About/History

A widely recognized guitar specialist who fills his songs with head-turning instrumental twists, Paisley is one of the few country artists who takes his own band into the studio for his recordings. Along with producer Frank Rogers, who has worked on all of his albums, he began work on 5th Gear the week after his triumphs at the CMA Awards. Paisley brought his Album of the Year trophy into the studio and set it on the console for everyone to see.

“We gave each other a round of applause, and I told everybody, ‘Congratulations, this is yours. Now, let’s do even better.’ That’s the mindset we had,” Paisley recalls. “I didn’t mean that we expect to win it again. What I meant was, ‘Let’s see if we can top it.’ We wanted to aim at pushing ourselves and at doing something we felt moved the music forward.”

5th Gear does just that. By expanding his musical palette, from the country-meets-‘80s-rock catchiness of “All I Wanted Was a Car” to the real-life poignancy of “Letter to Me,” and from the full-speed “Mr. Policeman” to the wistfully philosophical “If Love Was a Plane,” Paisley finds fresh ground both in his themes and in the details of the lyrics and the how-did-he-do-that musical arrangements.

The album’s first hit, “Ticks,” typifies Paisley’s ability to write about age-old subjects in completely surprising and fresh ways. “If you think the song is gross, you’re missing the point,” the singer says with a laugh. “It’s not about bloodsucking bugs. It’s about a guy flirting with a girl, and, in trying to tell her he’s interested in her, he’s using a term that’s about as country as can be.”

Paisley came up with the image naturally. “Working out here on the farm, I literally have to check for ticks every time I come in from the woods or the fields,” he notes. “Now, if a young guy who lives in the country were to take a girl into the woods for any reason, it would totally cross his mind that she’s going to have to check for ticks when they come back out. So it seems that an enterprising guy would at least consider that he could offer to check for her.”

As with all his humorous songs, Paisley wanted to get away with as much as he could. “It was a hard song to write because if you go too far with it, it’s not funny anymore,” he says, a comment that also works with other new and humorous tunes, including “Online,” “I’m Still a Guy,” “Mr. Policeman” and “Bigger Fish to Fry.” “But if you stay with just the right amount of innuendo, and leave the rest to the imagination, then it works.”

He sings a soaring duet, “Oh Love,” with country sensation Carrie Underwood, who became friends with Paisley while touring as his opening act in 2006. “Carrie and I had a great tour together last year, and we became friends,” he says. “She sang ‘Whiskey Lullaby’ with me every show, and at the end of the tour, we both expressed that it was a shame that we didn’t get to sing together anymore. So when it came time to do the album, it seemed natural to record a duet with her. It was just a matter of finding the right song, and we did.”

As always, Paisley put the album together with his stage show in mind. “This feels more like our concert than any album we’ve done,” the singer says. “I said that about Time Well Wasted, too, but our live show has evolved and improved since then. I think this album reflects what we’re capable of doing now.”

Indeed, after an incredible 2006 playing to more than 750,000 fans as he headlined one of the top country tours of the year, Paisley launched his 2007 Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour with the added muscle of presenting sponsor, Hershey’s.

“It’s the dream of every artist,” he remarks, “to find the right collaboration with a sponsorship package. With the push that they’re helping us do, we can reach people we’ve never reached before. As an artist, that is appealing, and the sponsorship money, we reinvested.”

Billboard named Paisley among five hot headliners to watch—all genres—in 2007, and with the backing of Hershey’s, he had the chance to pour newfound resources into his live show.

“You can really tell that we had a sponsor this time. You will see the absolute state of the art in concert technology out at one of our shows. It’s really, really fun.”

The Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour was a huge success, as it kicked off in April of 2007 and extended through February of 2008, visiting 94 cities and playing for more than 1,000,000 fans, becoming Pollstar’s #2 country tour of 2007 in total attendance.

The live-audience dynamic is part of Paisley’s focus on two criteria when creating a new album: “With each song I choose, I have to visualize the people in the front rows of my shows enjoying it as we perform it. If I can see them singing along, smiling and laughing, or holding up a lighter or cell phone, then the song is a keeper.”

The second rule comes when he considers if this song is different than anything he’s said before in a song—and if he can imagine it becoming somebody’s favorite. “That way, I’m sure each song is different than others on the album, and each song is a potential hit,” he says. “I don’t want to feel anything on there is weaker than the song next to it. I didn’t want to think, ‘Man, I wish we could’ve found something a little better.’ I’m proud to say, with this album, I don’t feel that way about anything on it.”

What might surprise fans is that none of the songs refer specifically to another major event in Paisley’s life: He and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, welcomed the birth of their first son, William Huckleberry Paisley, on February 22, 2007.

“People might be surprised at how little influence our son’s birth had on this album,” he says. “Part of it is that most of the songs were written and selected before he was born. So you’d have to know what to look for to hear me addressing it. Interestingly enough, the song that most directly speaks about birth [“It Did”], I didn’t write.”

That doesn’t mean the Paisleys’ first child didn’t influence the album in some manner. “I think where it manifested itself is how youthful the album is in its feel and themes,” he says. “There are references to wanting a car at 16, to writing a letter to myself when I was 17, and references to things like dating and online chat rooms and the mistakes you make when you’re growing up. So I think his birth influenced the album in a less direct way.”

By now, as he’s hitting fifth gear, there are some obvious traits that Paisley’s albums share: There’s the instrumental, “Throttleneck” (which in 2008 won Paisley a GRAMMY Award – his first – for Best Country Instrumental Performance), and the gospel song, “When We All Get to Heaven”; there’s the song that has fun about the wayward habits of unreconstructed men, “I’m Still a Guy”; and there’s the humorous Kung Pao Buckaroos skit, this time with Paisley’s heroes Bill Anderson and Little Jimmy Dickens joined by a relatively young buck, Vince Gill, with all of them sharing vocals on the witty, swinging shuffle, “Bigger Fish to Fry.”

In the end, Paisley figures he is indeed in 5th Gear now; he and his band are running at top speed and firing on all pistons, and he’s honed his songwriting and his guitar-playing ability to where he’s not afraid to push forward a little further.

“I think this album is really a candid snapshot of who I am and what me and my band can do,” he says. “We challenged ourselves, and I’m really proud of what we’ve done.”

Some Hearts was a snapshot that captured a moment, dealing with coming of age and with establishing a foothold in a wider world. Its success speaks volumes about the attractiveness of its message and of the woman who delivered it. Carnival Ride, on the other hand, is a big-screen movie, wide-ranging in theme, cinematic in scope. It reflects Carrie's increasing strength as a vocalist, her continuing emergence as a songwriter, and her growing maturity as an artist and a person.

"Last time," she says, "I didn't set out to talk about a specific thing. I just picked songs that reminded me of home and made me think, 'Wow! I can relate to that,' and by the end, there was a theme." Taking a broader view this time, she drew on her instincts as a fan in selecting songs that range from the enchantingly light-hearted to the deeply inspiring.

"It's a collection of songs I would want to hear on the radio," she says, "and songs I want to sing. I really hope my fans will get a little bit more of me out of these songs."

The presence of four songs co-written by Carrie will help them do just that. "All-American Girl" turns the story of a baby girl born to a man praying for a boy into a celebration of femininity. If there is a bit of autobiography in the song--Carrie is the youngest of three daughters--there is even more in "Crazy Dreams," an ode to "long shots" and a celebration of the fact that "even crazy dreams come true," something she knows better than almost anyone. "Last Name" is a bit of pure fun celebrating reckless abandon, and is one of two songs Carrie wrote with Hillary Lindsey. The other is the album's first single, "So Small," a song that announces the new project as a major step forward. With "So Small" Carrie focuses on what’s important in life and not worrying about the small things. It also focuses on the strength of her voice and personality, instilling it with freshness and relevance.

Lindsey, who co-wrote "Jesus, Take The Wheel," and Carrie have become fast friends since meeting when a group of songwriters gathered at a songwriter retreat in Nashville after her Idol win to help Carrie write and select songs for Some Hearts. In addition to "Wheel Of The World" and the pair of songs she wrote with Carrie, Lindsey co-wrote "Get Out Of This Town," a bit of upbeat restlessness, "Twisted," about a relationship on the edge, and "Just A Dream," a powerful song dealing with the effects of war on a young bride-to-be.

Carrie's emergence as a songwriter on Carnival Ride is another of the album's revelations. She brought together another group of top Nashville tunesmiths, including Brett James, Luke Laird, Kelley Lovelace, Aimee Mayo, Steve McEwan and others for a second writers' retreat. This one held at the Ryman Auditorium, the most famous former home of the Grand Ole Opry, throwing herself into the creative process and expanding greatly her confidence as a songwriter and her depth as a creative force in modern country music.

The process of writing with and looking through the catalogs of the cream of Nashville songwriting helped make Carnival Ride the strong artistic statement it is.

"We had so many great songs to choose from it was really hard to narrow it down," she says. "We set the bar really high. Songs that would be hits hands-down might not have made it onto the album because one was a teeny notch better."

The strength of those songs helped propel the subsequent recording sessions.

"We really took the first part of the year to make sure we had the best material we could possibly find," she says, "and then we went in every day to the studio, which is something I really love to do. It is a very controlled environment. Mark [Bright, her producer] is so easy to work with. He'll encourage me to play around with vocal approaches because, at the end of the day, it's my voice, and the song is something I'll be doing on stage every night. He trusts the instincts I have and I trust him. That makes us a good team."

Holding the entire package together is the passion and believability fans came to know and love on American Idol and which haven't dimmed a bit. The combination grew out of a lifelong love of country music nurtured in her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma.

"I had a very happy childhood full of the wonderful simple things that children love to do," she says. "Growing up in the country, I enjoyed things like playing on dirt roads, climbing trees, catching little woodland creatures and, of course, singing." She sang in church, then in grade school musicals and area talent shows, winning a savings bond here, a trophy there.

"After high school," she says, "I pretty much gave up on the dream of singing. I had reached a point in my life where I had to be practical and prepare for my future in the 'real world.'"

She attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK, where her sorority sisters at Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority worked to bring her out of her shell.

"They always tried to make me sing at everything," she says, "but I was too embarrassed. During the summers I mustered up enough courage to sing at the Downtown Country show--a Branson-style show that included singing, dancing and comedy. It was mainly there that I learned what it was like to be in front of a crowd."

She majored in broadcast journalism, her sights set on a career in television news. Then, in her senior year, she saw news reports of tryouts for American Idol's 2005 season.

"People always told me that I should try out for the show, but I never thought I would be able to handle it." When her mother offered to drive her to St. Louis for tryouts, though, she decided to go. That, of course, set in motion the whirlwind.

"I remember certain things--Saturday Night Live was really cool," she says. "It was great to be added to the list of such great iconic artists who have performed on the show before. And of course, being on stage at the Grammys--that was an amazing moment. Who'd have thought? But each one runs together. I'd love to revel in the moment a little more sometimes."

Still, it is a mark of Carrie's level-headedness and determination that amid the demands of a star, she made it a goal to complete her college degree. Even among the madness of winning American Idol in May 2005, recording and launching her debut album in November 2005, she finished her credit hours and earned her B.A., graduating magna cum laude in May 2006. And while she has grown a little more accustomed to the elite circles in which she sometimes travels, now and then she can tap into the fan she has always been, as when she met Randy Travis not long ago.

"I've loved him ever since I was little," she says. "So, it was kind of like, 'Wow! This is the person I hoped would take home the awards when I watched as a little girl.' It was kind of a crazy day and I guess my emotions were running a little high when I got to meet him. I met him and he was so nice, and I started crying. I never know what to do with people when they cry when meeting me, so I was thinking, 'Gosh! I'm one of those people now! I'm being completely silly,' but it was just the way it happened." Her version of Travis's hit "I Told You So" appears on Carnival Ride.

She appears on Brad Paisley's album 5th Gear, joining him on "Oh Love" as her reach continues to expand. She recorded an original song called "Ever Ever After" for the Disney movie Enchanted and filmed a music video for the project. Her versatility is such that she has covered the work of artists including the Eagles and Bob Wills on the Grammys, Fleetwood Mac on Fashion Rocks, and she made the Pretenders' classic "I'll Stand By You" her own in a version that raised money for the "Idol Gives Back" charity effort. As part of her involvement, Carrie traveled to South Africa to visit and perform for schools, orphanages, hospices and health care centers in and around Johannesburg.

In 2006, Carrie performed over 150 shows on tour with Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley as well as headlining her own dates. She ended the year headlining a USO Tour during the Christmas holiday season and performing for U.S. troops in Kuwait and Iraq. Carrie, known for her love of animals, is also a major supporter of the Humane Society of the United States. Carrie will launch her own headline tour in 2008 and will kick off the year with co-headline shows with Keith Urban.

On May 10, 2008 Carrie will become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Such charitable efforts are yet another indication that, in a world where celebrity is often about mere self-indulgence, Carrie brings as much grace, style and substance to her life as she does to her stage performances. She has quickly become one of country music's most effective and best-loved ambassadors, using her success as a springboard for good. Now, with the release of Carnival Ride, we are reminded once again of the rich talent that underlies that humanitarian spirit, and of the bottom line when it comes to the popularity of this remarkable young woman.