Greatest Hits (CD - 2000)

Producers: James Stroud, Tim McGraw, Byron Gallimore, Faith Hill.

Personnel: Tim McGraw (vocals, guitar).

Photographer: Russ Harrington.

Normally, greatest hits packages include a few new tracks as bait for longtime fans who already own every CD by the artist. Tim McGraw's GREATEST HITS collection isn't one of those, but it is the perfect place to start for the casual fan who's heard and enjoyed McGraw's songs on the radio. GREATEST HITS does an admirable job of collecting McGraw's biggest successes since his 1994 breakthrough with the very politically incorrect single "Indian Outlaw."

The artist's hits usually fall into two categories--rockin' country rave-ups, and tender ballads. The best are collected here: the reach-for-the-Kleenex weeper "Don't Take the Girl," the goofy Mexicana of "Refried Dreams," the rowdy live favorites "Down on the Farm" and "I Like It, I Love It," and the sensuous, slow-burning "It's Your Love," one of two duets with McGraw's wife, Faith Hill. McGraw's later singles show a marked artistic growth, as evidenced by the sweeping, majestic "Please Remember Me," and the introspective "My Next Thirty Years." Two of McGraw's finest singles--"Everywhere" and "One of These Days"--are inexplicably missing, but GREATEST HITS is still a fine purchase for the fan who wants to beef up his or her country music collection. minimize