Brad Paisley Doubles Down

Brad Paisley at rehearsals for the 43rd Annual ACM Awards Show in Las Vegas. Photo provided by the Academy of Country Music.

Oct. 22, 2008 — Brad Paisley got a two-for-one No. 1 party on Monday as the performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI worked jointly to celebrate a pair of hits that toy with the differences between the two genders, "I’m Still A Guy" and "Waitin’ On A Woman."

Brad wrote "I’m Still A Guy" with Kelly Lovelace and Lee Thomas Miller, literally finishing the song the same day Kimberly Williams-Paisley went into labor with Brad’s son, Huck. Kimberly, now pregnant again, was on hand for the party at Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame, an appropriate locale given Brad’s plan to release a mostly instrumental album, Play, Nov. 4.

Kelly and Lee were also in attendance, as were Wynn Varble and Don Sampson, who authored "Waitin’ On A Woman," then waited nearly three years from the release of the Time Well Wasted album until the song finally became a single.

"It was supposed to be the second single off of Time Well Wasted," Don recalled. "Then Hurricane Katrina hit, and everybody thought — rightly so — a perfect song for this [period] would be ‘When I Get Where I’m Going.’ Brad, bless his heart, I talked to him several times during that. He said, ‘Don, trust me on this, it’s gonna happen. I love the song, just be patient.’"

Not that Don and Wynn had to wait long for feedback on their creation. The day they wrote "Waitin’," Wynn took a tape to his music publisher’s office, where he played it for a song plugger, whose job is to pitch material to artists and producers in an effort to get recordings.

"Chris Lacy’s heard 10 million songs," Wynn notes. "I looked up, and she had a tear rollin’ down her face. I called Don, and I said, ‘I think we got somethin'.’"

Originally released on Time Well Wasted, "Waitin’ On A Woman" has been added to new pressings of 5th Gear. In addition, a version featuring Andy Griffith’s recitations from the video will appear on Play, meaning "Waitin’" is being featured on three straight Brad Paisley albums.

"I’m Still A Guy" has ties to Brad’s early career. Kelly Lovelace’s stepson had been the inspiration for "He Didn’t Have To Be," and Kelly’s wife had used guilt to induce him to attend a school function for the boy’s class that Kelly predicted — correctly, as it turned out — would attract no other fathers. His story led to a discussion with Brad and Lee about men being emasculated in modern society. The song reached its apex when Brad threw in the "I’ve still got a pair" line, which got a lot of laughs, though his co-writers didn’t initially take him seriously.

"It’s funny," Lee told him. "Can you say that on the radio?"

Brad insisted he could.

"That’s one great thing about him," Lee observes. "He knows who he is as an artist. He goes, ‘I’m not changin’ it. It’s perfect.’"

Brad and his fellow songwriters earned a bevy of honors at the party from ASCAP and BMI, publishing companies, the Country Music Association, Country Radio Broadcasters and Country Weekly magazine.

"There’s a lot of records that have deserved to be No. 1 records that never made it there," Brad said. "I do not take this for granted."

"Waitin’ On A Woman" is up for Music Video of the Year at "The 42nd Annual CMA Awards," one of four nominations Brad has at the CMA ceremony. He’s on tap to co-host Nov. 12 with Carrie Underwood at Nashville’s Sommet Center.