# Brad Freakin Paisley - "Play" - YIKES!!



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

After dropping a few hints, my wife got me Brad Paisley's current album "Play" for Hanukkah. I'm not that much of a CMT-type guy, but all the interviews I've read with Paisley have uniformly impressed me with his character and his attitude towards gear and playing. The few snippets of him I hear when "downshifting" from the Comedy Channel to the Discovery Channel (CMT is on the way) are always impressive, and the most recent interviews/articles in Vintage Guitar and Guitar Player intrigued me.

This guy has tone for days, nay weeks, and the sort of chops that would make even the most die-hard Eric Johnson wannabe lay his Strat down and take a listen. The album is chock full of gorgeously fat Tele bridge pickup tone with that delicious little teeny "click" at the outset of each note that you get from a perfectly twangy Tele that's been set up just right. While one's attention immediately gravitates to the tune "Cluster Pluck", which features chickin-pickin from no less than James Burton, Vince Gill, Brent Mason, John Jorgenson, Albert Lee, Steve Wariner, and Canadian ex-pat Redd Volkaert, there's a lot more to offer here. Some very tasty surf guitar, some ZZX Top-flavoured boogie, some Les Paul / Chet Atkins style material, some stuff whch could have been on an Eric Johnson album, and duets with Buck Owens, B.B. King, and, um, Andy Griffith.

Lots of stuff to make even the best players stop and think "How does he DO that?". Recommended.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

im not really a country guy, but im always looking to expand - i'll look into it!


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Hmm this is what? the third thread about this album? Ok so the instrumentals intrigue me cause the dude is talented, but then he just had to sing. Mind you he is very hot though.... you boys don't mind if I say that do you? kqoct

[youtube=Option]vpeVwgPzt-8[/youtube]


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Certainly not a voice that draws you in, but not a voice that stands in the way of a good tune either. The way I look at it, when you play blistering runs like that, you NEED to sing a bit, just to let your fingertips cool down a bit.:bow:

And yeah, I can see where, even hatless, the man looks good in a t-shirt. Though I have this eery sense that he is really just Bob Saget's "other" job.
http://web.cornell.edu/studentblogs/ben/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/sagetphoto04b.jpg
http://bradpaisley-fans.com/files/2008/07/brad-paisley-pic-4.jpg


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

I'm a huge fan of his guitar playing, but I find his songs, and songwriting, to be pretty lame. Its country mind you, so not I'm expecting Shakespeare in the lyrics. But, I a lot of the lyrics are vomit inducingly' sweet. An example:

"Ain't nothin' like watchin' a bunch of young'ns
Run screamin' through the sprinkler in their little bare feet
And ain't nothin' like finding twenty dollars
In the pocket of the britches that you wore last week"

Ummm - yeah! No thanks. 

Theres an excellent instrumental on his Mud on the Tires CD, called Spaghetti Western Swing, which features the awesome talents of Redd Volkaert (a Canadian too :smilie_flagge17.

I also forgot to say that I seen him on Austin City Limits fairly recently and he can really play live. Theres no studio trickery involved in that lightning speed clean pickin thats on his studio albums.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

I just don't dig any generic 'pop' country style music. I try not to write off a whole 'style' of music but the genre just constantly sinks to new lows. And once you get beyond Paisley's playing, the music and lyrics are about as generic as the come (the sample above about sums it up). But yes, he is an insanely good guitar player. And he is that good at pretty much all styles too.

I am not a huge fan of his music, but Johnny Hiland is another guy to check out if you dig Paisley. Similar style, but mostly instrumental tunes.

And of course, Danny Gatton. One of the best ever.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

bagpipe said:


> I'm a huge fan of his guitar playing, but I find his songs, and songwriting, to be pretty lame. Its country mind you, so not I'm expecting Shakespeare in the lyrics. But, I a lot of the lyrics are vomit inducingly' sweet. An example:
> 
> "Ain't nothin' like watchin' a bunch of young'ns
> Run screamin' through the sprinkler in their little bare feet
> ...



I'm a huge Paisley fan and while some of the lyrics bother even me, I find that there is some wit and very good humour in some of his songs. I have to say that I really dislike almost every song released to the radio. All the good ones are hidden on the CD's. Every CD he's put out ( I have them all) has a great instrumental on them.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Starbuck said:


> Hmm this is what? the third thread about this album? Ok so the instrumentals intrigue me cause the dude is talented, but then he just had to sing. Mind you he is very hot though.... you boys don't mind if I say that do you? kqoct
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

shoretyus said:


> Starbuck said:
> 
> 
> > Hmm this is what? the third thread about this album? Ok so the instrumentals intrigue me cause the dude is talented, but then he just had to sing. Mind you he is very hot though.... you boys don't mind if I say that do you? kqoct
> ...


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

guitarman2 said:


> I'm a huge Paisley fan and while some of the lyrics bother even me, I find that there is some wit and very good humour in some of his songs. I have to say that I really dislike almost every song released to the radio. All the good ones are hidden on the CD's. Every CD he's put out ( I have them all) has a great instrumental on them.


In some ways, Paisley is a bit like what Bruce Springsteen tries to do for rock: he summarizes all of his influences with respect. So, on the "Play" album, you'll hear him pay his respects to Buck Owens, Hank Garland, Chet Atkins, and all the pickers who taught him stuff. If he gets sappy, it's becausehe feels a sense of duty to what came before him. And as sappy as the lyrics can get, that's one of the things I like about the guy: humility in the face of frightening chops.

My favourite quote of his was one that appeared in Guitar Player last year, where he said that sometimes he thought country guitar was just "jazz on the rear pickup". I thought that was brilliant.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Sorry but I have to disagree. It's not a 'sappy' thing it's a just plain bad thing when it comes to the lyrics. I think that is what the other was poster was getting at too. Musically, the stuff he writes is the exact same as the 100's of other generic 'new/pop country' artists out there. That music is basically manufactured to make hits. It's not meant to be sappy, it's just meant to capitalize on a music trend. So it follows the same formula.

It's not knocking him as a person or a player in any way. Or knocking anyone who likes that type of music. I just personally find it so generic in production, lyrics, and writing that I can't listen to it.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

torndownunit said:


> So it follows the same formula.
> 
> .


Well....... he's got more cash than us .... an a bigger hat too. Of course all my heroes died poor or stoned. I hear what you are saying. I fly all over the map as far a tastes go. I see this disc as almost two sided. Lot's of shmultzy country to pay the bills,get airplay and ultimately keep the label happy. The other stuff is to make the guitar geeks happy and possibly fight the boredom of playing the hit stuff. Though none if it is that new it is well performed. Is it bad to expose the country audience to jazz based tunes like Les is More? 

But heck it's only one CD. Ol' what's their names ( fill in the blank) made a bad cd once kqoct. The true test is if he progresses as player and writer.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

shoretyus said:


> Well....... he's got more cash than us .... an a bigger hat too. Of course all my heroes died poor or stoned. I hear what you are saying. I fly all over the map as far a tastes go. I see this disc as almost two sided. Lot's of shmultzy country to pay the bills,get airplay and ultimately keep the label happy. The other stuff is to make the guitar geeks happy and possibly fight the boredom of playing the hit stuff. Though none if it is that new it is well performed. Is it bad to expose the country audience to jazz based tunes like Les is More?
> 
> But heck it's only one CD. Ol' what's their names ( fill in the blank) made a bad cd once kqoct. The true test is if he progresses as player and writer.


Ya as I said, it's nothing against him in any way. If he's happy making the cash, that's all the matters. Again, he's a great player and a great guy it seems from any interviews I have seen. But when it comes to his pop songs, I couldn't tell them apart from anything else I hear on a pop country radio station. Pop country and modern R&B music are just sadly generic nowadays.

I mean, Danny Gatton never got the cash or the attention he deserved. So that is the sad 'other side' of the story for great players.


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## happydude (Oct 15, 2007)

5th Gear is a good album but it's lyrical and more 'pop' country than 'Play' is. I personally love 'the cigar song' because it's funny.


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## BillyT (Apr 3, 2009)

"I just personally find it so generic in production, lyrics, and writing that I can't listen to it. "

I cannot disagree with you more on the production. Having worked in the recording industry for 20+ years, I can tell you the production, arrangments and mixes on Brads records are second to none.

His lyrics are indeed cheesy on most singles, but dig a little deeper and he can write a pretty traditional country song.

Cheers!

-BT


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