Brad Paisley is Taking Chances

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

Oct.13, 2008 — Record companies go to great lengths to get attention for new albums when they’re released, but Brad Paisley is guaranteed to be a secondary story in the big picture on the day his new CD Play comes out.

After all, his mostly instrumental project hits the market on Nov. 4, which is also Election Day. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to recognize what the media will be focused on at that time.

"When we settled on Election Day for the release of the album, we realized we’re taking a bit of a chance," Brad told Billboard. "But we’re taking a chance with this record anyway, so why not?"

The album is certainly a departure, given that only a handful of songs — including the first single, "Start A Band," featuring Keith Urban — have vocals. The main focus of the project is Brad’s guitar work, essential in two songs named after his immediate family: "Huckleberry Jam" and "Kim." The former is named after his son, William Huckleberry Paisley; the latter for his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley.

"Sometimes in a song like that, the spaces can mean as much as any note, especially when it’s a name like Kim," Brad said. "There’s a part where it breaks down into a minor section and gets dark, and trust me that happens in real life as well."

Brad will appear on ABC-TV’s "Good Morning America" the day the album is released. Eight days later, he’ll join Carrie Underwood to co-host the 42nd annual Country Music Association Awards on ABC from Nashville’s Sommet Center.