"It was like going away to summer camp," he says. "You've got all these guys that are your best friends who you've traveled around with forever and you go to the top of this great mountain, with snow outside and fireplaces inside. We were actually giddy about getting there."
Capping it all is the fact that collectively they produced an album that has already given Tim's incredible career another stellar moment. The CD's first single and title track, "Live Like You Were Dying," became one of his fastest-to-the-top singles ever. The Tim Nichols/Craig Wiseman-penned smash is, among other things, testament to Tim's long-proven ability to tap Nashville's best writers for their most profound and touching work.
"It's just a great song," he says. "Probably anybody could have recorded it and had a big hit, but it helps that we're in a great place in our career--things just seem to keep getting better. Five years ago I figured we were at the top of our game and that was the best it was going to get, but with every album it seems to keep on building on itself."
Collectively, Tim's achievements are as remarkable as they are numerous: 9 albums spawning 23 #1 singles and selling 30 million copies, tours that consistently rank near the top in financial and entertainment terms, and scores of awards and among those a 2001 CMA Entertainer of the Year nod, a Grammy and the 2004 People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Musical Performer. He is one of only three men ever to grace the cover of Redbook, his NBC Live Concert Special in 2002 ranked higher than specials by U2 and Paul McCartney, he was the headline act at the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Concert, and on October 15, 2004 he makes his major motion picture debut with a role in the Universal/Imagine film "Friday Night Lights" with Billy Bob Thornton.
Many artists have achieved great longevity or amazing levels of success, but Tim's career has indeed been remarkable for the way in which both have been intertwined for so long. That makes Tim's decision to reinvent a major portion of that career, combining road and studio into a seamless whole, that much more impressive. For Tim, though, the logic lies in the results.
"Using the band on the records brings a new kind of honesty to the sound and makes what we do on stage that much purer to the vision we had originally," he says. "It is also a huge comfort being in the studio with those guys and singing to their tracks. We brought a confidence level into recording this time. We knew we could make a great record because we had the confidence of the last album. We were then able to go further, take it to another level. "
That comfort and honesty show throughout the 16-song collection (there is also a bonus track). Drawing on some of the genre's best writers, including Rodney Crowell, Bruce Robison, Casey Beathard, Anthony Smith, Bob DiPiero and Don Schlitz, Tim and the Doctors journey through a range of styles and emotions, with their years as a working unit holding it all together. Tim, long-time producer Byron Gallimore and second-time producer/Dancehall Doctor Darran Smith produced the record and for the first time Tim and Byron mixed it as well to maintain a sound that was true to the visions of the band.
"This record has a really personal feel to it," he says. "It's almost a tapestry of life, not just for us but in general, and I think a lot of people will be able to relate to it, and will be able to jump into this record and flow downstream with it."
That ability to connect emotionally with an audience is on display throughout Live Like You Were Dying. It's an ability that begins with his selection process.
"'Walk Like A Man,' for instance, is a song that probably hits home with a lot of people," he says. "It certainly touches on some of my growing up. It's a really personal song in a lot of ways, but you can say there's something personal about every song." Other favorites include "Back When,” "Blank Sheet Of Paper," written by his friends the Warren Brothers with Don Schlitz ("That's one of the most unique angles I've ever heard in a song, from the point of view of a blank sheet of paper") and "Kill Myself," which Tim describes as "probably my favorite song I've ever done."
