Tim McGraw: Indian Outlaw Launched My Career

Tim McGraw said his controversial song Indian Outlaw about being 'half Cherokee and Choctaw' helped launch his career in 1994 even though most artists would face substantial backlash putting out a track full of Native American stereotypes in 2026 (wigwam, tom-tom, peace pipe and teepee).

The 58-year-old country crooner - who's of European descent - had originally planned to release Indian Outlaw on his self-titled debut in 1993, but 'nobody liked it' including his label Curb.

'They just said it was too controversial and it was a bad song,' McGraw (born Samuel Timothy Smith) recalled on The Tim Ferriss Show February 4.

'It wasn't country music. It won't work on radio...I knew it worked. But I didn't have any say-so on the first album.'

The three-time winner went on to perform the platinum song live at clubs and honky-tonks for fans who loved it so much they would 'end up having to play it three or four times a night.'

The very next year, McGraw recorded the track for his second studio album Not a Moment Too Soon, thinking it would either work in a huge way or ruin his career forever.

'Luckily, it worked,' the Paper Umbrellas singer said.

'I'll forever believe that the combination of [Indian Outlaw and Don't Take the Girl] is what set my career in motion and gave me momentum that I probably couldn't have gotten any other way.'

Indeed, Indian Outlaw landed McGraw his first top-40 country hit, peaking at number eight on Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks, as well as reaching number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.