Since Damn Country Music came out in 2015 it sold over 217,900 copies as of October 2016. Many of the songs in the album relate to Tim’s efforts to stay true to his values that ties into “Humble and Kind” in which Tim discusses when the spot light is on you to always stay humble as if you were not in the spotlight. The album cover, Damn Country Music portrays him in a similar spotlight. In the album cover of Tim McGraw’s, Damn Country Music some points of the visual text present this duality between Tim McGraw in the spotlight and Tim McGraw as a normal country boy by using the clear and vivid presentation of the wording, the placement, the colors, and Tim McGraw’s clothing. 

 The first thing that standouts is how Tim is in a box outside in a field. It is striking that they put this box in a field because fields are natural environment. Placing the box in a field emphasizes this comparison between this artificial box and this natural environment. Some people might not look at it that way but in reality you have a country singer, you use country symbols to draw in another person who listens to country music. In this album cover, Tim’s boots, his hat, the field and the words “Country Music” all connect to working or living in the country but this is contrasted however with his placement in the box which is disconnecting him from the country symbols. He can wear these country symbols which means he is still connected to country music but in a sense he is also disconnected from the real country by being in this artificial box.  

 In this album cover there are a wide variety of colors. Many of these colors are used to contrast each other which sets up different dualities. There are bright colors such as the blue sky and there are darks such as the black words. The bright colors show that country music can be happy at times and the dark colors seem to make country music sometimes sad. The way the album cover uses the white box makes it stand out in the field because white is a very neutral color and a has very artificial structure. White complements the picture because white goes with everything by correlating with the sky because there are elements of white in the sky and clouds. With the way dark colors are used like black which is a strong color, points out how white and black contrast with each other being neutral to one another. When looking at the album cover, as a viewer you first notice the black wording. With the use of this bold color it grabs your attention with strong contrast. These multiple types of contrasting colors contribute to the overarching dualistic theme of this album cover.  

The way Tim McGraw’s name and how, Damn Country Music was written, makes you sit and think. What was the purpose of writing the name of the artist and album name differently? The name shows you a more formal look, like a name tag. It looks like someone used a name machine and printed out Tim’s last name. With it being the artist, the label wanted you to fully get the image of professionalism because Tim McGraw is a well-known country singer who names has become a brand. Tim McGraw is well known for his music so they are visually giving you the country artist image. His last name is a brand because the audience does not need to know the first name, they just look and already know who he is. You do not necessarily need a brand to know who Tim McGraw is because he is already so well known for his music. His name is more so stamped and uniformed by using the block letters. It pulls you in by using his last name so broadly to let you know who he is. It demonstrates more attention to the name than the album title because of the way it visually puts it out there for you by making the name so bold and blocky. It makes it seem less realistic when they put the name tag rather than his signature. It is like someone else doing it rather than Tim McGraw. In the perspective of it, you imagine someone making a name tag for Tim and just going up and sticking it to the album cover. The way they wrote Damn Country Music would make you think totally opposite of professionalism. It is as if Tim got a paint brush and threw paint onto a wall. The purpose was to really give you the feel that, not always will things be perfect or in order. The contrast between the two different writings visually draws attention to Tim McGraw as a brand and Damn Country Music as Tim’s artistic expression. 

It is interesting that while Tim McGraw is in the box he is looking out of the window. Visually it makes you wonder what was the purpose of putting a window inside of a box. If you really think about it as you look at it, perhaps the air coming and going through the window is symbolic to things coming and going in life. In life you have people that come and go as well. In this album, some of Tim’s songs are talking about life and how you need to keep proceeding forward or always staying true to yourself. With the window being in the box, life can be like a box. You feel closed up or alone or you can look at the bigger picture for instance the window and realize what you have in life and how blessed you are. The window is a good example as to looking at the brighter side. The image of Tim looking out the window illustrates how Tim is aware of the difference of him being in the box than being in the real country outside of the window. 

Looking at this album cover one can see the series of contrasting colors, symbols of country, the fonts of the wording, and the comparison of being in the artificial box rather than being in the real country. The visual aspect of looking at the album cover presents multiply ways the album cover compares to the feel of country. When looking at the album cover there is a clear and vivid image of a field with a box in it. The way the grass looks like it is moving looks real almost to the point of seeing bugs or insects in the grass. In contrast in which Tim McGraw stands is artificial and stark. The purpose of this album cover is to bring focus on country music and all of the different ways emotion can be brought into the picture. 