Brad Paisley‘s new album, American Saturday Night, is packed with great music — including his recent number-one smash, “Then” — and it also features his current hit and the song Brad considers his finest moment: “Welcome to the Future.” With its look at the pace of change, and how dramatically the world can shift — from how our grandparents lived and the challenges they faced to the growth that’s led to the society we know today. “I feel that healing,” Brad says, “and it’s fun to sing about all of those things with hope and with an eye on the future even though we’re talking about how we’re already there.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Brad Paisley talks about his song, “Welcome to the Future,” which touches on how the world has shifted since his grandparents’ generation. (:30)
“My grandparents lived in a different world, a world of the Great Depression and a World War, and the world becoming what looked like definitely the seeds of our Armageddon to them. I mean, it had to be it: “We’re not gonna survive this…we’re gonna…” He went off to the Philippines and fought there, was stationed there, and fought against a country — basically, Japan, there — that is now the, pretty much, chief, one of the chief allies that we have.” (laughs)

  Brad Paisley says that his new single, “Welcome to the Future,” is a reflection of his perspective on our progress as a society. (:38)
“The last verse deals with what it deals with. I was completely and hugely affected by what has happened due to the last election, and I feel like we’ve made more progress as a people and as, you know, between what was horribly, as you can, you know, tell over the years, a terrible situation when it came to racism and everything else and bad blood between people. I feel that healing, and it’s fun to sing about all of those things with hope and with an eye on the future even though we’re talking about how we’re already there.”