The 45th Annual CMA Awards show is less than three weeks away, and we’re getting a running start with this round-up of audio on some of this year’s nominated projects! Catch the big show, hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, on November 9th, at 8pm, ET, on ABC!
This Is Country Music – Brad Paisley
Nominated for Album of the Year
Brad Paisley took this album as a particular challenge. (:20)
“You know, when I went in and cut this album, I really did think to myself, ‘How can we make something that represents what I think is country music, in all the different styles and all of the things that we talk about and all of the instrumentation and just whatever it is that if it’s called ‘country music,’ that’s what I wanted to do on this record — and that’s a big umbrella.”
Brad Paisley put a lot of creative thought into the crafting of This Is Country Music. (:59)
“It seems like when we go in to record, I’ll think about both what we have covered in the past on other records and what we’ve either already written or are in the process of writing for the current album we’re recording. And I like to look for areas that I either haven’t explored fully or at least what’s going on around me that I feel like needs to be talked about — and that really dictates what we do. This album had the additional sort of thought process to it of ‘Okay, what is a big part of country music, or the country music that I grew up with and what I would consider, you know, fitting that description that we either haven’t done yet stylistically on this album or needs represented?’ Thought-process-wise, that’s sort of how I think, which is ‘What do I want to say, what would be fun to say, and what do I think will constitute something someone will relate to?'”
Brad Paisley had a thesis for his album. (1:07)
“This collection of music was my attempt to say, ‘Hey, here’s your life in a song,’ whether that be right now or at some point in the future or in the past. Hopefully, every song on this record relates to someone out there. You know, there’s songs like ‘A Man Don’t Have to Die,’ which deals with a really heartbreaking case of a guy who has thrown his life away. You know? His family has deteriorated. He’s sitting in church, and he’s basically sayin’, ‘Don’t preach to me about going to Hell, because, you know, I’m sort of living that. I want to know about the rewards. Tell us about angels.’ And whether or not you’ve ever been in that situation, you have seen it. I mean, we’ve all seen it. We’ve seen people throw their lives away. And it’s our job in country music to sing their songs. I think that’s why country music does really well is because people don’t always have to personally have the same story as the song they’re listening to. It’s almost enough to just have experienced it vicariously.”
Brad Paisley was very happy with how his album came together. (:42)
“We figured a few things out over the course of these records, and we’re always trying to sonically improve them. I think this is one of the best sounding records I’ve ever made, this album. Things pop the way that I wanted them to. And this album, I recorded it thinking I had…having an old Martin acoustic guitar that’s a very special guitar to me, that I wrote most of the songs on, in one hand and a Buck Owens telecaster in another. In these songs, you feel that. It’s that…that guitar sort of starts them, the tele takes a solo, there’s the fiddle and steel, and the things fill in the gaps, and the mix feels a little bit like somehow a modern version of some of those old Buck records, just the crispness of it.”
Brad Paisley talks about making This Is Country Music. (1:03)
“I always have to find inspiration to do an album, especially if it’s a collected grouping of songs that are supposed to have something to do with one another. So, early on when we wrote the title track, I decided that it was probably the theme of the record in the sense that it just…it’s felt like such an all-encompassing lyric that really had to do with everything that was goin’ on for me, and what I was lookin’ at and these classic songs. And it was one of the easier records to make that way because the mission statement came early, and simply, if the song fit the criteria of some of the lines of the chorus of that, which were, ‘This is real, this is your life in a song.’ If something fit that, it belonged on here. And if it didn’t, then it didn’t belong on this album, and there were a few things that didn’t make it because of that. They just didn’t quite pass the test, you know, in terms of what, to me, sounded like ‘This Is Country Music.'”
“Old Alabama” – Brad Paisley featuring Alabama
Nominated for Musical Event of the Year and Video of the Year
Brad Paisley talks about singing with Alabama on “Old Alabama.” (:20)
“It’s really an amazing experience to see them back together singin’ like they are and that sound that the three of their voices have. They’re just responsible for so many of us in music now, you know, that were influenced by them. And getting to hear them on the radio right next to me is the thrill of a lifetime.”
Brad Paisley shares what he feels has 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 [Owen], 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.”
“A Little Bit Stronger” – Sara Evans
Nominated for Single of the Year
Sara Evans says that “A Little Bit Stronger” really connected with her. (:33)
“The lyric is something that I so related to. It’s about going through a rough time in your life and then realizing that you actually can make it, and you can become stronger. And it’s the whole idea of ‘that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,’ because it is so much where I am now. I’ve kind of taken the last two years off, if you will, to be a newlywed to Jay [Barker], move to Birmingham, get all set up down there, blend our families, and there was so many changes that were made.”
Sara Evans talks about the response to “A Little Bit Stronger.” (:25)
“We have gotten so many e-mails, so many comments, people blogging and writing about this song, just saying, ‘Oh my gosh, this is…,’ you know, if it’s not what they’re going through right now, it’s something that they’ve been through, and it’s not always about a break-up. I mean, sometimes it’s about going through an illness, going through a death, but you know, just that line, when it says, ‘I’m getting a little bit stronger,’ and it just…it’s just so real.”
Sara Evans says that the way you interpret “A Little Bit Stronger” can have a lot to do with your personal experience. (:44)
“Depending on what it is you’re going through, I thought it sounded like losing someone to death in the beginning, but when it says, ‘I’m done hopin’ that we could work it out,’ or ‘I’m done…,’ you know, you could interpret it in many different ways, just in terms of the singer’s anger for whatever is happening, and ‘I’m just…I’m done with this; I’m so mad, and I just can’t believe this is happening to me,’ you know? But then I think what everybody does in their daily life is they go, ‘Well, it’s bad, but there’s always somebody who has it worse than me, and so I can try to get a little bit stronger every single day, and I will live through this.'”
Sara Evans never envisioned the emotional impact of “A Little Bit Stronger.” (:31) (note: soundbite includes audio from number-one party in background)
“I had no idea that it would have the emotional response that it’s had. I mean, I knew that it’s a great song, and it moved me, but I really had no idea that this song would be, like, the anthem for anybody going through something hard. And I have people literally come up to me every single day: ‘Oh, my gosh, your song has, you know, helped me through so much. It’s been my theme song.’ And I’m always like, ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry that it’s been your theme song that you’ve gone through something bad.’ But at the same time, they’ve been so appreciative of it because it’s really helped ’em.”
“You and Tequila” – Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter
Nominated for Musical Event of the Year, Video of the Year, and Song of the Year (for writers Matraca Berg and Deana Carter)
Kenny Chesney says that things happened fast when it came to recording “You and Tequila” with Grace Potter. (:19)
“On my boat, down in the Virgin Islands, I listen to all kinds of music, and there was this girl…this girl’s voice that I just fell in love with, and I didn’t know really anything about her that much. I just knew that I really loved her singin’ and loved her records. And her name was Grace Potter. And I got in touch with her and played her the song, and literally, three days later, she was in Nashville, and we recorded it.”
Kenny Chesney talks about Grace Potter, who sings with him on “You and Tequila.” (:23)
“She’s amazing. I mean, she’s really a great singer and great artist and a great songwriter. And to have her a part of ‘You and Tequila’ and to have her on this record, it was just perfect. And we’d never sang before. Never. I met her the day that she came in the studio to sing on the record, but it clicked, and our voices, they were perfect together.”
“Coal Miner’s Daughter” – Loretta Lynn, Sheryl Crow, and Miranda Lambert
Nominated for Musical Event of the Year
Loretta Lynn was thrilled with Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert singing with her on “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” and she loved the album it came from: the star-studded Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn. (:32)
“I bet Sheryl said to herself, ‘Am I gonna be able to sing this country?’ But Sheryl sings folk stuff, and I thought she done a great job. And Miranda, she, you know (mimicking) ‘my daddy worked all night in…’ you know how she’s got her little curly-Qs? She…I thought she done great. I just loved it. The whole doggone album is great. The only I didn’t like was me on it. (laughs) But, well to get the album, you’ll have to take me, too, I guess.”
Miranda Lambert couldn’t believe that Loretta Lynn asked her to sing on “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” (:31)
“It’s ridiculous. I mean, when I got the…I actually got a note from Loretta, a little card, and it said ‘Miranda honey’ is how it started, and she just went on to talk about me and my career and her…you know, she writes just like she talks, and she asked me to do ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ and I just…of all songs, and it’s not just me cutting ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ it’s me singing it with Loretta. That’s the utmost compliment to me as an artist that she would ask me to do it.”
Miranda Lambert was proud to be involved with the Loretta tribute album. (:15)
“I mean, it means the world to me that she asked me to do this. She paved the way for women like me, you know? She paved the way to be edgy and be who you are and just sing about what your life is, and she’s a living legend, and I’m just…it’s a huge deal to me. It’s bigger than any…I can’t even say.”
Miranda Lambert talks about what she admires about Loretta Lynn. (:40)
“What I admire the most about Loretta is that she’s so real. There’s no frills, there’s no hiding anything, there’s no dressing her up and making her something she’s not. She is exactly who she is in her music, in her interviews, on television. There is no secrets. I talked to her on the phone when I was in the studio, and she just seemed exactly like you would think she would be, you know, and she’s just down-to-earth, and, like, that’s what I want my career to be. That’s what I want to be as a woman, not professionally only, but also personally. Just very honest and very real, and for people…for me to have nothing to hide because I love myself. And I think that’s how Loretta is, and, you know, we all should strive to be like Loretta Lynn.”