had so many songs he wanted to include, some that didn’t make it onto the record. But within the songs that he did include is a story about his life, one that can only be heard by paying close attention.

“I had an idea when I went into this project that I really wanted to sort of make a tapestry of life,” Tim shared. “Little vignettes along the way that tells a story about certain things that happen in the progression of life and how that can relate to the listener, and how everyone can sort of find a way to walk through this life on this album, find a way to relate to the characters in the stories. And that’s what good art does I think, in all sorts of ways. It allows you to superimpose yourself – find something interesting in the song or the character in the song, or the book or the movie that puts yourself into that situation, or can relate to that situation. It may not be exactly what your situation is but you can relate to it.

“So, that’s what I was trying to do with this album is sort of paint a picture of life here on earth,” added the 53-year-old. “And Here on Earth we didn’t really have as a title. We didn’t have the song when we started working on the record. And when we got that song in and we cut it, and started fillin’ songs in around it, it just really made sense that that’s what we were trying to do. And that’s somehow Here on Earth became the title because of the idea that I had to start with of what I wanted the album to feel like.”

Purchase Here on Earth at TimMcGraw.com.