Two Lanes of Freedom
# Two Lanes of Freedom

Two Lanes of Freedom is the twelfth studio album by American country music singer Tim McGraw. It was released February 5, 2013, as his first album for Big Machine Records following 20 years with Curb Records. He co-produced the album with Byron Gallimore, the producer of his previously released albums. The album includes the singles "Truck Yeah", "One of Those Nights", "Highway Don't Care" with Taylor Swift and "Southern Girl".

## Background

McGraw told The Boot writer Beville Dunkerley about the lawsuit that allowed him to end his decades-long contract with Curb Records and the making of the album. "Nothing good happens from anything without concentrating on what you do musically,... All this other stuff you can't do anything about...You can't make people do the things that you think are right, but you can make your music the way you want to make your music and that's what I concentrate on." Of his "mindset" behind the album, he said, "There's something special about this record to me, in the optimism that it has,...I'm looking forward to more stuff than I've ever had happen before; there's more ahead of me than behind me. I feel like I've grabbed another gear." He added what he sees in his future as a music artist, "I don't think I'm anywhere close to doing the things I want to do. There's so much more ahead of me, and I have a lot of room to get better... Sonically, there's a freshness to this record and a drive behind it that is new to me and headed in a different place. But I won't know that until I go into the studio for the next record and see where it takes me."

## Reception

### Critical

Professional ratings :

| Aggregate scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | (66/100) |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| American Songwriter | |
| Country Universe | |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| The Oakland Press | |
| Omaha World-Herald | |
| PopMatters | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Roughstock | |
| Taste of Country | |
| USA Today | |

On release, Two Lanes of Freedom received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 66, based on 9 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". The album had positive reviews from AllMusic, American Songwriter, Country Weekly, The Lantern The Plain Dealer, Roughstock, Taste of Country and USA Today. On the other hand, the album received mixed reviews from Country Universe, Los Angeles Times, Omaha World-Herald, PopMatters and Rolling Stone.

### Commercial

Two Lanes of Freedom sold approximately 107,000 copies during its first week of release, reaching No. 1 on the country albums chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200. By September 18, 2013, the album had sold 421,000 copies.

## Track listing

All tracks are produced by Byron Gallimore and Tim McGraw.

## Personnel

### Musicians

* Tim McGraw – lead vocals
* Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards
* Steve Nathan – acoustic piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, organ, synthesizers
* Mike Rojas – accordion (9)
* David Levita – electric guitar, acoustic guitar (1)
* Michael Landau – electric guitar, guitar solo (3)
* Ilya Toshinsky – acoustic guitar, resonator guitar (1, 7)
* Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar (4, 6, 11), mandolin (4, 6, 11), banjo (5)
* Keith Urban – electric guitar (13)
* Dan Dugmore – steel guitar, lap steel guitar
* Paul Bushnell – bass guitar
* Shannon Forrest – drums, percussion
* Byron Gallimore – percussion (6), backing vocals (9)
* Marty Krystall – clarinet (9)
* Lee Thornburg – trumpet (9)
* William Roper – tuba (9)
* David Campbell – string arrangements (3, 7, 8, 10, 12), horn arrangements (9)
* The Nashville String Machine - strings (3, 7, 8, 10, 12)
* Greg Barnhill – backing vocals
* Joanna Cotten – backing vocals (2, 11)
* Chris Rodriguez – backing vocals (12)
* Taylor Swift – lead and backing vocals (13)

Musicians on "Truck Yeah (Live)"

* Tim McGraw – lead vocals
* Billy Nobel – keyboards, backing vocals
* Adam Shoenfeld – electric guitar
* Denny Hemingson – Melobar guitar
* Deano Brown – fiddle, backing vocals
* John Marcus – bass guitar
* Shawn Fichter – drums

### Production

* Byron Gallimore – producer, mixing (15)
* Tim McGraw – producer
* Julian King – recording (1-13), string recording (3, 7)
* Heath Stimmel – recording (14)
* Steve Churchyard – string recording (8, 10, 12), horn recording (9)
* Chris Lord-Alge – mixing (1–14)
* Stephen Allbritten – additional recording (1–14), recording assistant (1–14)
* Erik Lutkins – additional recording (1–14), mix assistant (15)
* David Bryant – recording assistant (1–13), string recording assistant (3, 7)
* Lowell Reynolds – recording assistant (1-13)
* Andrew Schubert – additional mixing (1–14), mix assistant (1–14)
* Brad Townsend – additional mixing (1–14), mix assistant (1–14)
* Keith Armstrong – mix assistant (1–14)
* Nik Karpen – mix assistant (1–14)
* Ted Jensen – mastering
* Sandi Spika Borchetta – creative director
* Kelly Clauge – creative director
* Glenn Sweitzer – art direction, design
* Nigel Parry – photography

Studios

* Recorded at Blackbird Studios (Nashville, Tennessee) and Essential Sound Studios (Franklin, Tennessee)
* Strings recorded at Blackbird Studios (Nashville, Tennessee) and Ocean Way Recording Hollywood, California)
* Mixed at Mix L.A. (Tarzana, California) and Essential Sound Studios (Franklin, Tennessee)
* Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York)

## Chart performance

### Weekly charts

| Chart (2013–2014) | Peak position |
| - | - |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) | 10 |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 4 |
| China Album Chart | 18 |
| US Billboard 200 | 2 |
| US Billboard Top Country Albums | 1 |
| US Billboard Top Digital Albums | 1 |
| UK Albums Chart | 43 |
| UK Country Albums (OCC) | 1 |

### Year-end charts

| Chart (2013) | Position |
| - | - |
| US Billboard 200 | 58 |
| US Top Country Albums (Billboard) | 14 |
| Chart (2014) | Position |
| US Top Country Albums (Billboard) | 75 |

### Singles

| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Year | Single | US Country | US Country Airplay | US | CAN Country | CAN |
| 2012 | "Truck Yeah" | 11 | 10 | 57 | — | 52 |
| 2012 | "One of Those Nights" | 3 | 1 | 32 | 1 | 38 |
| 2013 | "Highway Don't Care" | 4 | 1 | 22 | 2 | 21 |
| 2013 | "Southern Girl" | 4 | 2 | 42 | 1 | 61 |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart |||||||

## Certifications

| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| - | - | - |
| Canada (Music Canada) | Gold | $40,000^^$ |
| United States (RIAA) | Gold | $500,000^^$ |
| $^^$ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |||
