Brad Paisley Gets Animated

Brad Paisley photo by David McClister, courtesy of Arista Nashville

August 14, 2007 — His humorous clips for "I'm Gonna Miss Her" and "Celebrity" cemented Brad Paisley's reputation as one of country music's most clever video stars. Now he's turning his talents to animation and editing, USA Today reports.

For his Bonfires & Amplifiers tour, Brad has created a pair of short films — a silent Western and a cartoon that portrays him as a race car driver — to accompany him in concert, as well as footage that changes with each market.

Most performers hire out that kind of work, but Brad relishes the process. He is currently working with the editing software Final Cut Pro on his Macintosh laptop for a GAC special on the making of "Online," his latest video. "This is fun," he says. "I spend a lot of time traveling, and I did a lot of this on the road last weekend."

Brad became known for his creative video concepts when he invited Jerry Springer, Dan Patrick and Kimberly Williams (now his wife) to join him for a mock fishing tourney in the video for "I'm Gonna Miss Her." That won the Country Music Association's video of the year award. He parodied reality TV with "Celebrity" the next year, and his "Online" video co-stars William Shatner, Maureen McCormick and Jason Alexander, who also directed the clip.

Brad, a cartoon buff who draws and paints in his spare time, began using animation last year to accompany instrumentals on stage. He drew inspiration from a Fox cartoon.

"Brad called me and said, 'What do they do "Family Guy" on?'" says Scott Scovill, owner of Nashville video company MooTV and one of Brad's show designers. "I said, 'They use software called Toon Boom, but it's got a big learning curve. I don't think you just buy it and start making cartoons.' He goes, 'Toon Boom, got it. Bye.' A month and a half later, he'd done a full four minutes, with two screens and a different cut for each screen. It was very impressive."

Brad says the animation keeps the crowd from going for popcorn during throttleneck. "When you play amphitheaters, I don't care how good the instrumental is, they're just waiting for the next hit," he says. "With this, it's a fun way to entertain them."