"This Is Country Music"

Just got a copy of Brad Paisley's new CD "This Is Country Music", and it's good.  Really good!!  If you like the sound of a fiddle & steel guitar, you'll probably like this album.  I'll try to highlight a few of the songs without giving too much away, so if you don't want me to spoil it for you, you'd better look away.

Here's the track listing:
1.  This Is Country Music
2.  Old Alabama
3.  A Man Don't Have To Die
4.  Camouflage
5.  Remind Me (with Carrie Underwood)
6.  Working On A Tan
7.  Love Her Like She's Leavin' (with Don Henley)
8.  One Of Those Lives
9.  Toothbrush
10.  Be The Lake
11.  Eastwood
12.  New Favorite Memory
13.  Don't Drink The Water (with Blake Shelton)
14.  I Do Now
15.  Life's Railway To Heaven (with Marty Stuart, Sheryl Crow and Carl Jackson)

I won't go through every single track, just the ones that really jumped out at me.

"A Man Don't Have To Die"
This is one of my favorites.  The character in the song is telling his preacher that he'd rather hear about Heaven & how to get there instead of hearing about hell, because "....there's enough hell to go 'round down here".  A man don't have to die to go to hell.

"Camouflage"
 A funny light hearted song about all that is good about camo, featuring a couple good "git-er-done's" from Larry the Cable Guy.

"Remind Me" with Carrie Underwood
I read today that Brad hopes that this will be the next single off the album.  In this song, Brad and Carrie are a couple that has been together for a long time and their relationship has lost its spark.  They are telling each other to "remind me" of how it used to be.

"Love Her Like She's Leaving" with Don Henley
This is probably my favorite song on the CD.  At his wedding reception, a groom gets marriage advice from a man who has been married for a long time.  He tells the groom to do the little things like leave love notes on the fridge, send flowers & gifts for no reason and that will keep the lawyers away.  "Love her like she's leavin', and I guarantee she'll stay".  Great song.

"Toothbrush"
When I saw the title for this song, I couldn't begin to guess what it was about.  I like it because it's a very stripped down, acoustic style song.  Brad sings about how love starts with a simple first date and grows into something much bigger.  Parents will love it.

"Don't Drink The Water" with Blake Shelton
Fun song about a man who wakes up alone in his house and decides he needs to get out of town.  So, he calls his travel agent who books a trip to Cozumel and offers up some advice, "don't drink the water".  In response, the man says "anything I drink better have a kick and a burn....I ain't goin' to Mexico to drink the water"

"I Do Now"
This one is told from someone who looked at people whose lives are in ruin and couldn't figure out how they got to be that way, but after he makes some bad choices of his own, he figures it out. 

"Life's Railway To Heaven" with Sheryl Crow, Carl Jackson & Marty Stuart
Straight-up bluegrass.

I like this album because it sounds like country music.  From the lyrics to the fiddle & steel, it sounds like country music.  The songs are well written both lyrically and musically.  Now days, pushing the boundaries of country music is the thing to do (I have blogged about it in the past), but Brad has always stayed home.  He's a good enough singer, songwriter and musician that he doesn't need to stray from the genre to sell records and be popular.  He couldn't have found a more appropriate title for this record.  This is country music.  Look for it in stores this Monday the 23rd.