When Brad Paisley released the album “Mud On The Tires” in 2003, he was still quite far away from superstar status, his popularity as a CMA Awards host, Grammys and private jet.
In the early 2000s, the smart guitarist and singer was still considered a country talent – a promise he kept commercially in the following career years. Artistic? Well, the more successful he became, the more adapted his music became. But in 2003 he dared to record even more demanding material. Songs such as the merging sibling track “Make A Mistake” and “Make A Mistake With Me”. “Make A Mistake” shows only Paisley with guitar. A small, lively western swing with beautiful vocals and great guitar licks; a sweet song that ends after one and a half minutes with a – of course – consciously wrong chord. “Uups”, the sly little rascal comments on the slipped harmony and asks his comrades-in-arms for support with “help me out”. Of course this is granted. What follows is a tempo-loaded instrumental where – besides Paisley – Randel Currie on steel guitar, Bernie Herms on piano and Justin Williamson on fiddle show what they are capable of. And that’s quite a lot. Especially Brad Paisley proves that he can do everything on the guitar: Fingerpicking, jazz licks. Everything there. Everything in perfection. He is an incredible guitarist. It’s almost a pity that his more recent mainstream material, tailored to country radio, is hardly used any more for his dexterity. “Make A Mistake With Me”, by the way, I’ve already played several notorious country music resisters – always with the same result: what’s the guy’s name, what’s the CD called? So Paisley probably owes a few of his albums sold millions of times to me. Should somebody tell him on occasion …
