brad paisley, has their ever been an artist w. a v. good voice so ill served by his material ?

do you like him @ all chuck ?

Is Elvis Presleys in the ghetto the whitest song ever ?

but are they really good guys? Black is too much macho bullshit, Strait I don't know well but seems a bit of that or at least overly concerned about maleness, and what is it that's hiding behind Jackson's sarcastic shrug thing? Travis maybe, but Paisley seems the least culturally traditionalist of any of them, the Jeff Gordon of the group.

i think his voice is highly serviceable but nothing special. i like his material, even if too often generic.

I'm working on an essay about why I like nu-country so much. For starters, I love that it's based so much on punchlines, like hip hop (witness the cooptation of hip hop slang in nu-country too - no coincidence, man. These dudes are almost certainly listening to Missy) - I mean, objectively, it's pure hack work, really, but still oddly and often mysteriously affecting.

And it is the only truly sentimental, poignant popular music left. Even when they talk about trucks and barbeques and shit, the music itself is touched with this very sensitive sense of nostalgia for tradition, imagined or otherwise. And I believe them.

I think nu-country is simply less than the sum of it's parts. Presented to your average Mojo subscriber, sure it sounds tacky and contrived. But if you really take the time examine what makes it work - and most of it DOES work - you'll find the ingredients of a nu-country song best the ingredients of your average Postal Service / White Stripes / M.I.A / what-have-you song.

As for voice without material, remember Marty Brown (profiled on 48 Hours TV show)? He was a throwback who at times sounded kind of like Hank without Hank, the Everlys without Boudleux & Felice Bryant, or Gary Stewart without Gary Stewart.

shit, there was a Marty Brown profile on 48 Hrs.? I talked to Marty Brown recently, he lives up in central Ky. I think. He was on MCA, and he didn't have good material, certainly not anywhere as good as Gary Stewart's! He's on the new Frank Black album singing a duet with Black on Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town." He made a record recently with Jon Tiven.

'He made a record recently with Jon Tiven.'

Didn't know that. Man, who is Tiven going to bring back next?

Roger Fidelity is OTM.

LOL @ "Online"

"Alcohol" is great.

Yes it is.

http://realmusicpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/whitney-houston.jpg

I heard Ticks three times in an hour the other day on the drive back from KY. He's growin' on me.

he also seems like a cold technocrat, somehow, a technician

well, yeah, he went to college to learn how to be a country star; he's a pro. but he still makes the sentiment work, so it's either at least partly real or he's just that good a writer/player. of course, i like to imagine that behind the stock image is a secret wine-drinking liberal who will one day nudge the masses leftward, but he's probably a lot more boring than that. i think i said all this somewhere else.

He grew on me, too, since my post way upthread from four years ago (mostly thanks to his guitar playing, but once in a while thanks to his songs, too. Has more of a sense of humor than I would have guessed.)

geir otm

Arguably, the three tenors (Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras) may belong here too.

uh WAHT

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/07/brad-paisley-cartoon-captions.html

better than a lot of the winners imo

that first one is pretty good! Second one sounds like it could be a punchline to one of his songs. He might be the dad-jokiest musician ever, and I love him for it.

sexy as hell.

New Yorker profile: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/02/100802fa_fact_sanneh

What I wrote about him in the Voice last year, fwiw (a while after I'd come around to his stuff, or a lot of it anyway):

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-10-13/music/brad-paisley-is-ready-to-make-nice/

I got Mud on the Tires last month, and the only song that stuck (heh heh) was the one about cigars. He should stick to songs about "stuff" (like "Water"). Otherwise he slips too easily into boilerplate when bored.

Looking at the original premise of this thread, I find it kinda odd. Nobody is into Paisley because of his voice--in country terms it's serviceable but hardly distinctive. He's a good songwriter and a great guitar player who doesn't venture out of his comfort zone. I like the guy and think he could do a lot more were he not into makin' zillions of dollars as a country musician. So you gotta love him because he's a success and modest about it.

No discussion on his latest album?

Is it good? Love "Water".

wtf at this shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a_qbt1EVuw8

brad paisley: so like i get that the confederate flag is offensive to black people and i'm sympathetic but also i'm proud of where i'm from but i don't want to offend you but we have to realize we can't change the past so i guess just deal with it?
ll cool j: ok i'm going to do the world's worst rap now

Some discussion here: Anticipate Brad Paisley's "Wheelhouse"

one time i was flipping around on tv and i turned to pbs and they were showing a recent steve miller band concert and it was all original steve miller band, all old white guys, except the keyboard player was a younger black guy, and they did they long jammed-out version of "fly like an eagle" with a million solos and weird parts and then they break it down and the keyboard player comes out front and starts doing this rap about "you got to fly like an eagle and you can see/we need to live in peace and harmony" and it still wasn't as bad as ll cool j in that brad paisley song

"Buzzkill"?

The presenter was Professor David Cantwell who co-wrote with Bill Friskics-Warren "Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles"

My notes are still in my suitcase elsewhere. Will try to update later

Southern comfort zone is bombastic naive and surprisingly likeable

otm

Southern comfort zone is bombastic naive and surprisingly likeable

like a lot of his catalog

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/wbkr.com/files/2013/03/Merle-Harrard-Twitter-472x630.jpg

i think there's some quote from blake on the "boys round here" wikipedia page where he admits the boys in the town the song reminds him of (he didn't write it) actually play jason aldean now.

you'd think I'd like how nonsensical it is to jump from "we hate the beatles" to "we can't do the dougie" but for some reason it just makes the pandering horseshit all the more annoying to me

though i hope "sweet as dixie crystal" is a meth ref

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXD-XH5QKew

Mainstream country is inextricable from pandering bullshit, alas. They might as well rename the subgenre pandering bullshit.

Though the question is, is the pandering bullshit of mainstream country any more notable/prominent than the pandering bullshit of metal or rap?

well compared to metal they enunciate

True, they do make it awfully easy to discern the pandering bullshit.

the storytelling gag songs on this album (death of a single man/karate/harvey bodine/outstanding in our field) are WAY more crazy than accidental racist, they just feel less trolly
wish i didn't like them (except for karate which kinda sucks)

"Karate" is hot trash, yes

If ever an album would have benefitted from growly death metal vocals, it's this one. Hell, I'm surprised he didn't toss in a metal track, a reggae track ... I'm having a lot of trouble listening to this, which is a first from Brad, I think.

great whiney interview with LL: http://www.spin.com/articles/ll-cool-j-authentic-accidental-racist-tour-van-halen-legacy/

while the song doesn't really pull of the "I'll stop being mad about the past if you stop being racist murderers today" message he claims he was going for, glad to read this after all the accidentally racist "brad, i am offended you think this man has any right to speak about race" thinkpieces

it always helps to actually talk respectfully to the person who did the damn thing

best critique of the song remains the snl skit

"Did I say that? Hmm. Kind of sounded different when I said it to my MacBook."

The problem I have with the interpretation presented in that interview is that the character Paisley created in that song is actually a racist who is more concerned with not looking like one than not being one, not someone who isn't a racist but sort of looks like one, which completely neuters LL's point of view and puts more onus on his black character to just get over slavery before everyone can finally get along. The biggest problem with LL's thesis statement behind his final chorus ad libs is that the historical weight and import of the doo-rag/hoodie is nowhere near the historical weight and import of the Confederate flag, which represented an entire sovereign nation that attempted to secede from the United States in order to preserve an economic system built upon the blood of black people. Furthermore, to go off of the characters in the song and assuming that LL is supposed to represent the barrista (because if he doesn't, what is his narrative purpose beyond "hey look, a rapper"), no one thinks their barrista is going to jump them regardless of any doo-rags or gold chains said barrista may be wearing.

I wrote somewhere, maybe on Facebook, that LL was responding much more to Brad the person than Brad the character on that song and his response in that interview confirms that impression for me. I get the sentiment but it's a super stupid song.

otm. if he'd actually mentioned trayvon martin, he might have actually got across that he's aware of more heinous crimes than skynyrd fandom going on today, though i wonder if brad would have scrapped his "forgive me, starbucks employee" story if he knew LL was going to raise the stakes.

i forget if the snl sketch was posted, but just in case.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/478687

"We spent 11 minutes writing the song"
"I almost finished the whole pizza!"

Anyway, a new interview:

http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/what-brad-paisley-learned-from-accidental-racist.html

Great interview. I like Rosen's take on the album, too -- i'd be willing to argue that "Accidental Racist" is the first and only bad song Paisley has written.

That's excellent.

I like that Rosen brings up the T. Coates article

I like that Paisley had a great response for the suggestion that he do something to celebrate MLK's birthday, but honestly I thought TNC's piece was a rare instance of him bringing very little to the conversation with all that "why was it LL and not Talib Kweli?" talk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9BY6ZyQvA

Probably like a zillion dudes will do this now, but what a dope move.

For god's sake, Brad.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/06/showbiz/cmas-highlights-brad-paisley/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

lol wait you're actually siding with all the people whining about the joke on twitter?

Ok, I didn't even make it that far into the article.

oh I thought this thread was revived to discuss how "Perfect Storm" sucks.

Continuing to be the king of amateur cover art:

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/tasteofcountry.com/files/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-03-at-5.36.54-PM.png

still can't get over his career downturn album literally featuring him about to belly flop on the cover

Social media was undecided on whether his dig at country music's predominantly white stars (and predominantly white fan base) was funny or racist.

I really hope to see a sentence open with "Social media was decided on..." someday.

lol

He should put out another shut up and play your guitar album.

Speaking of which, occurred to me that I never listened to his last one or the most recent one. Am I missing anything? I sort of think I have as much by this guy as I need.

It's better than his last. I still listen to "You Shouldn't Have To" and "Shattered Glass."

It's like he's on the fast path to late-era Prince, from "hey, check this out!!" to "hey, this isn't that bad" to "hmm, I liked the last one better" to "ho hum, another record with one or two worthwhile tracks."

Occurred to me that I still haven't bothered with his last two, and that we are also probably due a new one. It's too bad he's such a huge star, because I'd love someone to cut his budget in half.

Brad Paisely, where is the song to unify us all right now?

Like all fading stars, he's taken to TV.

I heard him guest hosting some comedy show on satellite radio.

Apparently his Netflix comedy special, which was released today, features bestiality and incest jokes.

On this one year anniversary of the invasion, I'm reminded of the ways we are all so similar.
Here is the first song available from my new project. This is "Same Here". Featuring Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy (@ZelenskyyUa)https://t.co/oWdVc8e7dv pic.twitter.com/AsivvDponb

— Brad Paisley (@BradPaisley) February 24, 2023

The comments are, predictably, a shit-show. He's well past his A-list days, but this still strikes me as a pretty gutsy thing for someone in the current country industry to put out. I'm sure John Rich will be screaming about it by the end of the day...

As the sun rises and sets, this grifter is using Paisley's song with Zelensky to push his own invented persecution narrative: pic.twitter.com/E0mDxSTOLR

— Country Universe (@CountryUniverse) February 25, 2023

... And I was right. Neat-o.

Arguably, the three tenors (Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras) may belong here too.

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, June 26, 2008 8:46 PM bookmarkflaglink

uh WAHT

― HI DERE, Thursday, June 26, 2008 8:52 PM bookmarkflaglink