Tim McGraw Reflects on Times in His Life When Van Halen ‘Was the Soundtrack’

Legendary Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen recently died at age 65 after a battle with cancer, and he has since received an outpouring of tributes from friends and fans. One of those fans was Tim McGraw, who used Instagram late Tuesday night to post a throwback photo of Van Halen on stage, jumping into the guitar with a guitar in his hands.

“I can’t even begin to describe the times in my life where Van Halen music was the soundtrack!!!!” McGraw began his caption, naming “High school” and “College spring breaks( will not share those stories…)” as two of the times he recalls listening to “Just great rock music that became a touchstone for the times we grew up in…….”

“I mean come on! That flat out rocked and spoke to us our time….,” he continued before sharing how he would be paying tribute to the late musician. “I think I’ll kick back tonight, put on some Van Halen music…and remember.”

McGraw was one of many country stars to pay tribute to Van Halen on social media — Keith Urban and Brad Paisley, who are renowned guitar players themselves, also remembered the late musician.

“Just heard the news of Eddie Van Halen’s passing ….. this hit me hard,” Urban captioned a photo of Van Halen on stage. “There are lots of great guitar players in the world, but very VERY few true innovators. Players who seem to have arrived from a far distant planet , and who bring a completely new color to the rainbow.”

“Eddie Van Halen was this and so much more,” he continued. “Even without the finger tapping, you had a player with extraordinary touch, tone, and a rhythmic pocket and bounce that floated like Ali in the ring. He was a master of complex solos that spoke to non musicians…THAT IS HARD TO DO. The reason was the exquisite melody in his heart, and the joy in his soul of playing FOR people – and it came through like a ray of sun we ALL felt.”

Paisley wrote that he “loved everything about the fire and style he brought to the guitar. I studied him, heck everybody did, we all wanted to play just like him. But no one did it quite like him. Thank you Eddie for being a pioneer. It’s unimaginable what the guitar would be without you.”