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Interview With Brad Paisley

Aired July 25, 2003 - 13:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, his songs will make you tear up and his songs will you laugh and that's what country music is all about. Right? Emotions and real life.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: At the age of 12, Brad Paisley wrote his very first song, put on his Sunday's best, and headed to church to perform. I guess you can say the big guy upstairs has taken very good care of the now big country star. He joins us today on set.

BRAD PAISLEY, MUSICIAN: Great to be here guys, thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: What brings you to town? You doing a show here in Atlanta?

PAISLEY: Yes, we're playing here tonight. It's great to finally be here.

O'BRIEN: How are you enjoying touring?

PAISLEY: I love it. I actually -- I'm the type that if I'm not on the road for a little bit, I just start to jones for it.

PHILLIPS: I think it's always been that way. We found a picture of you when you were a little youngin'. You might even be able to tell us how old you are in this picture.

PAISLEY: Oh, you're not going to show it, are you?

PHILLIPS: Oh yeah. Here it is. Now, grandpa...

PAISLEY: Oh my gosh!

PHILLIPS: ... your grandpa, a railroad worker, right? He played the guitar and you would jam with him.

PAISLEY: He did. He was amazing that way. He loved great old country music like Buck Owens and Chet Atkins and people like that. And taught me a lot about it. Showed the things I needed to learn to get started.

PHILLIPS: Now Buck Owens, you borrowed his jacket when you got inducted into the Grand Old Opry, didn't you?

PAISLEY: Yes I did, actually. Buck is a really good friend of mine. I love Buck dearly. He's become like a second father practically. When I was asked to join the Opry, I wore the same exact jacket he wore when he taped "Live at Carnegie Hall" in the '60s.

O'BRIEN: All right, this video we've been watching today...

PHILLIPS: "Celebrity."

O'BRIEN: We were all laughing out loud. It's excellent. Brad has a great sense of humor. And it's from your latest album which is called "Mud on Tires." And lest's just listen for just a second. It's mocking the celebrity culture in which we live.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, how did you get William Shatner and George Costanza...

O'BRIEN: Jason Alexander.

(LAUGHTER)

PAISLEY: I love it. You didn't know his real name.

PHILLIPS: I just know him as George. There he is. Starbucks, really ticked off.

PAISLEY: I hope he's watching.

PHILLIPS: He's going to kill me.

O'BRIEN: Eating the worms. You make fun of "The Bachelorette", all of that stuff.

PHILLIPS: How did you get all these guys to do cameos?

PAISLEY: They didn't realize the camera was rolling. We're actually just in a shop.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: That was Jason getting coffee normally.

PAISLEY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) just show up. He'll throw a fit before the day's out.

No actually, these are just some people that I have some ties to, whether that's their mutual friends or I know them myself. And my wife -- that doesn't hurt. She's an actress out there and so actually worked with a couple of these guys.

O'BRIEN: Now do you always have this comedic streak?

PHILLIPS: You're a pretty funny guy. PAISLEY: No, not at all. In school, I was boring. I couldn't get a date and everybody thought I was a nerd. And I guess that's just evolved recently.

I have a really good time taking country music and making a real- life, almost sitcom out of some of the songs. There's nothing like the art form of music to really poke fun at reality.

PHILLIPS: Speaking of reality, there's a part in the video -- I don't know if we;re still rolling at this time, "The Bachelor." Are we close to it? As you look at this, did we pass it already?

PAISLEY: It's coming up actually right now.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's pop up the volume here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: There we go, there's Trista (ph).

O'BRIEN: Makes a choice, and it's going to be, of course, Brad, right?

PAISLEY: I would think so.

O'BRIEN: You would think. But of course...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: But that would be another country western star that would do that. You've got a little more subtlety than that. The Jason Alexander spoof is kind of hard to explain...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: ... he throws a stink...

PAISLEY: And he doesn't like the quality of his coffee...

(CROSSTALK)

PAISLEY: And all of a sudden...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I found somebody here who is a country musician.

PAISLEY: She's going to pick me, there's just no doubt in my mind. We had such chemistry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brad, there's no chemistry. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

(LAUGHTER)

PAISLEY: Little Jimmy Dickens who's actually the oldest member of the Opry and made his debut before Hank Williams' debut.

O'BRIEN: It looks like you had a lot of fun doing it. And we enjoyed watching it.

PHILLIPS: "Mud on the Tires." I know we got a shot of the CD cover, right? And we just want to tell folks, you know this is really how Brad dresses. See the mud on the leg there. OK, go ahead.

PAISLEY: This is the latest fashion trend.

PHILLIPS: So you don't wash your jeans?

PAISLEY: Actually, yes, your right. What we do this for -- I played Jamboree in the Hills this weekend which is a festival to basically promote the album. The guys got all dressed up and we smeared brown paint all over our clothes and these were the only jeans I had today.

PHILLIPS: He mud wrestles.

O'BRIEN: Not a bad living.

PAISLEY: Not a bad living at all.

PHILLIPS: Brad Paisley, thank you so much.

PAISLEY: Thanks, guys.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 25, 2003 - 13:55   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, his songs will make you tear up and his songs will you laugh and that's what country music is all about. Right? Emotions and real life.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: At the age of 12, Brad Paisley wrote his very first song, put on his Sunday's best, and headed to church to perform. I guess you can say the big guy upstairs has taken very good care of the now big country star. He joins us today on set.

BRAD PAISLEY, MUSICIAN: Great to be here guys, thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: What brings you to town? You doing a show here in Atlanta?

PAISLEY: Yes, we're playing here tonight. It's great to finally be here.

O'BRIEN: How are you enjoying touring?

PAISLEY: I love it. I actually -- I'm the type that if I'm not on the road for a little bit, I just start to jones for it.

PHILLIPS: I think it's always been that way. We found a picture of you when you were a little youngin'. You might even be able to tell us how old you are in this picture.

PAISLEY: Oh, you're not going to show it, are you?

PHILLIPS: Oh yeah. Here it is. Now, grandpa...

PAISLEY: Oh my gosh!

PHILLIPS: ... your grandpa, a railroad worker, right? He played the guitar and you would jam with him.

PAISLEY: He did. He was amazing that way. He loved great old country music like Buck Owens and Chet Atkins and people like that. And taught me a lot about it. Showed the things I needed to learn to get started.

PHILLIPS: Now Buck Owens, you borrowed his jacket when you got inducted into the Grand Old Opry, didn't you?

PAISLEY: Yes I did, actually. Buck is a really good friend of mine. I love Buck dearly. He's become like a second father practically. When I was asked to join the Opry, I wore the same exact jacket he wore when he taped "Live at Carnegie Hall" in the '60s.

O'BRIEN: All right, this video we've been watching today...

PHILLIPS: "Celebrity."

O'BRIEN: We were all laughing out loud. It's excellent. Brad has a great sense of humor. And it's from your latest album which is called "Mud on Tires." And lest's just listen for just a second. It's mocking the celebrity culture in which we live.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, how did you get William Shatner and George Costanza...

O'BRIEN: Jason Alexander.

(LAUGHTER)

PAISLEY: I love it. You didn't know his real name.

PHILLIPS: I just know him as George. There he is. Starbucks, really ticked off.

PAISLEY: I hope he's watching.

PHILLIPS: He's going to kill me.

O'BRIEN: Eating the worms. You make fun of "The Bachelorette", all of that stuff.

PHILLIPS: How did you get all these guys to do cameos?

PAISLEY: They didn't realize the camera was rolling. We're actually just in a shop.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: That was Jason getting coffee normally.

PAISLEY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) just show up. He'll throw a fit before the day's out.

No actually, these are just some people that I have some ties to, whether that's their mutual friends or I know them myself. And my wife -- that doesn't hurt. She's an actress out there and so actually worked with a couple of these guys.

O'BRIEN: Now do you always have this comedic streak?

PHILLIPS: You're a pretty funny guy. PAISLEY: No, not at all. In school, I was boring. I couldn't get a date and everybody thought I was a nerd. And I guess that's just evolved recently.

I have a really good time taking country music and making a real- life, almost sitcom out of some of the songs. There's nothing like the art form of music to really poke fun at reality.

PHILLIPS: Speaking of reality, there's a part in the video -- I don't know if we;re still rolling at this time, "The Bachelor." Are we close to it? As you look at this, did we pass it already?

PAISLEY: It's coming up actually right now.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's pop up the volume here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: There we go, there's Trista (ph).

O'BRIEN: Makes a choice, and it's going to be, of course, Brad, right?

PAISLEY: I would think so.

O'BRIEN: You would think. But of course...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: But that would be another country western star that would do that. You've got a little more subtlety than that. The Jason Alexander spoof is kind of hard to explain...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: ... he throws a stink...

PAISLEY: And he doesn't like the quality of his coffee...

(CROSSTALK)

PAISLEY: And all of a sudden...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I found somebody here who is a country musician.

PAISLEY: She's going to pick me, there's just no doubt in my mind. We had such chemistry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brad, there's no chemistry. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

(LAUGHTER)

PAISLEY: Little Jimmy Dickens who's actually the oldest member of the Opry and made his debut before Hank Williams' debut.

O'BRIEN: It looks like you had a lot of fun doing it. And we enjoyed watching it.

PHILLIPS: "Mud on the Tires." I know we got a shot of the CD cover, right? And we just want to tell folks, you know this is really how Brad dresses. See the mud on the leg there. OK, go ahead.

PAISLEY: This is the latest fashion trend.

PHILLIPS: So you don't wash your jeans?

PAISLEY: Actually, yes, your right. What we do this for -- I played Jamboree in the Hills this weekend which is a festival to basically promote the album. The guys got all dressed up and we smeared brown paint all over our clothes and these were the only jeans I had today.

PHILLIPS: He mud wrestles.

O'BRIEN: Not a bad living.

PAISLEY: Not a bad living at all.

PHILLIPS: Brad Paisley, thank you so much.

PAISLEY: Thanks, guys.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com