As the new animated film, Cars 2, roars into theatres today, Brad Paisley is back behind the musical wheel, contributing two new songs to the film and its multi-artist soundtrack. Brad teamed with British singer/songwriter Robbie Williams to write and record the end-credit song, “Collision of Worlds,” and Brad tells us that he and Robbie had a great time collaborating and watching a still-in-progress version of Cars 2 — which Brad thought was already the funniest Pixar movie he’d ever seen. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• The song ”Collision of Worlds” brings together the British and American perspectives of Robbie and Brad to help capture the friendship of film characters McQueen and Mater. Brad laughs that Robbie gets to be the cool sports car while he gets to be “the redneck tow truck.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Brad also wrote and recorded the song “Nobody’s Fool” for Cars 2, and about the song, Brad said, “It’s inspired by the most heartbreaking scene in the movie. Mater realizes that everybody thinks he’s playing the fool and he becomes sort of enlightened and realizes that he’s not playing the fool — he is one. But Mater realizes he is who he is and that was inspiring to me.”
• Brad tells us that one thing he loves about making music for a film is that he knows how people are going to experience the music for the first time, right there in the theatre. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Brad wouldn’t mind doing animation, but if it’s a choice between voicing an animated character or doing the music, he’ll stick to his first love. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Cars 2 comes from the creative folks at Pixar, and Pixar exec John Lasseter is a great friend who has not only been an inspiration to Brad, but also a great source of entertainment for Brad’s sons, Huck and Jasper. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Look for Brad on the road now on his H2O 2: Wetter & Wilder World Tour! Check out bradpaisley.com for a date near you!
• And if you haven’t picked up one of the hottest albums in the nation, be sure to latch onto Brad’s latest album, This Is Country Music, including the smash title track, the chart-topping “Old Alabama,” and the new hit duet with Carrie Underwood called “Remind Me.”

  Brad Paisley talks about Cars 2 and collaborating with British singer/songwriter Robbie Williams. (1:11)
“I’ve seen this movie, and what was really fun about this is Robbie Williams and I watched it together ’cause they had already decided to pair us up. And he’s…and Robbie is one of my favorite people. I got to know him, and he is a big kid. He is a blast to be around. He’s self-effacing; he has that British sense of humor that is…that I like so much. And we instantly hit it off and came up with all these ideas to write and got to see the unfinished Cars 2, which was…I was not expecting much, ’cause they told us when we were goin’ in, this is, like, 35 percent finished. You’re gonna see stuff that’s not colorized yet, you’re gonna see storyboard stuff where it’s literally paper drawings where there’s dialogue under it but there’s no…they’re not talking, they’re just sort of…and then there’s other parts that are more finished than that. And it was the funniest Pixar movie I’ve seen. It was the most unique, most fun — I can’t even tell you. It reminds me in some ways of The Incredibles, which I loved, which is that really high-stakes, really fast, but it’s funnier, and more based in the juxtaposition of Mater in Europe.”

  Brad Paisley sees his place in the animated automotive world. (:27)
“When they asked me and Robbie to do this, I kind of realized I have no preconceived notions about what my role is in this song: I’m the rusty tow truck. The redneck rusty tow truck, aren’t I? I’m not the Astin Martin, am I? (laughs) I said, you…that’s why. Robbie’s the Astin Martin. I’d like to think otherwise, but nope, I’m Mater, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

  Brad Paisley loves knowing where and how people will experience the music he created for Cars 2…and five-point-one theatre surround sound is part of the fun. (:47)
“The fun part for me is that I know where people are gonna hear that song the first time. And I know what they will have just done, for two hours, and so, writing for something like that — where it’s…this is the end credits song — the ‘Collision of Worlds’ is. The movie ends, here’s this, scene changes, they do animation to their credits, which is so much fun. It’s like writing a music video, actually. And I know the sound system you’re gonna hear it on, which is five-one, and you’re gonna hear guitars happen here, and behind you and here, there’s 68 tracks of guitars. There’s, you know, ‘da-nah, nah-nah-nah, nah-nah,’ all these guitars happening, and that’s what’s behind you on the five-one, and it’s just fun, ’cause it’s like, you control the experience, and everybody just had the same two-hour visual thing, and you’re writing about it.”

  If given a choice of writing music or voicing an animated character, Brad Paisley says he’ll stick with the music. (:15)
“I prefer this. This is a lot of fun. Anytime they need somebody to write music and want to give me a call, I’m up for it ’cause it’s…that’s the fun part is to me is doing what I do for them. I’d like to be an animator for them, actually, but I’m not any good at that, comparatively.”

  Brad Paisley says that his sons get a little extra entertainment benefit from family friend and Pixar exec John Lasseter. (:29)
“Their Uncle John, who runs Pixar, who shows them things like Cars Toons, which — I don’t know if you’ve ever seen ’em, the short films they do — before they’re even out. And Huck saw Cars the first time in John Lasseter’s home theatre, when Huck was around two years old, the first Cars, and played him…he said, ‘Has he seen that yet?’ We were goin’ out to dinner, and we were out there with them, and I said, ‘No, he hasn’t seen Cars yet,’ and he said, ‘Well, he’s watchin’ Cars tonight.'”

  Brad Paisley talks about his friend and Pixar executive John Lasseter. (:30)
“To me, the coolest part about it is working with him. You know, he’s become an inspiration, a hero of mine and a true friend and one of the greatest people I’ve ever known. And anytime he wants you to be a part of something, first of all, it’s gonna be great because whatever he’s doing is great. And then to be a part of that creative process, which is just the…it’s the most creative place, Pixar. There’s a reason everything they do is good: it’s just so creative.”