“If you make the mistake of looking back too much, you aren’t focused enough on the road in front of you.”
― Brad Paisley
“Life isn’t always black and white. You’re not always sure you’re right. At least I’m not.”
― Brad Paisley
“No one dislikes LL Cool J. If you meet LL Cool J, you fall in love with LL Cool J. LL and I had mutual friends, and he and I had always talked about doing something. My fans know LL’s music. And I love him – we’re blood brothers at this point. We’ve been through the fire together. I know no finer person.”
― Brad Paisley
“When you fall in love, you don’t have a whole lot of time. But when it comes to a heartache, all of the sudden you have time on your hands, and it’s an outlet for you to write.”
― Brad Paisley
“As long as you continue to have new songs, there’s usually some new topic or something to present.”
― Brad Paisley
“If I get an idea for a song, I have a melody for it. I’m a musician first. I’m not limited by the fretboard.”
― Brad Paisley
“Anytime you do something from the heart, people just know it.”
― Brad Paisley
“Anytime you’re in West Virginia or near it, and you sing, ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads,’ it’s a sight to behold.”
― Brad Paisley
“I love being an enigma. Every time I’m tempted to respond to someone who tries to put me in a box, politically – you know, someone who gets on the Internet and says, you’re pro-gun, or you’re anti-gun – I stop and say to myself, ‘This is great; this is what I wanted. I wanted to be the guy you can’t figure out.’”
― Brad Paisley
“Date night is important, even if it’s going to Schlotzsky’s.”
― Brad Paisley
“That there’s no more important decision in life than who you marry.”
― Brad Paisley
“You look out there and there’s people that, their day is changed because of your contribution to it.”
― Brad Paisley
“In Nashville, if people don’t like someone, they say, ‘I don’t really like him,’ then add, ‘bless his heart.’ In Hollywood, they kind of leave that last part off.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t want to do risky. I want to do important. And lovable. Important and lovable.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t have, you know, an ‘overcoming addiction’ story, other than the guitar itself, and I haven’t overcome that. I don’t have a jail time, you know, story, or any arrests.”
― Brad Paisley
“When I made ‘Who Needs Pictures,’ my first album, I had been west of the Mississippi River one time in my life, and that was in fourth grade. We traveled to California for vacation and stayed with some friends of my parents. It was culture shock, and it was different.”
― Brad Paisley
“I feel sort of really aware of how the… online cyber world has begun to take over reality.”
― Brad Paisley
“It comes down to building your own world out here on the road. It’s who you surround yourself with. My band and crew are really positive guys.”
― Brad Paisley
“Willie Nelson, out there 200 days a year, calls his band family. And it is.”
― Brad Paisley
“It’s a very smart, progressive bunch, these people that make country music. They’re not country hicks sitting behind a desk with a big cigar giving out record deals and driving round in Cadillacs with cattle horns on the front grille: it’s a bunch of really wonderful, open-minded, great people down on Music Row that make this music.”
― Brad Paisley
“Some of the worst selfies I’ve ever seen are at Auschwitz or Ground Zero.”
― Brad Paisley
“If you’re somebody that gets a chance to go somewhere… that has to work somewhere or go to another city, then do your best to see it. Because I just think that’s the best way to have an interesting life.”
― Brad Paisley
“Everybody goes through a period where you’re fighting a lot, I think. Sometimes that can be a good thing for your relationship. That conflict can lead to making up.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’ve heard my share of Van Halen. I never liked rock.”
― Brad Paisley
“As a guitar player, it’s harder for me to impress somebody than it is to write a song that they like.”
― Brad Paisley
“No one can make the album they made 10 years ago with a straight face. There are two reasons: one is you change as a person. To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way. And the second thing is these are different times.”
― Brad Paisley
“If you fall in love with somebody, then you’re not even worried about your bills. Love can take your mind off of anything.”
― Brad Paisley
“To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way.”
― Brad Paisley
“At certain times in your life, some things are heavier than others.”
― Brad Paisley
“If a little kid picks up Guitar Hero and learns ‘Smoke On The Water,’ he soon finds out that if he wants the chicks to look at him, he’d better learn it on the guitar!”
― Brad Paisley
“Something about cactuses and rock music is a good combination.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m aware of the fact that a lot of talented people out there will never get this chance.”
― Brad Paisley
“I love any and all situations where you celebrate creativity.”
― Brad Paisley
“When they say you’re the best, I always remember that the majority of the audience probably thinks someone else should have gotten the award.”
― Brad Paisley
“If you’re really on top, you probably didn’t do that great, ’cause you have to water it down a bit for it to get that mass appeal.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m sure there are a few things in my CD collection that might surprise people. I like classical music, the blues, and I’m a big fan of alternative rock.”
― Brad Paisley
“I like to look at the songs like they’re little movies.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t stare at a sheet of paper and try to think of a good word to use. I try to see where the story should go.”
― Brad Paisley
“Even on the most serious ballads, I’ll throw in a tongue-in-cheek remark.”
― Brad Paisley
“Even in your darkest moments, you’ll think of something that’ll crack you up.”
― Brad Paisley
“Guitar playing isn’t really for everybody.”
― Brad Paisley
“I really worked to try and be creative enough on the guitar parts so those who aren’t real educated would know that there was some difficulty in doing it.”
― Brad Paisley
“In the past, I tried to be more of a typical session guitarist. I wasn’t so concerned with impressing anybody.”
― Brad Paisley
“I changed my mindset and figured, Why not try to be really entertaining instrumentally?”
― Brad Paisley
“If there’s a song where there’s a possibility of guitar stuff that would be fun to listen to, go for it. Don’t worry about what anybody thinks.”
― Brad Paisley
“Alison Krauss is definitely my favorite singer that’s ever lived. I’ve never heard anyone like her.”
― Brad Paisley
“I imagine there’s a market for total depression. I grew up on George Jones and that really dark stuff.”
― Brad Paisley
“It just gets easier in that you become more you in the process.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’ve been on the road I think probably three years.”
― Brad Paisley
“I go to eat dinner with my folks when I’m home. I think that’s the trick.”
― Brad Paisley
“With my guys and with the way that we live out there, we work out a lot and try to eat right, but we try to basically keep it our own rhythm and our own world.”
― Brad Paisley
“The nice thing about the world that I’ve been able to inhabit for the last couple of years is that I’m given a lot of freedom. Not all artists really get that.”
― Brad Paisley
“I have a to-do list and I have a farm I care for, and things I like to do for fun – going to movies and all that stuff. It’s a painfully normal life!”
― Brad Paisley
“Deep down, I’m just a West Virginia hillbilly.”
― Brad Paisley
“My life would be very puzzling to most people if they had to follow me around for a day or two.”
― Brad Paisley
“I jetset around and play these songs and get to hang with some pretty amazing people, then I go home to a really great farm, though actually it’s a disaster area of a farm at the moment. But it’s certainly a blast. I wouldn’t trade lives with anyone right now.”
― Brad Paisley
“Country music has become the music that best represents the reality of American life.”
― Brad Paisley
“I love to play. When I’m off, I feel a little lost – like, shouldn’t I be on stage somewhere?”
― Brad Paisley
“When I got married, I hired a great choir – the St. James Choir, an all-black gospel choir – to sing at my wedding.”
― Brad Paisley
“There may be people in my audience who may not agree with me on some particular issue – you know, say, as a gun owner, they may not agree with me, or, you know, someone may not agree with me on a gay marriage topic. Any of those things. But those shouldn’t be the reasons you listen to my music.”
― Brad Paisley
“If you were to hold me to a standard of, ‘What are you doing, singing about a scratch-off ticket at your level of success?’ then my music’s gonna be ridiculous.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m a huge, huge fan of almost everything British. I love ‘The Office’ – I was a faithful follower of that show before the American version.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’ve always known from the time I was eight years old what I wanted to do. I would have been fairly content to be someone’s lead guitar player.”
― Brad Paisley
“I tended to lean towards the guys who both sang and played, such as Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Steve Wariner… And at the other end of the spectrum, I had Eric Clapton in a rock and blues sense, jazz guys such as Tal Farlow and Les Paul… Then Chet Atkins-type stuff.”
― Brad Paisley
“I try to write like the writers I admire – I rip them off in form. It comes from George Strait and Merle Haggard records, and country music in general is really good at that, the twisted phrase… So I’m always looking for that angle in my own work.”
― Brad Paisley
“When you’re old-fashioned like I am, you know marriage is forever. Those vows are a promise.”
― Brad Paisley
“I have a very down-to-earth father. My wife is an actress and famous herself is more down-to-earth than anyone I know.”
― Brad Paisley
“When you’re a creative person, there are just times when you’re not listening. You know, I could be looking right at you and thinking about something else.”
― Brad Paisley
“I take his talent and his passion with me – to the stage of the Opry, to the podium at the CMA Awards, to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, into my own living room. I am the realization of my grandfather’s dream. I am a player.”
― Brad Paisley
“My father’s a firefighter. He was my whole life. And my brother-in-law and several family members are firefighters.”
― Brad Paisley
“My dad was president of the volunteer fire department, which was within walking distance to our house. I spent several days of each week there with him – any time the whistle blew, he went. It was truly inspiring to watch him lead that way.”
― Brad Paisley
“There’s something about being out here on the road that the hours aren’t anything like what you’re used to when you’re at home.”
― Brad Paisley
“It’s hard to be judgmental once you’ve been around the world… it’s pretty hard to be anything but understanding, and I think it’s good for everybody to get out and see someplace other than where you grew up.”
― Brad Paisley
“It’s crazy how loyal country fans are. I can’t say enough how much that means to me.”
― Brad Paisley
“As a songwriter, it can be a kiss of death for you to fall in love.”
― Brad Paisley
“Out in Hollywood, you get the feeling when people are talking to you, that they are looking right past you – like they’re looking to see who else they can talk to.”
― Brad Paisley
“When you got something you gotta do in your career, you do it. When you get home, and there’s work to be done, you do that. It’s all about balance.”
― Brad Paisley
“That was my trick. I interned a lot.”
― Brad Paisley
“I defuse everything I can with it. Humor is such a great shield.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t like being surrounded by yes men.”
― Brad Paisley
“You’re going to get flak if you tell the wrong joke, but it’s still the wrong joke. Give the wrong speech, you take it on the chin.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’ve been ripping the Rolling Stones off with every song I write in some form or another.”
― Brad Paisley
“It’s rare that you’re sure you’re right in life. I’m finding that.”
― Brad Paisley
“We learned that whether or not you support the war, you honor the soldiers that fight.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t feel like I have a legacy.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t think I’m influencing younger artists – they’re not trying to be me. But I don’t say that in bitterness. I say that with realism.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t think I’ve changed anything in the country format whatsoever. But I’m not worried about it. I’ve found my place in it.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m the smart aleck. The class clown. I’m the guy who does the song nobody expects.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m not a person you can figure out in one month. And you can’t listen to one song and say, ‘That’s who he is.’”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m done with rules that are there just to be rules.”
― Brad Paisley
“The hardest part about writing any song is, what do you write? And how do I rewrite things? You start to run out of ideas that feel fresh.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m a country musician. I know how to play jazz, and I can play rock. But I’ve had to fight my entire career to get a little respect from people who don’t understand where I come from.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m not comfortable doing a covers album.”
― Brad Paisley
“No one needs to recut ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today.’”
― Brad Paisley
“My first tweet was at the CMT Awards when I won an award and typed, ‘Thank you.’ Then I was hooked because the followers started multiplying. It’s a great tool.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t like to look back. I love the next challenge and don’t keep awards. There are a few that are really important, but my parents have most of them.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m not answering questions with my songs.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t have the answers. But I am asking the questions, and that’s the fun part. I’m like the kid in class with his hand up, going, ‘Um…’ I think that’s a powerful place to create from.”
― Brad Paisley
“The truth is, I mostly thought about ‘Accidental Racist’ in terms of my fans. This song was meant to generate discussion among the people who listen to my albums. What I was most worried about is that my fan base would think that I was preaching to them.”
― Brad Paisley
“The last thing I ever want to do is be preachy.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m of the mindset that God loves everyone.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t want to be hurtful to anyone.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t talk about the people I vote for.”
― Brad Paisley
“You shouldn’t listen to my music for political messages.”
― Brad Paisley
“Here’s the problem with talking about who I voted for. If I say I voted for Romney, then everybody’s like, ‘Of course.’ If I say I voted for Obama, everybody’s like, ‘Of course.’ And then I’m no longer the guy you can’t figure out.”
― Brad Paisley
“I still consider myself working in Nashville. I visit Hollywood.”
― Brad Paisley
“I don’t think you can get everything based on who you know, but you can’t get anything until you do know the right people.”
― Brad Paisley
“My home town was really great to me. If you’ve ever watched ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’ it’s like Mayberry.”
― Brad Paisley
“I can’t play a solo without thinking about John Jorgenson. I always think about what he would do.”
― Brad Paisley
“I like comedy.”
― Brad Paisley
“I love the Smothers Brothers.”
― Brad Paisley
“The only reason I wound up in Nashville and went to Belmont University is because that’s where I needed to be.”
― Brad Paisley
“I can draw really well.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’ve always been able to laugh at myself.”
― Brad Paisley
“I consider myself a bit of a comedian. I write a lot of humorous songs.”
― Brad Paisley
“I do standup once a year, when I host the CMAs.”
― Brad Paisley
“We’re trying to do the thing you don’t expect out of country music. Which is to say, ‘Go see the world.’”
― Brad Paisley
“I still cherish relationships that I made early on as much as anything in my life.”
― Brad Paisley
“By no means do I try to go out and hang out with famous people.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m somebody who likes to gravitate toward people who aren’t necessarily famous.”
― Brad Paisley
“I had an old, red-covered ’63 AC30 – one of the best AC30s I’ve ever heard. I cut the whole of the first record with it.”
― Brad Paisley
“The late-sixties Teles are the best value you can get for a vintage guitar.”
― Brad Paisley
“I like it when two sounds complement each other but are way different on a record.”
― Brad Paisley
“If somebody says, ‘Do you remember the first time you heard a Rolling Stones song?’ if you say you do, you’re crazy. You’ve just always heard them. You might remember the first time it impacted you, but the first time you heard one, you were in a cradle.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m sick of feeling like we’re in a decline. Let’s look at the good.”
― Brad Paisley
“I live in the extremes.”
― Brad Paisley
“You’re a sitting duck in a mall if you’re a celebrity. It’s like that scene from ‘Guarding Tess,’ I think it is, where Shirley MacLaine goes to the mall just to feel good about her celebrity.”
― Brad Paisley
“When you’re with somebody as iconic as Mick Jagger or John Fogerty, I’m really aware that, in asking these guys to collaborate with me, I don’t want to add a footnote to their career that’s like, ‘Shouldn’t’ have done that.’ It’s important to make sure that they’re well represented.”
― Brad Paisley
“Surprise is important. I think that’s the essence of entertainment, really.”
― Brad Paisley
“Our songs aren’t metaphorical, normally: they’re literal in their interpretation.”
― Brad Paisley
“I listen to the same things that a lot of my fans do, and I grew up in much the same way they’re growing up.”
― Brad Paisley
“I like Katy Perry. I like Kesha.”
― Brad Paisley
“I really like Ed Sheeran.”
― Brad Paisley
“A creative space is an important thing. There are so many studios that feel like doctor’s offices in Nashville. I couldn’t write there.”
― Brad Paisley
“At certain times, your career should be a party.”
― Brad Paisley
“When you hear a banjo through stutter edit, it’s the coolest thing you ever heard.”
― Brad Paisley
“There are phrases that are totally cliche that we, as songwriters, owe it to ourselves to not use again.”
― Brad Paisley
“I think if you ignore the generation after yours, you will be obsolete very quickly.”
― Brad Paisley
“The artists who stick around for a while are the ones who go, ‘Oh, that’s cool, never thought of that. Ought to do that.’”
― Brad Paisley
“You have different stages in your career where you have different things to prove. And early on, like most people who move to Nashville, I wanted to prove that I belonged here, that I belonged in this format, that I had a love for it.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m always trying to think of things we haven’t done.”
― Brad Paisley
“It would be neat to sing with Roger Miller.”
― Brad Paisley
“I really believe you’ll get a music video one of these days that I shot with an iPad because it’s that consistent and that good. It’s HD.”
― Brad Paisley
“That’s why we do this. In country music, we do this for this very reason… to impact people lyrically, to be a part of their lives.”
― Brad Paisley
“It’s interesting to hear what somebody does when they have no interest in playing by the rules.”
― Brad Paisley
“The Stones were a big influence on me and the Beatles, obviously.”
― Brad Paisley
“A hat has to be shaped to a person’s face so it fights just right. It has to be done right. If you put my hat on, with my shape, you’d look like an idiot. If the bill is too high or too saggy, you look like a European tourist going to their first country concert.”
― Brad Paisley
“Our business has changed so much. Do people even want albums, or do they just buy singles now? You sort of feel like you’re the last guy manufacturing VCRs… but I really like albums, and so I like doing them. I’ll be the last one making them, even when no one’s buying them.”
― Brad Paisley
“Country music’s always had the best musicians in any format of music, and I always gravitated toward that, stuff that was musically interesting.”
― Brad Paisley
“I wanted to be Buck Owens and Bill Anderson and Roger Miller. With a higher-resolution video screen. And lasers.”
― Brad Paisley
“I try to be careful how much I sing about the suburban house or whatever.”
― Brad Paisley
“I have two little boys, and I want them to feel like this is the nation that I know. That this is the nation that isn’t petty.”
― Brad Paisley
“We have to be as good as we want to be as a nation.”
― Brad Paisley
“I’m going to obviously do my best as a father to set a good example for my children, and I want them to see good examples from our leaders.”
― Brad Paisley
“When you see Obama and Trump shake hands and seem to show respect to one another – that is what we need.”
― Brad Paisley
“When you discuss racism, it’s almost a no-win scenario – but I don’t think that means we shouldn’t be discussing it.”
― Brad Paisley
“Anybody can be a star with the right song.”
― Brad Paisley
Leave a Reply