Brad Paisley
That there's no more important decision in life than who you marry.Collection: Anniversary
There may be people in my audience who may not agree with me on some particular issue - you know, say, as a gun owner, they may not agree with me, or, you know, someone may not agree with me on a gay marriage topic. Any of those things. But those shouldn't be the reasons you listen to my music.Collection: Marriage
When I got married, I hired a great choir - the St. James Choir, an all-black gospel choir - to sing at my wedding.Collection: Wedding
I'm somebody who likes to gravitate toward people who aren't necessarily famous.
If a little kid picks up Guitar Hero and learns 'Smoke On The Water,' he soon finds out that if he wants the chicks to look at him, he'd better learn it on the guitar!
I had an old, red-covered '63 AC30 - one of the best AC30s I've ever heard. I cut the whole of the first record with it.
The late-sixties Teles are the best value you can get for a vintage guitar.
I like it when two sounds complement each other but are way different on a record.
If somebody says, 'Do you remember the first time you heard a Rolling Stones song?' if you say you do, you're crazy. You've just always heard them. You might remember the first time it impacted you, but the first time you heard one, you were in a cradle.
I'm sick of feeling like we're in a decline. Let's look at the good.
I live in the extremes.
You're a sitting duck in a mall if you're a celebrity. It's like that scene from 'Guarding Tess,' I think it is, where Shirley MacLaine goes to the mall just to feel good about her celebrity.
Surprise is important. I think that's the essence of entertainment, really.
Our songs aren't metaphorical, normally: they're literal in their interpretation.
I listen to the same things that a lot of my fans do, and I grew up in much the same way they're growing up.
I like Katy Perry. I like Kesha.
I really like Ed Sheeran.
A creative space is an important thing. There are so many studios that feel like doctor's offices in Nashville. I couldn't write there.
There are phrases that are totally cliche that we, as songwriters, owe it to ourselves to not use again.
I think if you ignore the generation after yours, you will be obsolete very quickly.
The artists who stick around for a while are the ones who go, 'Oh, that's cool, never thought of that. Ought to do that.'
You have different stages in your career where you have different things to prove. And early on, like most people who move to Nashville, I wanted to prove that I belonged here, that I belonged in this format, that I had a love for it.
I'm always trying to think of things we haven't done.
As long as you continue to have new songs, there's usually some new topic or something to present.
It would be neat to sing with Roger Miller.
I really believe you'll get a music video one of these days that I shot with an iPad because it's that consistent and that good. It's HD.
That's why we do this. In country music, we do this for this very reason... to impact people lyrically, to be a part of their lives.
It's interesting to hear what somebody does when they have no interest in playing by the rules.
The Stones were a big influence on me and the Beatles, obviously.
Something about cactuses and rock music is a good combination.
Our business has changed so much. Do people even want albums, or do they just buy singles now? You sort of feel like you're the last guy manufacturing VCRs... but I really like albums, and so I like doing them. I'll be the last one making them, even when no one's buying them.
Country music's always had the best musicians in any format of music, and I always gravitated toward that, stuff that was musically interesting.
I wanted to be Buck Owens and Bill Anderson and Roger Miller. With a higher-resolution video screen. And lasers.
I try to be careful how much I sing about the suburban house or whatever.
I have two little boys, and I want them to feel like this is the nation that I know. That this is the nation that isn't petty.
We have to be as good as we want to be as a nation.
I'm going to obviously do my best as a father to set a good example for my children, and I want them to see good examples from our leaders.
When you see Obama and Trump shake hands and seem to show respect to one another - that is what we need.
When you discuss racism, it's almost a no-win scenario - but I don't think that means we shouldn't be discussing it.
Anybody can be a star with the right song.
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.
Date night is important, even if it's going to Schlotzsky's.
When you're old-fashioned like I am, you know marriage is forever. Those vows are a promise.
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.
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.
I don't have, you know, an 'overcoming addiction' story, other than the guitar itself, and I haven't overcome that. I don't have a jail time, you know, story, or any arrests.
I take his talent and his passion with me - to the stage of the Opry, to the podium at the CMA Awards, to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, into my own living room. I am the realization of my grandfather's dream. I am a player.
When I made 'Who Needs Pictures,' my first album, I had been west of the Mississippi River one time in my life, and that was in fourth grade. We traveled to California for vacation and stayed with some friends of my parents. It was culture shock, and it was different.
My father's a firefighter. He was my whole life. And my brother-in-law and several family members are firefighters.
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.