Brad Paisley: The Most Underrated Star of Country Music

In a genre where artists typically don’t last 10 years, let alone 20, Brad Paisley is one of the few artists that has truly stood the test of time. His debut single (and record) Who Need Pictures launched in 1999 and Paisley has been a country music giant ever since. If you were to have a Mount Rushmore of country music post 2000, I think he deserves to be on it along with Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, and Tim McGraw. While that list is pretty subjective, I think that sometimes Paisley isn’t recognized for the impact that he has had on country music. He's arguably the biggest country artist of the 2000s' decade (in which in that discussion he would be my pick).

So let’s start with just some of Paisley’s achievements:

Starting off, Paisley has sold over 11 million albums. In a world where downloading and streaming has become the normal, this is extremely significant. Every traditional album from 2003’s Mud on the Tires to 2017’s Love and War was a number one album! This of course excludes his Christmas album (which is amazing by the way, check out “Born on Christmas Day” and try not to get chills). He recorded an instrumental album called Play in 2008, and even THAT went number 1. Speaking of that album, there aren’t many mainstream artists that WOULD do that, let alone be able to play that well. Paisley is one of the top guitarists in country and he never fails to show off his musical chops with so many classic riffs and solos over the year. His Hits Alive album was also highly regarded. As far as doing anything an artist can possibly do in a livelong career, Paisley pretty much did in within a little over a decade and did it WELL. That kind of artist are few and far between.

Now, we have to get to the success of the hits that Paisley released. When I looked at the charts and the amount of success that he has had, I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY. For this part, I used the US Billboard Country Airplay Chart. While not everybody will point to radio airplay as a sign of a great artist, it’s a great test of an artist’s sound and what was popular at the time. At this time, Paisley has had 32 top 10 singles on this chart and 19 of those songs went number 1 (and if you’re counting, that’s about 60% of his top 10 songs). Every single from 1999’s “Who Needs Pictures” to 2013’s “I Can’t Change the World” was a TOP 20 SONG. Fourteen years of every single released to radio being a top 20 hit! That’s absolutely insane! In that string of songs, he had 10 straight #1 songs (“When I Get Where I’m Going” to “Then”). That amount of radio success is incredible and even though he hasn’t had a number 1 song since 2014’s “Perfect Storm”, he still hasn’t fallen off radio like many early 2000s country stars (Trace Adkins, Toby Keith, and Rascal Flatts to name a few).

There are very few artists that have kept up with the pace of radio like Paisley. His sound is extremely authentic and true to his love of country music, but he has done enough to sonically make his music “current”. A song released in 2003 by Paisley sounds just as good as anything released off of his 2017 Love and War, or even the recently released songs “Bucked Off” and “My Miracle”. My favorite Paisley album, 5th Gear, still sounds like it could have been written and recorded yesterday.

I believe part of why Paisley has this genuine sounds is because of the collaborations that he has done. There is no other artist in country music that works with as many other artists (especially outside country music) then Brad Paisley. While other artists (like Keith Urban) have pushed the boundaries sonically, Paisley has pushed the boundaries just by the shear number of artists that he has worked with. The comprehensive list is pretty exhausting, but to name (more then) a few…John Fogerty, Mick Jagger, Timbaland, Bill Anderson, Carrie Underwood (multiple times), Emmylou Harris, Dierks Bentley, Charlie Daniels, LL Cool J (on “Accidental Racist”, which isn’t one of Paisley’s better decisions), Demi Lovato, Blake Shelton, and Mat Kearney. Not to mention some of his biggest hit singles were with Dolly Parton (“When I Get Where I’m Going”), Keith Urban (“Start a Band”), Allison Krauss (“Whiskey Lullaby”), and Alabama (“Old Alabama”).

Many of these songs, even if they were never released as singles, molded many of his best albums. Love and War had the most collaborations of any Paisley album, but the collaborations shaped the album, taking it to places where Paisley has never gone before. Even while working with all these different artists, it still felt familiar, but still refreshing. Besides “Accidental Racist” (which I think was well meant, but didn’t come out well in the public eye), all these collaborations were considered country. While other artists have gone outside the genre and bent the line defining what country music is, Paisley has brought big names to our genre, made it work and made it COUNTRY. I think that’s part of what makes Paisley such a household name. He includes outside perspective, but in the end, he makes the music that he wants and stays true to who he is. His music is funny, but not incredibly ridiculous (“Alcohol”, “I’m Still a Guy”, “I’m Gonna Miss Her”). His music is sometimes political, but not so polarizing that it pushes you on either side of the party line (“Love and War”, “Welcome to the Future”). His love songs are some of the best in country music ever (“She’s Everything”, “My Miracle”, “Then”). He just does it all and does it extremely well. His music is so well written and that’s been his calling card for 20 years. He has put together a strong team of songwriters that appear on every (or nearly) every of his albums (Kelley Lovelace, Brent Anderson, Lee Thomas Miller, Chris DuBois). With Paisley's music, every song has a point to it, and in a genre that has chased the popular pop-country (or bro-country) songs over the last ten years, it's one of Paisley's most admirable qualities. While the quality of country radio has gone down, Paisley's music has stood the test of time.

Besides all of the music that Paisley has created, he has done so much on a national level. His tours are some of the best selling in country music, even after his music hasn’t done well on radio recently. He has written books, been a Grand Ole Opry member, won 3 Grammy awards, was the ACM Top Male Vocalist from 2007-2011, was the CMA Top Male vocalist from 2007-2009, and has co-hosted the CMA Awards with Carrie Underwood since 2008. He and his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, have also opened up The Store in Nashville, which is a free grocery store to serve people in needed. He’s been a known supporter of women in country music, often adding him as his opening acts throughout the years.

Over the last 5 years, Brad Paisley has felt like one of the forgotten guys of country music due to radio play, but the truth is his music is as strong as it’s ever been. That’s why I give him the title of Most Underrated Country Star. Between his music, his demeanor, his philanthropy, and all the accolades, it has to be said that Paisley’s legacy is going to be one of country’s most influential artists ever.