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By CURTIS ROSS

cross@tampatrib.com

Published: October 17, 2008

Talking to the Tribune in 2001, Tim McGraw was steamed because he said his label, Curb, had released his "Greatest Hits" album a year earlier without telling him.

And according to McGraw, they've done it again.

McGraw released a statement Tuesday apologizing for his latest album, "Greatest Hits, Vol. 3."

"I am saddened and disappointed that my label chose to put out another hits album instead of new music," McGraw said in the statement.

"I had no involvement in the creation or presentation of this record," McGraw said, pointing out that he had released only one album of new material since 2006's "Greatest Hits, Vol. 2."

He called the situation "an embarrassment to me as an artist" and concluded, "In the spirit of an election year, I would simply say to my fans, 'I'm Tim McGraw, and I don't approve their message.'"

McGraw is smart to distance himself from "Greatest Hits, Vol. 3," a shoddy collection that cannibalizes 2007's "Let It Go," adds cuts from older albums, tacks on some previously unavailable but inessential tracks and sells it to McGraw's fans as his "new" album.

Nashville is a notorious industry town, with producers and label heads calling the shots, and performers - it wasn't so long ago you'd be hard-pressed to hear a country artist refer to himself as "an artist," as McGraw did - going with the flow or finding themselves shut out.

On the other hand, McGraw is a huge star, a household name even to non-country fans. Surely this gives him some clout, no? Can you imagine this happening to Springsteen?

And he's still signed to Curb after all these contentious years. What were/are the terms of this contract, Tim? Don't you have a lawyer?

Like Keith Richards supposedly once said: Never sign anything, kids.

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