Born
Oct. 28, 1972, in the tiny Ohio River town of Glen Dale,
W.Va., Brad Paisley seemed destined for a life of music.
"My earliest memory," he says, "is of
running down the road to my grandfather's house. He
was a railroad worker who worked the night shift. So
he'd be at home all afternoon playing guitar. I'd go
down there and spend the day watching him play. He loved
Chet Atkins and Merle Travis and Les Paul. And he'd
play everything from 'Under the Double Eagle' to 'Wildwood
Flower' to 'Shortenin' Bread.''
When Paisley was 8, his grandfather gave him his first
guitar -- a Sears Danelectro Silvertone with an amp
in the case. By the age of 10, Paisley was playing well
enough to accompany himself. He soon began singing in
church and at civic meetings for the Lion's Club and
the Fraternal Order of Elks. Next, he formed his first
band, Brad Paisley & the C-Notes, with his guitar
instructor, local musician Clarence "Hank"
Goddard. At 12, Paisley wrote his first song, "Born
on Christmas Day." His junior high school principal
heard it and asked him to do it at the next Rotary Club
meeting. In the audience that day was Tom Miller, program
director for WWVA, Wheeling's country radio powerhouse.
Miller was so impressed by the performance that he invited
Paisley to make a guest appearance on Jamboree USA,
the station's legendary Saturday night show. Paisley
was ecstatic, and his performance went over so well
that he was asked to become a Jamboree regular. During
his eight years on the show, he opened for such country
luminaries -- and personal favorites -- as Roy Clark,
Jack Greene and Little Jimmy Dickens.
Paisley's Jamboree membership also earned him the opportunity
to perform each year at the mammoth outdoor summer festival,
Jamboree in the Hills. The event routinely boasted dozens
of top country acts and drew crowds of 60,000 or more.
But the weekly Jamboree turned out to be Paisley's most
valuable training ground. On the weekends he didn't
perform there, he would hang out backstage, soaking
up tips from veteran performers like George Jones.
After high school, Paisley began his studies at nearby
West Liberty College. But his college advisor, Jim Watson
-- noting what he'd done and what he still wanted to
do -- kept urging him to move to Nashville and enroll
in the Belmont University music business program. Initially,
Paisley resisted, preferring instead to remain close
to home with his "serious girlfriend" and
his college and musical buddies. But when he came to
Nashville to attend a friend's wedding, he stayed on
long enough to check out Belmont. Excited by what he
saw there, he decided to transfer.
At Belmont, Paisley met Frank Rogers, a fellow student
who now serves as his producer; Kelley Lovelace, a frequent
songwriting partner; and many of the musicians who would
later work in his band and play on his first album.
Paisley served his college internship at ASCAP, the
performing rights association. There he met Chris DuBois,
another of his co-writers. His friends at ASCAP were
sufficiently impressed by the songs Paisley was writing
and set up an appointment with the talent scouts at
EMI Music Publishing. A week after graduation, Paisley
signed a songwriting deal with the company.
Like many up-and-coming artists in Nashville, Paisley
earned extra money by singing and playing on demos.
One of these attracted the attention of Arista Nashville's
A&R Department. After a series of meetings and phone
calls -- during which each party proclaimed its affection
and esteem for the other -- Paisley added his name to
the Arista roster.
The newcomer made his mark in 1999 with the single "He
Didn't Have to Be," co-written with friend Lovelace.
The song, which detailed the story of Lovelace's real-life
relationship with his stepson, gave Paisley his first
No. 1 single and helped his debut album Who Needs Pictures
go platinum (for sales of 1,000,000 copies).
In 2000, Paisley won the Country Music Association's
Horizon Award and the Academy of Country Music's best
new male vocalist trophy and received his first Grammy
nomination in 2001 in the all-genre best new artist
category. He made his Grand Ole Opry debut May 28, 1999,
and after 40 some appearances, he was inducted into
the Opry on Feb. 17, 2001.
In 2002, he released his follow-up album Part II. According
to Paisley, Part II picks up right where Who Needs Pictures
left off, literally. "The fiddle that fades out
at the end of the first record leads you into the first
song on Part II," he says. "I pictured someone
putting them in the CD player and playing them back
to back." The album garnered his third No. 1 hit
with the hilarious "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing
Song)."
His third album, Mud on the Tires, arrived in 2003.
It featured the hit “Celebrity,” which poked
fun at fame and reality television. |
