Tag Archives: Brad Paisley

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Song of the Day #1,135: ‘Time Warp’ – Brad Paisley

Brad Paisley’s sixth album, 2008’s Play, is a predominantly instrumental record. Eleven of its 16 tracks are music-only, showcasing the guitar chops that were overshadowed on his early records.

In an NPR interview recorded after the release of Mud On the Tires, Paisley lamented that he wasn’t known as a guitar player first and a country music singer second. The instrument is his first love and his playing is the aspect of his music in which he takes the most pride. To this day, his dream is to share a stage with Eric Clapton.

In that interview, Paisley announced his intention to one day record an instrumental album, and presumably the success of Mud On the Tires and its two smash follow-ups gave him the clout to do just that.

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Song of the Day #1,129: ‘Mr. Policeman’ – Brad Paisley

‘Letter to Me’ is one of Brad Paisley’s most heartfelt songs, but 5th Gear features plenty of his trademark smart-ass tunes as well.

‘Online’ is a hilarious send-up of people who hide behind the anonymity of internet message boards (and it was accompanied by another funny video performance by Jason Alexander). ‘Ticks’ is a mischievous come-on in which the singer offers to take his date on a walk through the wildflowers so he can take her home and check her for ticks.

My favorite of the fun songs in ‘Mr. Policeman,’ in which Paisley taunts law enforcement while hot-rodding around the city.

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Song of the Day #1,128: ‘Letter to Me’ – Brad Paisley

In 2007, Brad Paisley released his fifth album, 5th Gear. This album has the same structure and sensibility as his previous two but it doesn’t quite live up to their standard. If I were ranking his albums best to worst, 5th Gear would come in fifth (appropriately), ahead of his first two more cautious efforts but behind the string of stellar LPs he kicked off with Mud On the Tires.

Earlier this week I wrote about how Miranda Lambert hooked me right out of the gate. Paisley wouldn’t have. If his first two albums were my introduction to him, I would have recognized the talent but not been grabbed the way I was when I heard American Saturday Night and Mud On the Tires. He’s one of those artists who keeps getting better with each release.

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Song of the Day #1,122: ‘Find Yourself’ – Brad Paisley

Brad Paisley’s second contribution to the Cars soundtrack was ‘Find Yourself,’ a ballad that played over the film’s end credits.

This is another song I really loved from that album despite having no idea who performed it. It’s such an achingly pretty song, and it works as both a specific comment on the movie’s plot and as a philosophy that applies to all of our lives.

Country music lyrics are often bashed as too corny or too on-the-nose, but I think the best of them are profound in their simple wisdom. And the puns and double meanings that typify the art form are often worthy of a clever wordsmith like Elvis Costello.

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Song of the Day #1,121: ‘Behind the Clouds’ – Brad Paisley

It turns out that before I “discovered” Brad Paisley in 2009, I had already heard and loved two of his songs.

The soundtrack to Pixar’s 2006 film Cars was their first to include songs from a multitude of artists. Randy Newman wrote the score and contributed his standard tear-jerking show-stopper but the film also featured tunes by Sheryl Crow, Chuck Berry, Rascal Flatts and John Mayer.

And two songs by some country singer whose name I never bothered to look up.

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