Cowboys & Indians / September 2009 / Brad Paisley's life and latest CD: an American-style good time

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Brad Paisley's life and latest CD: an American-style good time

Paisley may be a Grammy Award-winning artist, but he and his wife are just an ordinary couple who can take their family to dinner

It's a Saturday night in Franklin, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville. On Brad Paisley's agenda?

"Go out to eat early, play the Grand Ole Opry around 9, or have some friends over for a movie in the barn," says the 36-year-old country music superstar.

Paisley and his wife of six years, actress Kimberly Williams, spend most of their downtime on their 85-acre spread in Franklin, where they're raising their sons William Huckleberry, born in 2007, and Jasper Warren, born last April, along with "horses and cattle and a few geese."

Paisley may be a Grammy Award-winning artist with 14 No. 1 songs to his credit and Williams may be a household name since her breakout role in 1992's Father of the Bride (she most recently completed a multiyear run on the TV sitcom According to Jim), but in Tennessee they're just an ordinary couple who can take their family to dinner at the Cracker Barrel without attracting too much attention.

"We don't have paparazzi in Nashville," Paisley says. "And anyway, I'm far off the radar. The paparazzi has figured out who to follow, and it isn't me."

When he's in L.A. at his other place in Pacific Palisades, he can have plenty celebrity sightings of his own.

"When I'm gassing up my car, I might look over and there's Anthony Hopkins or Tom Hanks," Paisley says. Even so, his favorite Saturday night in California is a far cry from the Hollywood scene. Instead, it's "camping out at Lake Casitas, going fishing, and having a big ol' bonfire."

For most of 2009, however, Paisley's Saturday nights are going to be spent on the road with his 44-city concert tour. The tour kicked off — with Paisley's band, the Drama Kings — on June 5 and goes through October 24 to support the June 30 release of the new CD (you guessed it), American Saturday Night.

"I get so psyched about being on the road," Paisley says. "I just love it. I lived my whole life as a kid wanting to be a country music singer."

Growing up in Glen Dale, West Virginia, Paisley would watch his favorite country singers' tour buses roll into town.

"I'd stand outside on the street, and I'd see people like George Jones or Steve Wariner walk down the alley and take the stage. And I'd think, If I could get to the place where I've got my own bus and go from town to town and sing my songs, that would be the greatest thing in the world."

It wasn't long before Paisley got to work on his fantasy. He was 8 years old when he was given his first guitar by his maternal grandfather, Warren Jarvis, whom he credits with instilling in him a deep appreciation for country music. In addition to old-school country music, his early musical influences included hints of bluegrass and Southern rock.

He wrote his first song at 12 and within a year was performing as an opening act for the likes of Jones and Ricky Skaggs at Wheeling's Capitol Music Hall. "[I performed on] a country music show that was every Saturday night and had big names come in to play," he says.

Parlaying his musicianship into opportunity, Paisley earned a full scholarship from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers — more commonly known as ASCAP — to attend Belmont University in Nashville. There he met fellow student Frank Rogers, who would later serve as his producer, and Kelley Lovelace, who continues to be his frequent songwriting partner (and who most recently collaborated with him on the title cut from American Saturday Night).

After Belmont, Paisley was signed to a songwriting contract by EMI Music Public and wrote or co-wrote tunes for David Kersh and David Ball. But he didn't score his biggest hits until he was the one doing the singing.

In 1999 he charted for the first time with "Who Needs Pictures," the title song from his debut album for Arista Nashville. Seven months later he topped the country charts with his first No. 1 smash, "He Didn't Have to Be."

Flash-forward 10 years, and you'll find Paisley playing whatever guitar he wants — these days his favorite is a pink Paisley (what else?) Telecaster — and still scoring at the top of the charts. In fact, "Then" — the first single from American Saturday Night — was his 10th consecutive No. 1 country single, extending a streak already unmatched by any other country artist in the 19-year history of Nielsen BDS-monitored airplay.

He's got the hits. He's go the fans. He's got the bus. Paisley's old childhood dream has way more than come true. But he's not one to take his good fortune for granted.

"I remember back during the first couple of years of my career, there was a pretty long stretch between No. 1's," he says. "For instance, my second album, Part Two, and my third album, Mud on the Tires, each had only one song go to No. 1, I believe."

Hits like "Whiskey Lullaby" and "Celebrity" may have gained Paisley popularity, but neither made it to the top of the charts, which makes Paisley appreciate his current success all the more.

"It's a knock-down, drag-out fight to get a song up to No. 1," he says. "And I think I've got just about the best promotional staff I've ever seen at my label now. I'm proud of them for doing this for me."

Fortunately for that promotional staff, they have a first-rate product to sell in American Saturday Night. Boasting a strong song lineup that runs the gamut from the party-hearty exuberance of the title number, a rousing celebration of all the foreign influences that go into the American melting pot, to the straight-from-the-heart emotion of "Then," the chart-topping ballad Paisley first performed as a guest on American Idol, the new album is guaranteed to please longtime fans and attract new ones.

Paisley is especially proud of "Welcome to the Future," a hard-rocking good-time tune that persuasively makes a case for hopeful optimism — and gratefully acknowledges social progress — during what might seem like the harshest of hard times.

"I didn't want to make a purely feel-good album at a time when war is raging and there's an economic crisis like most of us have never seen before in our lives. These things are on the minds of people," he says. "But at the same time, I think we all feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel. And so this album is meant to be the one you play in the car while you're driving through the tunnel."

Paisley's fans are no doubt eager to see the latest round of music videos promoting American Saturday Night. A four-time winner of the Country Music Association's Music Video of the Year Award, he never fails to deliver winning videos. Among the many Paisley videos bagging awards and racking up millions of views on YouTube is 2002's CMT Award-winning "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)," which featured an appearance by Kimberly Williams, whom he was dating at the time and married the following year.

With demanding careers that put both of them in the spotlight, what's the key to domestic bliss? According to Paisley, it helps when you and your spouse are in the same business.

"Kimberly knows what it's like to do an all-day satellite TV tour, one interview after another, because she does the same thing for things she's promoting. She knows what it's like to do eight hours of the same questions over and over again."

On the other hand, Paisley says, it also helps when you're not competing.

"Yeah, it's a good thing that we're not both singers. It's really the perfect match. I think maybe that's why Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman have worked out so well. And Clint Black and Lisa Hartman. It's a case of, they feel your pain — but they don't want to be in your shoes. That's a good thing. I don't want to be an actor. I mean, I'll do it for videos. And I probably could do it. I think I'm someone who would actually have that ability if I worked at it. But I'm not foolish enough to think that just because I stand up on a stage and sing that I have any sort of talent for acting."

Paisley admits to sometimes becoming weary of the hard work that goes into keeping his music career at the highest level.

"I'm very hands-on," he says. "And it's a lot of work. You're all over the place. You're traveling all the time so much, sometimes you can't remember the last city you've been in. It all hits you in waves, too. And right now is one of those waves."

Prior to going on tour for five months, Paisley was consumed with rehearsing, gearing up for the new album to come out, learning songs, and figuring out how to perform them onstage.

"There are times I feel like I have to raise my hand and ask, 'Okay, I know this is the schedule — but when do I sleep?' And someone'll say, 'Oh, well, there's five hours where you'll be free.'"

Bone tired maybe. But still, as he sings on the title track from American Saturday Night, "When my great-great-great-granddaddy stepped off of that ship I bet he never ever dreamed we'd have all this."

By this, he means the American dream. Being on the road living it and singing it. The hard work, the freedom, the blessings. The kind of stuff you celebrate on a Saturday night.

"I wouldn't want to do anything else — it's the greatest thing in the world, " Paisley says. "I'm really lucky."

 

So much cooler on TV

Hilarious or heartbreaking, a Brad Paisley music video is never dull. These are some of his most memorable clips.

Whiskey Lullaby (2004)
A soldier returns home to find his wife with another man and drinks himself to death. His wife, heartbroken over her betrayal, follows the same path to self-destruction. In just five minutes, "Whiskey Lullaby" tells a story more heart-rending than most 90-minute films. It's hard to imagine a more perfect blend of performance (by Rick Schroeder and Marisa Petroro as the tragic couple), ethereal melody, and haunting lyric sung by Paisley and Alison Krauss. The clip earned Video of the Year honors from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association and was the No. 2 pick on CMT's list of the 100 Greatest Music Videos. Just try not to cry at the end.

Celebrity (2003)
A fame-seeking Paisley appears on satiric versions of American Idol, Fear Factor, and The Bachelor, where he is roundly ridiculed by the likes of William Shatner. This funny, self-deprecating salute to the quest for stardom features cameos from Jason Alexander, Jim Belushi, and Little Jimmy Dickens.

I'm Gonna Miss Her (2002)
Paisley's wife, Kimberly Williams, appears as an issuer of ultimatums who, despite looking like Kimberly Williams, still places second to a day of bass fishing. Also appearing in the video are Jerry Springer and sportscaster Dan Patrick, who provides amusingly deadpan play-by-play: "This just in — Brad's got a bite."

Waitin' On A Woman (2008)
Another ACM and CMA Video of the Year, "Waitin' on a Woman" is entertaining even before the music kicks in, as Paisley leaves a series of increasingly irritated phone messages for a girlfriend who is running late. Then he meets an old Southern gentleman, played by Andy Griffith, who reminds him that the wait is always worth it.

Online (2007)
A "Celebrity" reunion of sorts that also won Video of the Year honors from the ACM and CMA. William Shatner and Jason Alexander return for the story of a nerdy pizza deliveryman who is "so much cooler online." Estelle Harris reprises her Seinfeld role of Alexander's mother. Also along for the ride are a trio of crush-inducing blondes: Maureen McCormick, Kellie Pickler, and Taylor Swift.

When I Get Where I'm Going (2005)
A simple concept, tenderly envisioned — footage of Paisley singing of heavenly reunions is intercut with images of the famous and the anonymous holding up photos of departed loved ones. Among the notables are Michael Reagan, John Carter Cash, Teresa Earnhardt, and Dolly Parton, who also sings on the record.

Start A Band (2008)
Paisley and Keith Urban trade virtuoso guitar licks in this tongue-in-cheek clip that illustrates the benefits of band membership. As one YouTube comment on this video exclaimed, "Brad is a freak of guitar greatness!!!!"

Mud On The Tires (2004)
At the seriously mud-slinging Muddstock '04, Paisley extols the virtues of breaking in a new Chevy truck. Little Jimmy Dickens is back once again for a video that also parodies a famously muddy beer commercial — you'll know it when you see it.

—David Hofstede

 

Backstage with the band

We asked Paisley's bandmates about the real guy behind the guitar and the hit songs.

Cowboys & Indians: What's it like to tour and play with Brad?
Kendal Marcy (keyboards, banjo, vocals): Imagine riding in Willie Wonka's magic elevator with Buck Owens and John Mayer alternating out of the speakers.

C&I: What's something most people don't know about him?
Marcy: Brad has won the national hot-dog-eating championship.
Ben Sesar (drums): The wheels in his mind are always turning. I don't know how he sleeps. At any point in the day he could be thinking about a multitude of topics: creative elements of his show, family, his guitar rig, etc. If you know Brad Paisley, you've experienced a conversation where one moment you have his full attention, and the next, he's looking at you but he's gone, tuned-out, not to be heard from again. Those wheels are spinning.

C&I: Favorite Paisley songs?
Marcy: There are many songs that fit this category for me; however, I will choose "Throttleneck" from 5th Gear. The overall musicianship on this song truly reflects what Brad is about, and his ability to seamlessly move from genre to genre is evident. Brad is a great singer and songwriter, but it is his guitar playing that puts him in the stratosphere. It turned out to be Brad's first Grammy, too.
Sesar: One of my faves is "Letter to Me." I say this from the standpoint of a fan of music as well as a player. Simply put, it's a perfectly written song — beautiful in its simplicity and its ability to tell a story in a way that everyone can relate. Brad delivers this song with a sincerity that hits you in the middle of your bones. It's just a brilliant work of art.

C&I: Any stories behind the songs on American Saturday Night?
Marcy: "Welcome to the Future" was written close to the end of the album due date and therefore was one of the last songs recorded. I had come down to the studio to hang out and they had just finished up "No." They set up to track "Future" and Brad asked me to go in and track piano while Gordon Mote played the futuristic keyboard part. As we ran through the song, everyone in the room knew that this song was going to be a defining moment for Brad Paisley — and I'm honored to be a part of it.

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