Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s Nephew Timothy Wayne Discusses His Famous Family and Forging His Own Path in Country Music

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s iconic country music careers almost kept their nephew from pursuing his passion in the field. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Timothy Wayne shared why he decided to dive into the music industry, despite his initial hesitations.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Uncle Tim and Aunt Faith were really the reason why I had never gone into music before and never really thought about it,” Wayne explained. “Not in a bad way, it’s not like they were keeping me from doing it. They encouraged me to do a lot of stuff. But it was mainly just when you grow up watching giants like that on the stage, it’s incredibly hard to look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I can do that, too.’”

In Wayne’s mind, watching McGraw and Hill “command crowds and command respect while still being extremely humble people” was a lot to live up to.

Still, he got interested in recording. Those songs impressed Wayne’s aunt and uncle so much that they encouraged him to pursue it.

“We had that conversation, they believed in me and they believed that I could do it,” Wayne said of McGraw and Hill. “Then I started, and then my mom and dad had always believed in me, and so I started having to believe in myself.”

Timothy Wayne Talks His Music Career

Though Wayne’s famous family members are all in support of his career, he doesn’t want any favors from them to make it big.

“When I first started—I mean, it’s still the same, I still have the same mindset—I didn’t want Tim involved at all because I wanted to stand on my own two feet, for lack of a better term,” Wayne explained. “But I mean, it didn’t take long for everybody to figure it out that we were related, and I just kind of had to embrace it.”

With that in mind, Wayne and McGraw agreed that the latter man could serve as the former one’s producer, but offer him no other help.

“If I’m going to do this, I have to do it on my own. I have to forge my own path,” he said. “Of course, he’s there to help with advice and anything that I need I can ask for. It’s a resource that I do have. But as far as reputation goes and singing songs and everything else I have to do, I have to forge that path.”

Wayne is excited to do just that, and only feels pressure from himself—not his aunt and uncle—along the way.

“I have a lot of pressure because maybe I don’t reach it, make it to Tim and Faith’s level, but I want to get close,” he said. “I want to do the best I can to build my own legacy, but to also make sure that my legacy reflects how good their legacy was at the same time.”

Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartRadio