In his role as keyboardist and vocalist, McMahon has shared the success of hits and landmarks with the celebrated country superstar Tim McGraw. In 2001, McMahon was singled out for recognition by the Academy of Country Music with a nomination for their "Musician of the Year/Keyboardist" award. November 2002 brought the release of Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors, which featured McMahon and the Dancehall Doctors in their first studio collaboration with the country superstar. The record received an Album of the Year nomination from the Country Music Association. Three of the four singles from the album reached the #1 spot on the charts, and the song "She's My Kind of Rain" received a GRAMMY® nomination in 2003.
Looking to continue this success, McGraw returned to the studio with his trusted road band to record the album Live Like You Were Dying. The triple-platinum album opened at #1 on both the country and pop charts and set a personal sales best with 765,739 copies in its first week of release. The album set the highest debut sales record of McGraw's career. The first single, "Live Like You Were Dying," broke the 30-year record with ten weeks at #1 on the Radio and Records country singles chart. The album received the American Music Award for Favorite Country Album as well as a Grammy nomination for Country Album of the Year.
The release of Tim McGraw Reflected: Hits Vol. 2, a collection of some of their biggest hits, marked the 9th consecutive #1 debut for McGraw on the Billboard Country Albums Chart. The album also opened at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.
While juggling a successful touring and recording career, McMahon is hard at work raising awareness and supporting cutting-edge research for brain tumor patients through the Tug McGraw Foundation. A current member of the board of directors, he is also an active participant of Team McGraw, a group that runs marathons all over the country in support of the Tug McGraw Foundation.
As his creative endeavors reach beyond the music industry, McMahon has also left his fingerprints on a number of literary projects. He authored an additional chapter for a special edition of baseball great Tug McGraw's bestselling autobiography titled Ya Gotta Believe! The book explores not only McGraw's life as a father and pitcher, but also his struggles with a brain tumor that ultimately took his life.
McMahon is also one of the celebrated country music artists highlighted in the book, Music Row Dogs and Nashville Cats (CMT Books/ Pocket Books). It is a stunning collection of photos and interviews featuring country music's hottest stars and their pets, including McMahon and Boomer, his family's Shih Tzu. McMahon was previously featured in the New York Times bestseller, Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors: This is Ours. The intriguing book explores how the band made their first album with McGraw, covering every aspect of the process – songwriting, recording, touring and performing.
When not performing with McGraw, McMahon may be found on the theatre stage. Some of his favorite roles include Bill Sikes in Oliver! and Saul in the musical Rags, and he has even tackled Shakespeare with the roles of Lucentio in Taming of the Shrew and Borachio in Much Ado About Nothing.
Born and raised in Texas, he discovered the piano at the age of three and enjoyed music throughout his school years. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. At the same time, he arranged and choreographed stage productions, recorded music for both film and radio, and performed with a number of local bands. Upon graduation, he pursued the stability of a "real job" while music remained only a hobby; however, it was only a short time before his lifelong love of music won out. Two years of local bands, country bars, and dance clubs provided some successes, and in 1991, McMahon made the professional leap to Nashville. There, McMahon met aspiring singer Tim McGraw, with whom he has performed, toured, and recorded as a Dancehall Doctor for more than a decade.
