“Old Alabama” featuring Alabama is the second big hit from Brad Paisley‘s brand-new This Is Country Music album, which releases this coming Monday, May 23rd. The album includes a bunch of special guests — Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, and Don Henley, to name a few — and having Alabama on the album was both an honor for Brad and a really natural choice. In a tip of the hat to Alabama’s enduring influence on today’s music-makers, Brad told the band’s Randy Owen, “I hope you like what’s on the radio because you’re really responsible.” So, for Brad, in making an album titled This Is Country Music, having the band who helped define it for so many years seemed like a really cool way to go. (AUDIO INFO BELOW) 

• Strap yourself in! Brad’s new video for “Old Alabama” takes on a racing theme with special guest stars from the race world, including Rick Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, and Rick Hendrick. Of course, the video also stars Alabama and sports some classic Alabama video clips taking a hilarious look down memory lane — sort of — with Brad appearing in the videos as a member of the band! Look for a portion of the video to make its television world premiere this Saturday, May 21st, on SPEED, during the 5pm, ET hour, along with an interview with Brad and a special guest from the video. Immediately following the airing on SPEED, the online video premiere will take place on the SPEED broadband channel on NASCAR.com and can be streamed throughout the weekend. And if you happen to be attending Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte, North Carolina’s Charlotte Motor Speedway, you can watch the full video right from your seat on the world’s largest HD video board!
• Look for Alabama to join Brad on multiple TV shows next week, including May 24th visits to ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman, as well as a May 25th appearance on ABC’s The View!
• And speaking of Brad and Alabama, Brad is among the more than a dozen artists announced to join the supergroup as they spearhead the upcoming fundraiser, BAMA Rising: A Benefit Concert for Alabama’s Tornado Recovery, presented by Verizon. Set for June 14th at Birmingham, Alabama’s BJCC Arena, the event proceeds will support the Bama Rising Fund, established at the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham to further long-term statewide recovery in the aftermath of April’s tornadoes. The event will also feature Sara Evans, Sheryl Crow, Kellie Pickler, Jake Owen, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, and many others. Tickets go on sale May 20th via Ticketmaster.
• Brad has previously announced that all artist royalties from U.S. sales of the digital single for “Old Alabama” are being donated for tornado relief via the American Red Cross.

  Brad Paisley talks about what’s made Alabama such an enduring influence on country music. (:43)
“What their music means, really, is not just to me, but I think what you hear on the radio…I said (laughs) to Randy, I said, ‘I hope you like what’s on the radio because you’re really responsible.’ There’s very few, I would say ‘artists,’ but you know, bands, whatever…country music acts that have influenced the current generation like they have. It had to do with they really tapped into something that became just so timeless. I mean, ‘Mountain Music’ and ‘Dixieland Delight’ and ‘Lady Down on Love’ and ‘Tennessee River’ and ‘Forty Hour Week,’ and just…these things still sound unlike anyone else. They sound just like them. They have that ability and that knack and that talent to write and play and sing and sound unique.”