While Brad Paisley may have a pretty nice life these days, he definitely remembers the time when he was just trying to get his career off the ground and make ends meet — and he says that memories of those days are part of what inspired him to write his latest hit, “River Bank.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• “River Bank” is the first single from Brad’s August 25th album release, titled Moonshine in the Trunk. You can pre-order the album on iTunes and get “River Bank” and the song “Perfect Storm” immediately as instant-grat tracks!
• As the days tick down toward Brad’s August 25th album release, he continues to poke fun at his record label from his Twitter account @BradPaisley, with music leaks and more! Be sure to follow him…you just don’t know what he’ll do next!!
• They’re Baaa-cckk! Word arrived this week that Brad and Carrie Underwood will be back to host the CMA Awards for the seventh year in a row when The 48th Annual CMA Awards airs live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday, November 5th, at 8pm, ET, on ABC.

  When his career was just getting started in Nashville, Brad Paisley says that time on the river was his go-to source of relaxation. (:52)
“When I wrote ‘River Bank,’ I had this idea because I can remember the first writing deal I had when I was livin’ in a little condo in Nashville. I didn’t have two dimes to scrape together, but I had a friend with a bass boat. It was about a 16-footer. It was enough for two guys to go out on the lake. And we would meet up every day that was nice and save up, buy any kind of tackle we could afford, and just head up to the…either the Cumberland River or Percy Priest, and…really, it was an interesting time in my life. I had these huge dreams. I really wanted to be a country music singer. But at the same time, it was a great lesson in making the most of…really, I had nothing; I had no family here, I had no girlfriend at the time, for sure, as much as I was trying. But it was the release for me. I would work all the time, write songs all the time, and then I’d go to the river.”