Stage vs. studio...

or, Another blog commenter nails it here:

Tim McGraw put on a great "show" by appealing to the crowd but his vocals were terrible, I don't think he hit a single high note all night and certainly didn't sound anything like his album cuts. That's the problem with Nashville country, its mostly smoke and mirrors.

If you want to hear real music then check out some Texas Country.

I remember seeing TM on the Strait tours and having the very same complaint. For the most part he doesn't sound much on stage like he does in the studio. How many other singers are like that I don't know, but I'd bet most of them are Nashville creatures. I've seen several of the Texas-red dirt singers live, among them Cory Morrow, Robert Earl Keen and Cross Canadian Ragweed, and they all sound live exactly like they do on their records. And I don't have any reason to believe that, for another couple of examples, the Robison brothers and Jack Ingram needed any help with their vocals when they recorded this cd at Gruene Hall. I know a lot of people are going to say that the Texas-red dirt folks aren't really good singers, but to the extent they aren't, they more than make up for that with the grit in the lyrical content and the passion with which they sing.

Another commenter a few minutes later said, "I think he may have had a little too much fun at the Oscars the night before....but he sure looked good!!"

In other words, "He didn't put on his best show, but he sure was perty to look at!" That seems to be the modern Nashville music fan's mentality in a nutshell, doesn't it?