Brad Paisley

Biography, Composition History and Listening GuideBy Cali Murray

Biography

• Brad Paisley was born in 1972 to parents Doug and Sandy

• Received his first guitar from Grandfather at age 8

• Wrote his first song at age 12, entitled “Born on Christmas Day”

• Junior High principal witnessed him performing his original piece and arranged for him to play at the Rotary Club

• While performing at the Rotary Club, he was disovered by Tom Miller who directed a West Virginian radio station

• Tom Miller invited him to perform on Jamboree, and then made him a weekly act.

• Over the next eight years, Paisley had many opportunities to perform with acts such as The Judds and Ricky Skadds

• Paisley went to Belmont University on an ASCAP scholarship.One of his fellow students ended up being his producer- Frank RogersIn 1999, Brad made several huge steps forward as an ArtistHe made his debut with label Arista NashvilleHis first song released was “Who Needs Pictures”In addition to his first single, there weretwo other chart topping nuumbers-“He Didn’t Have to Be” and “We Danced”

• In the following years, his career skyrocketed.• Because he is both a singer AND songwriter,

he is very in tune with the music and incorporates solos and intricate musical touches

• He has received multiple awards for his music, including: Male Vocalist of the year, Video of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Best Country Instrumental Performance

• Paisley had an “Off” year in 2003, but has a pretty good excuse… planning a wedding can be pretty intense and that’s exactly what he was doing.

• He became interested in wife Kimberly Williams when watching her performance in “Father of the Bride 2”. She inspired him and he decided she had all the attributes he was looking for in a wife.

• The two were married in 2003 after a nine month engagement and live in Tennessee and Malibu with their two sons William Huckleberry and Jasper Warren.

Williams, Paisley and son

Some of Brad’s Most Popular Songs

• 1. “Then” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbZ_OR9exss

• 2 “She’s Everything”• http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsQmkkmDYpk• 3. “We Danced”• http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=nF66dn7woNM

Composition History• “I’m Still A Guy”• Length- 3:55• The song “I’m Still a Guy” was released from his album Fifth Gear

as the fourth single. The album came out in 2007 and had four hit songs, all of which hit number one on Billboard. Paisley co-wrote this song with Kelly Lovelace and Lee Thomas Miller in an effort to make a comedic commentary on the never-ending struggle between men and the society trying to instill feminine traits on men. Before producing this song, Paisley gave it a trial run with his wife- who was pregnant at the time- just to make sure the female audience would be receptive. She found it humorous, and many others did too as evidenced by its popularity.

• “Me Neither”• Length- 3:19• This song was written and produced in 1999 and was the 3rd single

from Paisley’s album, Who Needs Pictures. The entire storyline of the song narrates a typical exchange between a man trying to win over the attention of a woman he has seen by asking questions, getting shutdown, but kept on trying. Paisley says, "Every guy has been there. You're talking to a girl and realizing that it's going nowhere--but you still keep trying. I know I've been turned down enough to feel like I've really lived this song….” His friends Chris Dubois and Frank Rogers all wrote this song together on the way home from a vacation. The song was used on the soundtrack of Happy, Texas. Which is a movie I’ve never heard of, but I’m sure much more cultured people have.

• “Then”• Length- 4:16• This song was released in 2009 as the first single off

his album, American Saturday Night, which is his seventh so far. It tells the story of a man recalling different events over the years with his female partner, with the chorus always ending with “And I thought I loved you then.” The co-writers for this song were Ashley Gorley and Chris Dubois, in conjunction with Brad Paisley.

• Length- 3:14“I’m Gonna Miss Her”

• Also known as “The Fishin Song”, this came second in his line of singles from his second album Part Two. However, the song was written long before that. He and friend Frank Rogers wanted to write something funny that they could perform for a school function, and came up with this song. The basic storyline is this- a man wants to go fishing, but his female lover tells him that if he goes instead of staying behind with her, she’ll be gone when he gets back. When the chorus finally hits, it says “Well… I’m gonna miss her.” The song topped the charts for two weeks straight, despite advice from Frank Rogers wanting him to reserve the song for when he became a more experienced singer.

Listening Guide

• “Then”• 0:01-enter piano, harmonizing, repeating same phrase.

Mezzo piano. Adagio. 4/4 time. Timbre- smooth.• 0:15- enter vocals, introductory verse. Range is fairly

small.• 0:40 Chorus, Forte. Range expands. Synthesizer comes

into play. Greater emphasis on guitar and synth.• 1:12 Next verse, forte. All instruments involvement

increases, two guitars played. Not harmonized, but accent the melody. Counterpoint, all instruments are playing melodies independent of each other.

“Then” continued

• 1:38- End of second verse, different introduction to chorus than first verse.

• 2:10 guitar solo, complex sequence • 2:53 Chorus, piano, much softer and smoother.

More emotional. Building, all instruments brought back in with the exception of violins.

• 3:43 Guitar, chorus joins voice, all in melody. Guitar soloing, decrescendo.

• 4:14 End.

“Me Neither”

• 0:01 Guitars, drums, Allegro. Descending phrase. Followed by a very painfully stereotypical guitar solo. Upbeat. Drum beat is steady with equal accents all around. 1-2

• 0:27 Start chorus, decent range. Enter violins, harmonizing with each other, slow slurring phrases, with a few faster ascending phrases.

• 0:47 Second verse begins, a few piano ragtime riffs intermittently.

“Me Neither” continued

• 1:04 Chorus, but different wording. Melody is the same. Song is structured like a story.

• 1:39 Guitar solo, followed by piano solo, followed by violin solo, bass solo, piano solo. Typical country composition, with an old western feel.

• 2:10 Western Vocal, more instrumental solos. Fiddling, much faster than original violin activity.

• 2:45 Guitar solo, less intense but tempo remains.• 3:05 Music begins fading into the background• 3:21 End

“I’m Gonna Miss Her”

• 0:01 Outdoor background noise, with slow guitar intro. Violins and piano join in. Adagio, smooth.

• 0:16 First verse begins, slow and laid back. Mezzo Forte, drums as well. Wide range.

• 0:52 Chorus, synthesizer comes into play. Different melodies by all instruments. Vocals and synth most emphasized.

• 0:14 short guitar solo

“I’m Gonna Miss Her” continued

• 1:40 synthesizer solo, harmonizes. Builds up and slowly crescendos to the bridge.

• 1:52 Bridge, violins harmonizing, staccatos and slurs.

• 2:12, chorus, joined by audience.• 2:50 Chorus partially repeats• 3:00 guitar riffs• 3:15 song ends

Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Paisley• http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/paisley_brad/

bio.jhtml• http://www.whosdatedwho.com/music/songs

/brad-paisley.htm• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors

/b/brad_paisley_2.html• http://en.wikipedia.org• http://www.sortmusic.com/_b/brad-paisley-al

l-songs,len.html