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Picture this: it's December 2002, and country music is dominating the charts and airwaves. But rather than being the result of Morgan Wallen's rattling trap beats or Zach Bryan's stripped-back, DIY anthems, this explosion in popularity was courtesy of legends such as Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks and Toby Keith.
It was a year that saw the release of now-iconic albums such as Kenny Chesney's No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems, Alan Jackson's Drive and Shania Twain's Up! Don't get us wrong, there's no question country music is in fine fettle today, partly thanks to the aforementioned Wallen and Bryan, along with other global hitmakers such as Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, Megan Moroney and Ella Langley.
But we can't help but feel a little nostalgic from time to time about golden eras gone by - and there's no doubt 2002 was a darn great period for the genre. Country stars are often seen as being more down-to-earth and less concerned with status symbols compared to other genres such as rap and pop, and this is generally a deeply endearing quality. But...at the same time, during an era of success as stratospheric as this, we think they can be allowed a few moments of extravagance...
And this was epitomised by Tim McGraw's bold declaration in the Fall that, if his new album, Tim McGraw and The Dancehall Doctors, sold over 500,000 units in its first week, then he would treat his whole band to Harley Davidsons and vintage cars.
Posting 500,000 in first-week sales might sound like a Herculean task, particularly when one of the most popular albums of the modern country era, Wallen's One Thing At A Time, only just managed to scrape past the 500,000 mark by 1,000 units.
But by 2002, McGraw was already a country titan, and he ended up storming past his goalpost. Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors sold 602,000 copies in its first week.
What's even more impressive is the fact that this gargantuan tally was still not enough to knock Shania Twain's Up! out of the No. 1 spot. Up! posted 626,000 in the same timeframe, despite the record having already been out for a week. Shania's project opened the previous week with one of the biggest debuts of all time - 874,000.
It shows how country was cementing itself as one of the dominant genres in the North America, following a wildly popular stretch of releases in the ‘90s from Shania and Garth.
Even though it wasn't quite enough to topple Up!, McGraw's Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors numbers were still colossal. And as far as his band-members were concerned, they achieved their mission of surpassing the half-a-million mark.
McGraw stayed true to his promise. At a dinner later in December, the ‘Humble and Kind’ chart-topper surprised his band-members with a dazzling array of vehicles. The project held a special place in McGraw's heart, because it was the first time his band joined him in the studio and contributed to one of his albums in this way.
Speaking at the time, the Louisiana native paid tribute to his Dancehall Doctors, “I enjoy listening to this record over and over again because I am listening to my very best friends”.
At the dinner, McGraw gifted Harley Davidson motorcycles to his drummer Billy Mason, fiddler Dean Brown and guitarist and bandleader Darran Smith. He treated his steel guitarist Denny Hemingson to a gorgeous 1968 Impala SS, while he gave his keyboardist Jeff McMahon a lovely 1969 Corvette. Multi-instrumentalist Bob Minner received a sleek 1964 Chevelle El Camino, while bassist John Marcus was rewarded for his efforts with a stylish 1981 Corvette. Last but not least, percussionist David Dunkley was given a stunning 1968 Ford Galaxie convertible.
Aside from being an entertaining anecdote and a sign of how country was thriving during this period, it showcases what a generous and kind-hearted dude McGraw is.
And today, roughly a quarter of a century on from his Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors success, the ‘Where the Green Grass Grows’ crooner - alongside his 2002 chart rival, Shania - remains one of the most respected figures in country music. McGraw is currently in the middle of a high-profile Las Vegas residency, during which you can hear him serenading packed-out crowds with a number of stand-outs from his Dancehall Doctors opus, such as ‘Real Good Man’.
For more on Tim McGraw, see below:
