Following high school graduation, he attended Northeast Louisiana University on a baseball scholarship, where he was a pre-law major and pledged as a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

[3] In 1989, on the day his hero Keith Whitley died,[9] McGraw dropped out of college to head to Nashville and pursue a musical career.

Four of those singles - "It's Your Love" (a duet with Faith Hill), the title track, "Where the Green Grass Grows", and "Just to See You Smile" - reached number one on the country charts.

A cover of "Milk Cow Blues", this song was recorded as a duet with Asleep at the Wheel, whom he had met while performing together at the George Strait Country Music Festival.

[9] Her follow-up album, 1999's Breathe, featured "Let's Make Love", which won a Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Collaboration in 2000.

During a concert with the George Strait Country Music Festival several weeks later, Hill, dressed as a police officer, made an unscheduled appearance at the end of McGraw's set and led him off the stage.

The album also features a cover of Elton John's early-1970s classic "Tiny Dancer," as well as duets with Kim Carnes on "Comfort Me" (a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks) and Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles on "Illegal."

The album's first single and its title track was dedicated to his father Tug McGraw, who died of a brain tumor earlier in the year, was an ode to living life fully and in the moment.

In late 2004, his unlikely duet with hip hop artist Nelly on "Over and Over" became a crossover hit,[34] spending 10 weeks atop the top 40 chart.

During the Academy of Country Music awards show on May 15, 2007, McGraw performed a song titled "If You're Reading This", which he co-wrote with The Warren Brothers.

McGraw's twelfth studio album, Southern Voice, was released October 20, 2009, and led by the single "It's A Business Doing Pleasure With You", which was shipped to radio outlets in late June 2009.

[43] Southern Voice was argued to be McGraw's last album for Curb Records, following the dispute over releasing his third Greatest Hits collection back in October 2008 without his permission.

On January 2, 2011, McGraw announced plans for his Emotional Traffic Tour featuring opening acts Luke Bryan and The Band Perry.

[48] Several days later, McGraw filed a counter suit against the label seeking advance payment and recording-fund reimbursement, unspecified damages, and a jury trial.

[56] The album includes the singles "Truck Yeah", "One of Those Nights", "Highway Don't Care" (a duet with Taylor Swift which also features Keith Urban on lead guitar), and "Southern Girl".

[66][67] The release of the album coincided with the opening of an exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum titled Mississippi Woman, Louisiana Man, which celebrates the careers of both McGraw and Hill.

[73] On October 9, 2021, McGraw confronted a heckler at a performance at the Nugget Events Center in Sparks, Nevada, after he forgot the words to his song "Just to See You Smile."

Later in the same year, McGraw received critical acclaim as the overbearing father of running back "Donald Billingsley" in the major studio Texas high school football drama Friday Night Lights.

In the remake of the classic book My Friend Flicka, McGraw played the father, Rob, costarring with Alison Lohman and Maria Bello.

[80] McGraw also had a small part in the Michael Mann–produced 2007 film The Kingdom, reuniting him with Friday Night Lights director Peter Berg.

The Blind Side is based on the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in and adopted by the Tuohys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential.

[citation needed] 1883, a spinoff prequel to Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone television series was released in late 2021 and stars McGraw, Faith Hill, and Sam Elliott.

[87] From 1996 to 1999, McGraw hosted an annual New Year's Eve concert in Nashville with special guests including Jeff Foxworthy, the Dixie Chicks, and Martina McBride.

Beginning in 1999, McGraw would pick select cities on each tour, and the night before he was scheduled to perform, would choose a local club and host a quickly-organized show.

He supports the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, the David Foster Foundation, which helps families of children in need of organ transplants, and Musicians on Call, which brings music to hospital patients' bedsides.

Hill and McGraw gave the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society $375,000 (the entire gate receipts from one of their concerts) to assist the families of 17 sailors following the terrorist attack on USS Cole, the guided-missile destroyer that suffered significant damage in the Gulf of Aden, Yemen on October 12, 2000.

[89] Later in the year, the couple established the Neighbor's Keeper Foundation, which provides funding for community charities to assist with basic humanitarian services, in the event of a natural disaster, or for desperate personal circumstances.

The Brett Favre Fourward Foundation has featured McGraw performing concerts during dinners and auctions that benefit children with disabilities in Wisconsin and Mississippi.

[92] In April 2023, McGraw surprised rising country star Brandon Davis, whom he previously brought on tour with him in 2022, with a new guitar after all of his gear was stolen earlier in the month.

[94] In a 2008 interview with People magazine, McGraw referred to himself as a "Blue Dog Democrat" and stated that he and his family support Barack Obama.