Tim McGraw Lawsuit Brought By Curb Records

New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Curb Records) Curb Records on Friday filed a breach-of-contract suit in Davidson County Chancery Court against Tim McGraw in relation to McGraw's recording agreement with the label.

At issue is what's referred to as the 12 masters for the "Emotional Traffic" album that McGraw delivered to Curb in October of last year. Curb alleges in the complaint, which was obtained by Billboard, that McGraw recorded the album too early prior to its delivery "in a transparent tactic to attempt to fulfill his contractual recording commitment to Curb prematurely in breach of the recording agreement."

Curb's position in the suit is that McGraw's recordings must be "topical and new" and that the artist had agreed that each new album would be recorded "no earlier than 12 months and no later than 18 months" following the delivery of the previous album. The suit alleges McGraw began recording "Emotional Traffic" tracks "in 2008 or before," prior to the allowable period under contract, according to Curb.

Curb has been the only label home for McGraw, who released his eponymous first album in April of 1993; his first single, "Welcome to the Club," came in '92. In recent years, McGraw has been outspoken about his frustration with his label deal and his belief that he owed Curb just one more album after his most recent studio LP, "Southern Voice," released on Oct. 20, 2009.