The Cowboy in Me

"The Cowboy in Me" is a song written by Jeffrey Steele, Al Anderson and Craig Wiseman, and performed by American country music artist Tim McGraw. It was released in November 2001 as the third single from McGraw's Set This Circus Down album. The song reached Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. It reached Number One one week after McGraw's duet with Jo Dee Messina, "Bring On the Rain".

Content

In this song, Tim McGraw is acknowledging the destructive and sometimes selfish side of his personality, which he identifies as "the cowboy in [him]."

Background

One of the writers of the song, Al Anderson, told Songfacts.com he is proud of the song, even though it is not particularly personal to him: "I was just writing the song. Jeff Steele came in with the idea and he had some of it done already, and he and Craig Wiseman just finished it with him." he said. "So it has nothing to do with my life. I don't do that that much." Anderson then said he drew inspiration from the trucker radio stations that he listened to as a child when he wrote this song: "My mom used to let me go to sleep with the radio on and I could get WBBD when I was a kid, in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was a trucker station and it came in at night all over the country. So when I was 8, 9 years old, I was glued to that station at night. I fell asleep with it every night."

Kutless (album)

Kutless is the self-titled debut album of Christian rock group, Kutless, released in 2002. The songs "Run" and "Your Touch" both reached No. 1 song on ChristianRock.net, and "Tonight" was in the Top 5. The album reached The Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums chart peaking at No. 48. The album also reached the Billboard Christian Albums chart peaking at No. 27. It is the only Kutless album to feature bassist Nathan Stuart, who left the band in the same year.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Kutless. 

Band members

Music videos

Three music videos were released for this album, the most of any Kutless album to date. The video for "Your Touch" consists of the band playing in an empty building and walking around the streets surrounding it. The video for "Tonight" includes many varied shots of the band on tour, from playing on stage to talking to fans to many other activities. Finally, the video for "Run" shows the band playing in a dark room while the video tells a story of a woman and a man who argue over a Bible that belongs to one of them, and it ends with the woman sitting down and reading the Bible. All three of these videos were included on various compilation DVDs, as well as the special edition DVD of Kutless' album Hearts of the Innocent.