Tim McGraw has scored his 22nd number-one hit on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart this week with "Southern Voice." The tune is an up-tempo number, but it namechecks Southern icons such as Rosa Parks, William Faulkner, Scarlet O'Hara and Dolly Parton, among many others. Tim likes that intelligent bent to the song's lyrics, saying, "As an artist, one of the toughest things to do is find an up-tempo song that you actually like...They're usually mindless in a lot of ways." Tim hopes the success of "Southern Voice" causes some fans to go and look up some of the names he mentions in the song. It's the title cut from Tim's latest studio album, in stores now.

Southern Voice Lyrics...

Hank Williams sang it
Number 3 drove it
Chuck Berry twanged it
Will Faulkner wrote it
Aretha Franklin souled it
Dolly Parton graced it
Rosa Parks rode it
Scarlett O’ chased it 

Smooth as the hickory wind
That blows from Memphis down to Apalachicola
It’s, “Hi y’all! Did ya eat? Well?”
Come on in child
Sure glad to know ya
Don’t let this old gold cross
An’ this Allman Brothers t-shirt throw ya
It’s cicadas making noise
With a southern voice

Hank Aaron smacked it
Michael Jordan dunked it
Pocahontas tracked it
Jack Daniels drunk it
Tom Petty rocked it
Dr. King paved it
Bear Bryant won it
Billy Graham saved it

Smooth as the hickory wind
That blows from Memphis down to Apalachicola
It’s, “Hi y’all! Did ya eat well?”
Come on in I’m sure glad to know ya
Don’t let this old gold cross
An’ this Crimson Tide t-shirt throw ya
It’s cicadas making noise
With a southern voice

Jesus is my friend
America is my home
Sweet iced tea and Jerry Lee
Daytona Beach
That’s what gets to me
I can feel it in my bones

Smooth as the hickory wind
That blows from Memphis down to Apalachicola
It’s, “Hi y’all! Did ya eat well?”
Come on in child I’m sure glad to know ya
Don’t let this old gold cross
An’ this Charlie Daniels t-shirt throw ya
We’re just boys making noise
With a southern voice

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Southern Voice
I got a southern voice
A southern voice

 I didn't grow up in the South but I still love this song and all the namechecks as I love many of the icons thrown in...GREAT song!  I knew all the names but have to admit I looked up the lyrics because of cicada's, I didn't know what he was singing about until I saw the lyrics.  ~Vanessa