It's hard not to like Brad Paisley.  Even when they play his songs on the radio too many times a day or even when he annoys Charlie Robison.  Brad Paisley is simply likeable.  He has an affiable manner and pleasant features and, gosh darn it, he just sings good.  Brad Paisley has somehow managed to become the king of "feel-good" country music without once breaking from his "gosh-ma'am" cornpone style to pander to the Nashville pop machine.  And what's better still, they let him do it.  He sings with George Jones and Whisperin' Bill Anderson, and Little Jimmy Dickens appears in his videos.  He doesn't sing many cryin' or leavin' songs, but the cheerful tunes he does sing aren't telling me I should be happy -- rather, they're inviting me.

That's the kind of "feel-good" country music I want to hear.

All too often these days country music comes wrapped in a heavy hammer, pounding on people to force emotional reaction from them.  WHAM!  You will be sad!  WHAM!  You will be happy!  Not so Paisley.  When he cheerfully rips on reality shows in "Celebrity," it's done with a sly tongue-firmly-in-cheek and a smile; when he talks about getting "Mud on the Tires" of his brand-new truck, it's an invite to ride along with him; when he warbles about kids running through the sprinklers in their "little bare feet" in "Ain't Nothin' Like," he's showing everyone a picture of life that's so easy to see it's almost as though he's using paints rather than notes and words.

Brad Paisley has somehow managed to take all the elements that Nashville's been trying to get rid of and not only hold onto them, but make Nashville glad he's there still flaunting them.  When he first came on the scene, instead of worrying about being called "Too Country," Paisley recorded a song by that title (with Whisperin' Bill).  Now with his third disc, Paisley is maturing into a solid, real country artist who is, by all sights, never going to let go of his roots.  He's still biscuits and gravy with grits on the side and a big jar of sweet tea.  He plays his Telecaster with flare, and he performs songs like the Hank Cochran/Vern Gosdin classic, "Is It Raining At Your House?" with the modest and elegant style of a true Southern gentleman.  He plays cheerily with the humor of country music with "The Cigar Song," "Spaghetti Western Swing" (featuring the great Redd Volkaert, as well as Anderson, Dickens, and Jones) and "Famous People," as well as the infectious fun of "Celebrity."  He touches the heartstrings gently with "Whiskey Lullaby" (duet with Alison Krauss).  He closes the disc with another traditional hymn, "Farther Along."

Paisley probably hasn't got the best singing voice out there; and I've compared him with other great pickers, putting him more or less in the middle of the pack.  But gosh darn it, there's just something about Brad Paisley that's impossible not to like.  Long may he stay just the same, as country as corn.

Standout tracks: "Ain't Nothin' Like" "Famous People" "Whiskey Lullaby" "The Cigar Song"

Final Word: Brad keeps getting better with each new release.

Online: www.bradpaisley.com

Kathy Coleman TakeCountryBack January 2004