Country music musician Jeff McMahon recently stopped by San Antonio while performing as keyboardist with the multi-platinum recording artist Tim McGraw and his band, the Dancehall Doctors, on the 33-city “Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors OUT LOUD Summer Tour 2004.”

Singled out for recognition by the Academy of Country Music, McMahon was nominated for the “Musician of the Year/Keyboardist” award in 2001. 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 album set the highest debut sales record of McGraw’s career. The record received an Album of the Year nomination from the Country Music Association. Three of the four singles from the album reached the No. 1 spot on the charts, and the song “She’s My Kind of Rain” received a Grammy nomination in 2003.

According to McMahon, “Tim had us in the studio because he knew exactly what he wanted from the album.”

McMahon also said that McGraw’s decision to work with his road band versus studio artists was not a popular one among many in the industry in Nashville. “It’s not the norm. And anytime you have a formula that works, going against standard operation procedure is going to raise some skepticism.” The album did such a good job of proving the skeptics wrong by being a raving success that McGraw bought each of the members a classic car as a Christmas/thank you gift.

In addition to his performing and recording schedule, McMahon is featured in upcoming book and film projects. McMahon is one of the celebrated country music artists highlighted in the newly released 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. Proceeds from the book will be donated to build a new Nashville animal shelter. When we talked with McMahon, he said that he had to drive Boomer to Nashville from his parents’ place in Dallas.

“Once he realized we weren’t going to the vet, he was fine with the road trip,” joked McMahon

Born and raised in Texas, McMahon 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. 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 local 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. Although playing for 20,000 is an experience most of us will never realize, McMahon remembers playing for smaller audiences on the way up the music road.

“I remember when there were only ten people in the bar and you were grateful not to have to play to an empty room,” he said. McMahon is humble about and thankful for his success. “I’m just appreciative. I’m glad to be able to do what I love to do. I never thought of this as a career path. I got a degree and was looking for a job. I just wanted to play music.”

An emerging actor, McMahon will make his motion picture debut this fall as a university professor in Red Lightning, an independent feature by up-and-coming director and writer Josh Eisenstadt. Also this past year, as one of a team of actors, he completed a short film that was submitted to the national 48-Hour Film Contest and won awards for both graphics and editing. On stage, he has performed in the musicals Oliver! and Rags, as well as in a recent production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.