By Allison Stewart

Special to The Washington Post.

At this exact moment, Tim McGraw is the third most-popular country artist of the Soundscan era, behind only George Strait (whom he will one day eclipse) and Garth Brooks (whom he won't).

But he's also 45 years old, badly dinged by a drawn-out legal battle with his former record label and dogged by younger -- but by no means superior -- hat acts such as Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan, who are hard on his heels.

This all goes a long way toward explaining "Truck Yeah," a musical speed bump on his otherwise great new album, "Two Lanes of Freedom." The song is a shiny ode to chicks, trucks, chicks in trucks, beer, football and general redneckery. If it sounds familiar, it's because it's one minor chord away from being a 1989 Bon Jovi song, and because almost every male artist in Nashville has recently released a song just like it.

And it raises a question: These days, is it possible for a country singer to avoid the obligatory, shameless pander about how country-proud he is, and also how much he loves his truck? Even if he's one of the most successful musicians of all time? Pose this question to an otherwise good-natured McGraw, and he'll say, in a state of semi-exasperation, "Look, you take all those things into consideration."

Which is another way of saying no, you can't avoid it.

"'Truck Yeah' for me was very reminiscent of the things I did that sort of broke my career out, stuff like

"Truck Yeah" is the first single from "Freedom" and one of the biggest hits of McGraw's career. Big enough, he hopes, to power a post-lawsuit career reboot. The album is an encyclopedic guide to everything McGraw has historically done well -- classic Top 40 honky tonk, romantic ballads, ingratiating Dad Country.

"It's like a 360 album in a lot of ways," McGraw says. "I certainly can see and hear and feel elements of what I've done throughout my career, but at the same time it opens the door and looks out to the future of where I'm headed for. It's a pivotal album in my career, and an invitation to the things I'm gonna do."

Read more from the original source:

'Freedom' is Tim McGraw 2.0