Country Music Memories: McGraw Hits No. 1 With ‘Real Good Man’

Seventeen years ago today (Oct. 11, 2003), Tim McGraw had one good reason to celebrate: His latest single, “Real Good Man,” had soared to the top of the charts, becoming his 17th No. 1 song.

The uptempo, rocking “Real Good Man,” which is still a concert favorite, was the fourth single from McGraw’s multi-platinum album Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors. The tune — which was written by Rivers Rutherford and George Teren — was also included on McGraw’s Greatest Hits 3 CD, as well as his Number One Hits album.

Thankfully for the Louisiana native, the hits kept on coming. The follow-up single to “Real Good Man,” “Watch the Wind Blow By,” also went to No. 1, and in the years since, McGraw has shown that he clearly knows how to pick a hit.

“I just try to go in and find the best songs I can find, songs I really like, and try to let the music and the songs take you where they take you,” McGraw explains to The Boot. “Ultimately, as an artist, you have to go in and cut songs you like and make them sound the way you want them to sound, and hopefully the people will like it.”

This story was originally written by Gayle Thompson, and revised by Annie Zaleski.