Brad Paisley Part 2

Price: $19.95

This second, and latest release from Brad Paisley, outsold all other CDs during the recent Fan Fair in Nashville with good reason, in my opinion it's one of the best albums of 2001. Paisley follows in the footsteps of people like Steve Wariner, Vince Gill and Keith Urban, with an amazing ability to write and sing, while at the same time being a much-admired musician who plays guitar on all his recordings. His previous album finished with a fiddle-fade-out, this one starts with a fiddle-fade-in. Like his previous album, this one also features an instrument track, this one called the 'Munster Rag', is played in an almost in a Keith Urban style. Paisley's wit on so many of the songs is also very appealing. For example in 'Come on Over Tonight', he's a confirmed bachelor who is now eating his hat and watching pigs fly. Even the first track 'Two Feet Of Topsoil' displays this wry humour amid a flurry of fast and furious banjo and fiddle playing. By far my favourite song on the album is the moving tale 'You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive'. It was written by Daryl Scott (who plays dobro and banjo on this track), about his grandparents struggle to survive in the Eastern Kentucky Hills. The current hit single in the US is 'Two People Fell In Love' and it carries on his 21st Century sentimental heritage in much the same way as 'He Didn't Have to Be' demonstrated on his debut album Who Needs Pictures. 'Too Country' is another, guesting Bill Anderson (who co-wrote it) George Jones and Brad's hero Buck Owens. Paisley is a traditionalist alright, in the same mould as George Strait and Alan Jackson and on December 16th, 2002, Paisley was inducted onto the Grand Ole Opry family after 50 odd performances during 2000. His performance on that night of 'The Old Rugged Cross' along with the introduction by Little Jimmy Dickens is the final track on this album. In my opinion, this is one of the best country albums of 2001.