CD review: Tim McGraw “Two Lanes of Freedom”

A version of this review appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

Country/rock

Tim McGraw “Two Lanes of Freedom” (Big Machine Records)

After his protracted legal battle with longtime label Curb Records, it’s no wonder country music superstar Tim McGraw sounds so revved up on “Two Lanes of Freedom,” his debut album on Big Machine Records.

McGraw has shown a penchant for mixing musical styles before — he has collaborated with Nelly, Ne-Yo and Def Leppard, after all — and he has rocked this hard on past albums, most recently on his 2012 Curb release “Emotional Traffic.”

But “Two Lanes of Freedom,” the three time Grammy winner’s 14th No. 1 album debut on the Billboard Country Albums chart, has an undeniably refreshed and relaxed vibe even as it hearkens back to sonic themes the music veteran has explored at earlier junctures in his 20-year career.

The title track, a romantic road song that opens the album, sets a free-spirited tone that only gets more dreamily buoyant with his latest top 10 hit, “One of Those Nights.” The Louisiana native upholds his reputation as a smooth country balladeer with “Friend of a Friend,” about a lost love that refuses to fade away; “Book of John,” a heartfelt memoriam to a lost patriarch; and “Number 37405,” an earnest story song about a drunken driver paying for his past sins.