Brad Paisley has become quite an ambassador of country music over the years, not only co-hosting the CMA Awards for the past five years in a row, but also touring internationally as well as stateside. Later this week, Brad will be making another overseas trek, playing shows in Sweden on Thursday and Friday before playing a pair of weekend dates in Norway and then on to Dublin, Ireland, for a show on November 13th. And with his new single, “Southern Comfort Zone,” Brad celebrates the wonders of stepping outside of the world you know, but finding that home can be all the more sweet when you return — and that’s something that Brad was reminded of recently when he played “Southern Comfort Zone” on the Grand Ole Opry. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• “Southern Comfort Zone” is the hit first single from Brad’s upcoming album, and you can find the single at your favorite home for digital music, including here on iTunes.
• And speaking of touring, Brad is among the American Country Awards nominees for Touring Artist of the Year, as well as being up for Single of the Year: Vocal Collaboration for his number-one smash with Carrie Underwood on their song “Remind Me.” Voting for the American Country Awards is going hot and heavy online now at TheACAs.com, and you can vote once a day, so let your voice be heard for all your favorite nominees! Tune-in to see the winners when this year’s show airs December 10th on FOX.
• And congratulations to Brad on being honored at last week’s ASCAP Country Music Awards where he was named ASCAP’s Country Songwriter/Artist of the Year!

  Brad Paisley talks about performing his song, “Southern Comfort Zone,” on the Grand Ole Opry. (1:00)
“I went on the Opry to ask Darius [Rucker] to be a member, and they said, ‘Why don’t you sing one while you’re here,’ so I went out with an acoustic guitar and sang that. And it’s a different song by yourself without the band rockin’ behind you. And I’m standing in the circle, in my musical home, which I’ve been in love with since the first time I was allowed there to play. And singin’ that song and talkin’ about ‘I miss my Tennessee home, but I can’t see this world unless I go outside my southern comfort zone,’ and realizing that as I tour, places like Canada and Europe and the North and California and the Northwest and Japan over the years, and that there’s this home base — there’s this circle of wood at the Opry, and it’s back here in Tennessee where everything is as I remember it. And everything is…it’s just…it’s the Shire in Lord of the Rings, it’s the place that’s this beautiful, ideal place to live, which I appreciate more now after having seen the world.”