Southern Girl

Album: Two Lanes of Freedom (2013)
Charted: 42
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This Jaren Johnston, Rodney Clawson and Lee Thomas Miller penned humorous romp features a playful vocal from McGraw. "It's fun, but when you listen to it, it's a very complicated sounding record, very intricate, a jazzy sort of record," he told Billboard magazine.
  • This tribute to American women born where the weather's hot was released as the fourth single from Two Lanes of Freedom. McGraw said choosing the new single was easy. "At the beginning of the tour, we threw a lot of new songs into the set list, and that's always a risky thing when an album is so brand new," he stated. "It didn't take a whole weekend out there before the girls were shouting at us to play 'Southern Girl.' The song has a really cool groove to it that just gets everyone moving and sets the right tone for a perfect summer night."
  • The song's music video offers up a taste of McGraw in concert, sewn together with footage from the singer's tour and his fans. McGraw said regarding the visual: "When we started talking about a video concept for "Southern Girl," I knew that this song belonged to the fans who have been out at our live shows all summer. We brought cameras out on the road and turned them around on the crowd, and they really helped us capture the fun summer groove of this song."
  • Former American Bang vocalist and guitarist Jaren Johnston penned the song with Rodney Clawson and Lee Thomas Miller. He recalled to Roughstock: "We wrote it over at Big Loud Shirt. We were there an hour an a half, maybe two hours. It was the first time I'd ever met Lee, but me and Rodney have written quite a few together. It came out real easy."

    "We didn't even have that little Auto-Tune thing on the end of the chorus that day," Johnston added. "When I got home, I was listening to the demo, and it just wasn't hitting me. I felt like it was missing something. So I went back in and put that 'southern girl, rock my world...' that kind of thing on it. Supposedly, that is why they ended up cutting it. Tim had heard the song, and he loved the song and loved that part, except for the lyric. It was originally something like daisy dukes or something like that. So I looked at what color eyes Faith Hill has, and she has hazel eyes, so I said hazel eyes and golden curls [laughs]. So it worked out!"

Comments: 1

  • Camille from Toronto, OhThis is a great tune by Tim McGraw, probably my favorite since he came out with "Southern Voice", and that was in 2009. Even tho I'm not a southern girl, I like its sound and the lyrics. I get very weary, though, of Tim McGraw's videos; just the same thing over and over and over, Tim in concert... c'mon Tim, you can get more creative than that.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Prince

PrinceFact or Fiction

Prince is shrouded in mystery, making him an excellent candidate for Fact or Fiction. Is he really a Scientologist? Does he own an exotic animal?

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

Van Dyke Parks

Van Dyke ParksSongwriter Interviews

U2, Carly Simon, Joanna Newsom, Brian Wilson and Fiona Apple have all gone to Van Dyke Parks to make their songs exceptional.

Jesus Christ Superstar: Ted Neeley Tells the Inside Story

Jesus Christ Superstar: Ted Neeley Tells the Inside StorySong Writing

The in-depth discussion about the making of Jesus Christ Superstar with Ted Neeley, who played Jesus in the 1973 film.

Amy Grant

Amy GrantSongwriter Interviews

The top Contemporary Christian artist of all time on song inspirations and what she learned from Johnny Carson.

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New York

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New YorkSong Writing

Can you be married in one country but not another? Only if you're part of a gay couple. One of the first famous singers to come out as a lesbian, Janis wrote a song about it.