Tim McGraw scores with girl-dad country at Minnesota State Fair grandstand

Country music has been a staple at the Minnesota State Fair grandstand since concerts began in 1962.

Alabama, country’s biggest band, holds the record with 19 grandstand performances. Willie Nelson has traveled on the road again 11 times to the Great Minnesota Get-Together. The Oak Ridge Boys have harmonized there 10 times.

Tim McGraw, who gave his sixth concert at the grandstand on Wednesday, has a ways to catch up, but he can now boast State Fair appearances in three different decades.

His enduring career may be because he seems to have a subgenre unto himself that a certain late basketball icon helped define: girl-dad country. Sure, McGraw has the most muscle-bound body in Nashville, and he sings about trucks, cowboys and sky diving. But the father of three daughters has a repertoire filled with tenderness, homeyness and fatherly advice. He honors his mama, his wife and the good ol’ days when Coke was a Coke.

McGraw had the near-capacity audience of 12,480 (the largest grandstand crowd this year) from the opening cuddly come-on, “Just to See You Smile.” A savvy selector of songs, he knows how to target his fans.

His current single, “7500 OBO,” tells the story of a guy being asked by his woman to sell his beloved old truck for $7,500 or best offer. Last year’s hit, “I Called Mama,” landed in McGraw’s sweet spot, as a call from a hometown friend tells of the death of another friend, compelling the singer to call to check up on his mama. Awwww. Both songs were well received on Wednesday.

Hardly a wuss, McGraw flexed his musical muscle on the raucous rocker “Real Good Man” followed by the rowdy hip-hop stomp “Truck Yeah,” which featured a fiddle and guitar jam.

His guitar-heavy band, the Dancehall Doctors, has as much fun onstage as any country band (with no choreography). That helped to kick things into overdrive with “I Like I Love It,” a peak at any party.

Dressed in a tank top, tight jeans and black cowboy hat, McGraw tromped around the stage all night, gesturing with his buff arms and even squatting while singing. He may not be a physical performer but he has an undeniable presence.

At only his second concert of 2021, the bearded McGraw apologized for “looking shaggy” because he’s filming a movie in which he plays a gunslinger.

Never the strongest male singer in Nashville, McGraw has always stayed within the limitations of his thin, small voice. He harnessed intensity, though, early on “Unbroken” and summoned his full powers much later.

The 54-year-old girl-dad saved his Dr. Phil songs for the end of the 1¾-hour performance — the majestic “Live Like You Were Dying” and the understated “Humble and Kind.” Those may be his mantras. Gosh, he seems like such a darn likable girl-dad.

Opening was Midland, a Texas band with only one original tune, “Drinkin’ Problem,” worth noting. It would not be inaccurate or unfair to say that their State Fair debut was, um, fair to middling.

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