With his latest smash, “Anything Like Me,” perched near the top of the charts, Brad Paisley says that one reason the song probably connects so well is that the lyrics are very true to the way that many of us grew up, including Brad. And it’s that truth that makes him a little nervous, and kind of hopeful, that it’ll be the same way that his children grow up, too. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• “Anything Like Me” is just one of the great songs on Brad’s just-released double-disc collection, Hits Alive.
• Daddy Brad and wife Kim have two boys, one-year-old Jasper, and big brother Huck, now three years old.  

  Brad Paisley worries — and hopes — that Huck (and Jasper in the years ahead) will grow up like he did, true to the lyrics of “Anything Like Me.” (:47)
“When you go and hear those words and think about, you know, ‘probably climb a tree too tall, ride his bike too fast,’ it’s things that we did. I mean, ‘end up every summer wearing somethin’ in a cast, probably throw a ball and break some glass.’ Who hasn’t done that? And all those things are just things that I did and my co-writers did. And it’s pretty true to life, you know, in terms of both…all those things that I’m talking about that he does like ‘probably stay out too late, drive his car too fast,’ I kind of hope he does. Same with the ‘throw a ball,’ and you know, all of these are things that I’m equal parts a little bit scared of and hopeful that he actually also does them.”