Brad Paisley “Play” Arista / Sony BMG

When Brad Paisley’s new CD “Play” arrived in my mailbox, at first glance I thought there had been some confusion about what music Roots Rock Review was trying to cover.

It’s not that I haven’t listened to and appreciated Brad Paisley’s music. It’s more a case of mainstream country, save a few acts in the mold of Alan Jackson, Marty Stuart and Paisley, has completely lost my interest in its push to compete with Pop music and its sales figures. For those reasons I’ve kinda lost touch with some of the genuine country artists on Top-40 Radio because it’s not worth wading through the rest of it.

Paisley’s single “Me Neither”, released from his debut album “Who Needs Pictures” was my first exposure to Paisley’s brand of Telecaster pickin’. At the time, his style of playing was, and still is, a breath of fresh air in a genre known for having session players take over the recording end of the business due mainly to economics. His playing was humorous, inventive and had a bit more drive than Nashville was typically known for at the time.

Not much has changed for the worse with Paisley’s guitar playing since those days when he still a relative newcomer on the scene. “Play” is packed full of catchy, guitar-hook laden instrumentals that pay tribute to some of guitar’s greatest stylists, all the while retaining Paisley’s unique approach to Telecaster chicken pickin’ and just a sprinkling of vocal songs that I’d expected the CD to be full of when I first got it.

“Kentucky Jelly” starts off acoustically and almosts leans to the Bluegrass side of things. However that changes when the band kicks in with a heavy Waylon-sounding back beat and when the chorus hits, it even recalls the triple guitar threat of the heydays’ Southern rock group, The Outlaws led by Hughie Thomasson.

“More Than Just a Song” is a touching tribute that features Paisley and the sorely missed Steve Wariner paying homage to their guitar mentors (Chet Atkins and Clarence “Hank” Goddard respecitvely) vocally as well as instrumentally — down to playing in the style of — and on — their mentors’ guitars on the cut.

“Cluster Pluck,” a high energy romp, features Paisley with some of the finest players to ever touch a Telecaster. James Burton of Elvis, Ricky Nelson and Emmylou Harris fame; Vince Gill, Steve Wariner, Albert Lee (who replaced James Burton in Emmylou’s band), Brent Mason (One of Nashville’s top session guitarists for the last two decades), Redd Volkaert (Merle Haggard) and John Jorgenson (Desert Rose Band, The Hellecasters, Elton John) trade licks “in the round” style, capturing a snapshot of some of the Telecaster’s greatest stylists in the last 40 to 50 years.

Then, there’s a the posthumous duet “Come On In” with Buck Owens. Paisley flew in Buck’s vocal, mandolin and dobro tracks from a demo that Owens cut in his Bakersfield office that was never destined to see the light of day otherwise. The world wasn’t left with enough Buck Owens music. Period!

Oh, and did I mention “Let The Good Times Roll” featuring “The King” himself. Yes, “The King of Beale Street” makes an appearance on “Play” as well. Paisley and B.B. King run through a boisterously smokin’ hot version of this classic.

Well it turns out the PR person from the record label who sent the CD did understand what Roots Rock Review is all about after all. Yeah, “Play” is a bit slick around the edges from a production standpoint, but the meat and potatoes of the CD are all about Paisley, some great instrumental songs with plenty of melodic content and his guests’ monstrous chops on the Telecaster (and Lucille). Who knows, maybe this is just the beginning of the return of the “instrumental” to the glory it once had in the genre’s earlier years.

Truth be told, I’m a self-admitted guitar junkie with a weakness for Telecasters and while I’ve mentioned my highlights on the disc, there’s really not anything on the CD that isn’t deserving of the term, “highlight.” If there was any doubt before, “Play” seals the deal.

Brad Paisley is definitely on the top shelf with the rest of Nashville’s Telecaster wielding, A-list guitar slingers.

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Nashville, Tenn. — Come Election Day, November 4, West Virginia may be the pivotal state as reigning CMA Male Vocalist of the Year, two-time ACM Top Male Vocalist, and West Virginia native Brad Paisley releases his new album, Play. Paisley, who won his first GRAMMY Award earlier this year for Best Country Instrumental Performance is running on a platform of “more music, less talk” with Play, which promises to increase axes across the board, alongside some of the guitar world’s great heroes.

A 15-track collection, with 11 written or co-written by Brad Paisley, Play delivers an all-out guitar celebration with only four vocal tracks which feature Paisley singing and picking with guitar titans B.B. King, Keith Urban, Steve Wariner, and the late Buck Owens.

The legendary King gets joyfully bluesy with Brad, as B.B. and B.P. “Let the Good Times Roll,” while Urban and Paisley dish out the playful “Start a Band.”

“More Than Just This Song,” written by Paisley and Wariner, is a touching tribute to those first guitar heroes who gave them their start on the six-string. Paisley also salutes a friend and hero, the late Buck Owens, joining Buck on “Come on In,” an Owens-penned-and-recorded track that had remained previously unfinished.

Among other selections are the gently jazzy swing of “Les Is More,” a salute to the great Les Paul; the lilting beauty of “Kim” and the toe-tapping energy of “Huckleberry Jam,” named for Paisley’s wife and son, respectively; and the continuation of a Brad Paisley album tradition, with the inclusion of a gospel classic, this time a beautifully rendered acoustic performance of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

“Play” is Releasing Election Day, November 4!  A guitar-based album delivers a mostly instrumental extravaganza, with special guest vocal and musical collaborations with B.B. King, Keith Urban, Steve Wariner, and Buck Owens, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, John Jorgenson, James Burton and more.

Fans will also enjoy the return of friend, collaborator, and elder statesman “Little” Jimmy Dickens, who plays “Grandpa Paisley” in the comic “Pre-Cluster Cluster Pluck Prequel (Prelude),” which sets the stage for the all-star guitar jam, “Cluster Pluck,” featuring guests James Burton, Vince Gill, John Jorgensen, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert, and Steve Wariner.

Throughout his career, Brad Paisley has earned well-deserved acclaim not only for his skills as a singer and songwriter, but also as a virtuoso guitarist - featured on past covers of Guitar Player and Vintage Guitar, among others.

Swept into the public eye with the success of his 1999 debut album, Brad Paisley has tallied sales of more than ten million albums, demonstrating his consistent popularity with the electorate. He has steadfastly continued to lead, engage, and entertain the nation with a proven track record of eleven #1 singles, addressing such important issues as domestic life (”I’m Gonna Miss Her” [The Fishin’ Song]), foreign policy (”The World”), and woodland safety (”Ticks”). During his tenure, he has also endorsed or introduced a number of important Bills, including Bill Shatner and Bill Anderson.

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