Hear Tim McGraw’s Sorrowful New Song ‘Neon Church’

Tim McGraw is searching for a little barroom salvation in “Neon Church,” one of two new songs the country superstar released on Thursday. “Neon Church” is the lead single from an upcoming album project, McGraw’s first solo release since 2015’s Damn Country Music and his crosstown move to Sony Music Nashville.

“I need Jesus or I need whiskey / Whatever works best to get me through getting over you,” McGraw sings in the opening line of the ballad, setting the scene. To ease his troubles, he gravitates to a smoky room and a party crowd, mixing religious imagery with an entirely different kind of spirit as he sings of “Johnny Walker healing” and “unholy water.” The song was written by Ben Goldsmith, Ross Ellis Lipsey and Ben Stennis.

As a bonus, McGraw also shared the bittersweet new song “Thought About You,” a sweeping rocker penned by Lee Thomas Miller, Brad Warren and Brett Warren that deals with missed opportunities and lingering memories years after the end of a relationship. “I thought about you, I thought about God, everything love is, and everything it’s not,” he sings in the chorus. McGraw’s longtime collaborator Byron Gallimore produced both “Thought About You” and “Neon Church.”

Most recently, McGraw shared top billing with wife Faith Hill, both as stage partners on their joint Soul2Soul Tour and on their first-ever duets album The Rest of Our Life, which was released in November 2017.