Brad Paisley has been making great albums for years now, and when he’s close to finished and it comes time to give albums like his new Wheelhouse collection a test spin to see how they sound, Brad loves to listen in his car — and that’s also his favorite place to let people around him hear his albums for the first time. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Brad’s latest smash heading for the top of the charts is “Beat This Summer,” the second big hit from his Wheelhouse album, also home to the number-one smash, “Southern Comfort Zone.”
• It was announced this week that Brad’s good buddy, 92-year-old country legend and Grand Ole Opry star Little Jimmy Dickens, is due to begin three weeks of short-term radiation treatments for a pre-cancerous condition on his vocal cords. Little Jimmy is expected to make a full recovery, but in the meantime, you can send your good wishes to him in care of the Grand Ole Opry House, 2804 Opryland Drive, Nashville, Tennessee, 37214.
• Look for Brad on tour now! Check out upcoming dates on BradPaisley.com!

  Brad Paisley says that he always likes to give his albums the “car test.” (:51)
“Always. The album car test is the big one. I cannot stand to play the album for people in the studio — or even in anything other than where there’s moving pictures in front of you, because there’s nothin’ worse than somebody sitting there and the only thing they have to look at is you, and the only they have to think about is how they look listening. Like, they shouldn’t have to worry about their reaction to my music. They should be able to have that reaction without me sitting across from them, goin’, ‘Well, whaddaya think?’ That’s no fun. In a car, you’re both facing the same direction, and you’re both watching the world as it comes towards you. And there’s somethin’ about that that is just the only place to listen to music for me. It’s the best invention ever: the radio inside of a car.”