Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You". After this, he signed with Arista Nashville in 1998, and released his debut album Who Needs Pictures in 1999. This was the first of 12 studio albums he released for the label before its closure in 2023, after which he transferred to EMI Nashville. His most commercially successful albums are Mud on the Tires (2003) and Time Well Wasted (2005), both certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Paisley has charted more than 50 singles on the Billboard country singles charts, including 19 number-one singles ranging from "He Didn't Have to Be" in 1999 and "Perfect Storm" in 2015. Ten of these singles were achieved consecutively, starting with "When I Get Where I'm Going" in 2006 and ending with "Then" in 2009. Paisley has collaborated with artists such as Alison Krauss, Keith Urban, Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, and Alabama. Since 2003, he has been married to the actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley.
Brad Douglas Paisley was born on October 28, 1972, in Glen Dale, West Virginia. He is the only child of Douglas Edward "Doug" Paisley, who worked for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, and Sandra Jean "Sandy" (née Jarvis) Paisley, a teacher.
He has stated that his love of country music stems from his maternal grandfather, Warren Jarvis, who gave him his first guitar, a Sears Danelectro Silvertone, and taught him how to play at eight years old. In third grade, he performed for the first time in public by singing in his church. Initially, they were just going to have him play the song on the guitar instead of a piano, but then the adults heard him sing the tune and said, "Forget the choir, let's just have Brad do the whole thing."
After that, he never had to ask for a gig until he left Glen Dale. He later recalled, "Pretty soon, I was performing at every Christmas party and Mother's Day event. The neat thing about a small town is that when you want to be an artist, by golly, they'll make you one." At age 13, he wrote his first song, "Born on Christmas Day", which later appeared on his album Brad Paisley Christmas. He had been taking lessons with local guitarist Clarence "Hank" Goddard. By 13, Goddard and Paisley formed a band called "Brad Paisley and the C-Notes", with the addition of two of Paisley's adult friends.
When he was in junior high, his school's principal heard him perform "Born On Christmas Day" and invited him to play at the local Rotary Club meeting. In attendance was Tom Miller, the program director of a radio station in Wheeling, West Virginia. Miller asked him if he would like to be a guest on Jamboree USA. After his first performance, he was asked to become a member of the show's weekly lineup. For the next eight years, he opened for country singers such as The Judds, Ricky Skaggs, and George Jones. He would become the youngest person inducted into the Jamboree USA Hall of Fame. He also performed at the Jamboree in the Hills.
Paisley graduated from John Marshall High School in Glen Dale, West Virginia, in 1991, and then studied for two years at West Liberty State College in West Liberty, West Virginia. He was awarded a fully paid ASCAP scholarship to Belmont University in Nashville, where he majored in music business and received a bachelor of business administration degree from the Mike Curb School of Music Business in 1995. He interned at ASCAP, Atlantic Records, and the Fitzgerald-Hartley management firm. While in college, he met Frank Rogers, a fellow student who went on to serve as his producer. Paisley also met Kelley Lovelace, who became his songwriting partner. He also met Chris DuBois in college, and he, too, would write songs for him.
Within a week after graduating from Belmont, Paisley signed a songwriting contract with EMI Music Publishing; and he wrote David Kersh's top-five hit, "Another You", as well as David Ball's 1999 single, "Watching My Baby Not Come Back". The latter song was also co-written by Ball.
1999–2003: Who Needs Pictures and Part II
His debut as a singer was with the label Arista Nashville, with the song "Who Needs Pictures" (released February 1, 1999). In May of that same year, he made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. Seven months later, he had his first number-one hit with "He Didn't Have to Be", which detailed the story of Paisley's frequent co-writer Kelley Lovelace and Lovelace's stepson, McCain Merren. The album also produced a top-20 hit with "Me Neither" and his second number-one hit, "We Danced", both in 2000. By February 2001, the album was certified platinum. Later in 2000, Paisley won the Country Music Association's (CMA) Horizon Award and the Academy of Country Music's best new male vocalist trophy. He received his first Grammy Award nomination a year later for Best New Artist. On February 17, 2001, Paisley was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. He was 28 when he accepted the invitation. PBS did a 75th-anniversary concert special, in which Paisley and Chely Wright sang a song that they co-wrote called "Hard to Be a Husband, Hard to Be a Wife". This song later appeared on the compilation album Grand Ole Opry 75th Anniversary, Vol. 2. The concert would get a CMA nomination for Vocal Event of the Year.
Paisley later contributed to Wright's 2001 album Never Love You Enough, co-writing the tracks "One Night in Las Vegas", "Horoscope", and "Not as in Love". Paisley co-produced the former two tracks with her, in addition to playing guitar on them and featuring members of his road band, the Drama Kings; he also sang backing vocals on "One Night in Las Vegas" and "Not as in Love". In 2002, he won the CMA Music Video of the Year for "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)". Several celebrities made notable guest appearances in the video, including Little Jimmy Dickens, Kimberly Williams, Dan Patrick, and Jerry Springer. His three other singles from the Part II album, "I Wish You'd Stay", "Wrapped Around", and "Two People Fell in Love", all charted in the top 10. The album stayed in the charts for more than 70 weeks and was certified platinum in August 2002. To support his album, he toured the country as the opening act for Lonestar.
2003–2007: Mud on the Tires, Time Well Wasted and 5th Gear
Paisley released his third album, Mud on the Tires (2003), following Who Needs Pictures and Part II. The album features the hit song "Celebrity", the video of which parodies television shows such as Fear Factor, American Idol, The Bachelorette, and According to Jim, and included such celebrities as Jason Alexander, James Belushi, Little Jimmy Dickens, Trista Rehn, and William Shatner. (Paisley later contributed to Shatner's album Has Been.) The album's title track, "Mud on the Tires", reached the Billboard number one in 2004. In addition, the ninth track from Mud on the Tires, "Whiskey Lullaby", a duet with Alison Krauss, reached number three on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts, and number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for "Whiskey Lullaby" also won several awards and was rated number two on the 100 Greatest Videos by CMT in 2008. The album was certified double platinum.
In 2005, after touring with Reba McEntire and Terri Clark on the Two Hats and a Redhead Tour, he released Time Well Wasted, which included the singles "Alcohol" reaching number four, "When I Get Where I'm Going" (a duet with Dolly Parton), "The World", and "She's Everything" with the last three all reaching number one. On November 6, 2006, Time Well Wasted won the CMA Award for Best Album. It also won album of the year at the 2006 ACM Awards. Paisley also contributed two original songs to the Disney Pixar's film Cars. These can be found on the film's soundtrack. This was in recognition of his contribution to the "Route 66: Main Street America" television special. At the 2006 Grammy Awards, Paisley received four nominations: Best Country Album (for Time Well Wasted), Best Country Song (for "Alcohol"), Best Country Instrumental (for "Time Warp"), and Best Country Vocal, Male (for "Alcohol").