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WheelhouseBrad describes his newalbum as, “the sound of anold farmhouse. It is the soundof creaky old fl oorboards, screendoors and immutable songwritingminds opening. We only had one rulewith this record, to throw out the rules.When we began I hung a sign abovethe door that said, ‘This place on earth,this moment in time, has never beenrecorded before and will never happenagain.’“Whatever we do here,” Paisley saysin the studio’s piano room, “whateverends up coming out of here on analbum, must end up eventually being inmy wheelhouse. Because I’ve done it.”Much of what ended up among the17 tracks on Wheelhouse was a resultof Paisley’s dedication to challenge.He’d never been his own producer,never commissioned a studio, neverrecorded an album without fallingback on some of Nashville’s studiomusicians and never tackled some ofthe diffi cult themes that are present inthe album. Certainly not in the way thathe approached them on Wheelhouse.“Every song was meant to incorporatesomething new for me and to takesome sort of twist you don’t expect,”Paisley explains. “Whether that bethe lyric or the loop or the guest, or adifferent format like rap, or getting acomedian like Eric Idle, it needed tospin your head around somewhere. It’slike my dog when you say his namefollowed by a command he doesn’tunderstand. He’s like, “Huh?” Andhe turns his head a little sideways.That’s what I wanted every songto do, in one way or another.”Paisley did that in a big way with thealbum’s fi rst song and lead single,‘Southern Comfort Zone’, whichincorporated a bevy of unpredictableelements – the voice of his latefriend, Andy Griffi th, pieces of theSouthern folk standard ‘Dixieland’and the Brentwood BaptistChurch Choir. All of that waspaired with Paisley’s familiarvoice and stunning guitarshredding while he challenges listenersto get out of their own comfort zonesby seeing as much of the world aspossible. “I wrote a bunch of songsthat aren’t comfortable,” he says. “Andthat was the point really, for them to bevocally, musically, lyrically, thematicallyuncomfortable, or at least new enoughto me that I think I had to stretch.”He did that in the song writingprocess, writing to a pre-existing loopfor the fi rst time when he penned ‘BeatThat Summer’, the album’s secondsingle, with frequent collaborator ChrisDuBois and in-demand songwriterLuke Laird. Paisley took another freshapproach in sampling a classic countrysong, incorporating Roger Miller’s‘Dang Me’ in ‘Outstanding In OurField’. And Paisley challenged himselfyet again by threading Monty Pythonicon Eric Idle into the tongue-in-cheekmarital commentary of ‘Harvey Bodine’,the story of a henpecked husband whofi nds new life by dying. You want morechallenges? How about incorporatingrap for the fi rst time with the recitationsof AAA singer/songwriter Mat Kearney,Grand Ole Opry member CharlieDaniels and iconic rapper LL Cool J?But the biggest challenges mighthave come in Paisley’s songwriting.The wit and thoughtfulness that havealways been part of his work continuein Wheelhouse but he pushes them tonew extremes. “What kind of an artistam I if I let the fear of consequencesfor art be take away my willingnessto speak about what I believe in?” heasks rhetorically. “I couldn’t look myselfin the eye in the mirror if I was willingto just say, ‘I think it’s important andpeople need to hear it, but that scaresme because I don’t know what that’ll doto my career, so I just won’t put it onthere.’ I couldn’t do that.”As he experienced a creative rebirthon Wheelhouse, he began to ponder:When does one truly start living? Herealised one experiences life most inthe midst of personal challenge. “Thisalbum may not be for everyone but Ihope it is for you.”www.linedancermagazine.com May 2013 • 81