I’ve always known from the time I was eight years old what I wanted to do. I would have been fairly content to be someone’s lead guitar player. – Brad Paisley
Alison Krauss is definitely my favorite singer that’s ever lived. I’ve never heard anyone like her. – Brad Paisley
The nice thing about the world that I’ve been able to inhabit for the last couple of years is that I’m given a lot of freedom. Not all artists really get that. – Brad Paisley
I try to write like the writers I admire – I rip them off in form. It comes from George Strait and Merle Haggard records, and country music in general is really good at that, the twisted phrase… So I’m always looking for that angle in my own work. – Brad Paisley
It comes down to building your own world out here on the road. It’s who you surround yourself with. My band and crew are really positive guys. – Brad Paisley
I really worked to try and be creative enough on the guitar parts so those who aren’t real educated would know that there was some difficulty in doing it. – Brad Paisley
With my guys and with the way that we live out there, we work out a lot and try to eat right, but we try to basically keep it our own rhythm and our own world. – Brad Paisley
As a guitar player, it’s harder for me to impress somebody than it is to write a song that they like. – Brad Paisley
When you’re a creative person, there are just times when you’re not listening. You know, I could be looking right at you and thinking about something else. – Brad Paisley
You look out there and there’s people that, their day is changed because of your contribution to it. – Brad Paisley
I jetset around and play these songs and get to hang with some pretty amazing people, then I go home to a really great farm, though actually it’s a disaster area of a farm at the moment. But it’s certainly a blast. I wouldn’t trade lives with anyone right now. – Brad Paisley
I don’t stare at a sheet of paper and try to think of a good word to use. I try to see where the story should go. – Brad Paisley
If you’re really on top, you probably didn’t do that great, ’cause you have to water it down a bit for it to get that mass appeal. – Brad Paisley
My life would be very puzzling to most people if they had to follow me around for a day or two. – Brad Paisley
If I get an idea for a song, I have a melody for it. I’m a musician first. I’m not limited by the fretboard. – Brad Paisley
My father’s a firefighter. He was my whole life. And my brother-in-law and several family members are firefighters. – Brad Paisley
My dad was president of the volunteer fire department, which was within walking distance to our house. I spent several days of each week there with him – any time the whistle blew, he went. It was truly inspiring to watch him lead that way. – Brad Paisley
I love being an enigma. Every time I’m tempted to respond to someone who tries to put me in a box, politically – you know, someone who gets on the Internet and says, you’re pro-gun, or you’re anti-gun – I stop and say to myself, ‘This is great; this is what I wanted. I wanted to be the guy you can’t figure out.’ – Brad Paisley
No one can make the album they made 10 years ago with a straight face. There are two reasons: one is you change as a person. To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way. And the second thing is these are different times. – Brad Paisley
I changed my mindset and figured, Why not try to be really entertaining instrumentally? – Brad Paisley
I have a very down-to-earth father. My wife is an actress and famous herself is more down-to-earth than anyone I know. – Brad Paisley
When they say you’re the best, I always remember that the majority of the audience probably thinks someone else should have gotten the award. – Brad Paisley
If there’s a song where there’s a possibility of guitar stuff that would be fun to listen to, go for it. Don’t worry about what anybody thinks. – Brad Paisley
I imagine there’s a market for total depression. I grew up on George Jones and that really dark stuff. – Brad Paisley
I’m sure there are a few things in my CD collection that might surprise people. I like classical music, the blues, and I’m a big fan of alternative rock. – Brad Paisley