Yeah, Brad Paisley's "Accidental Racist" may not be a perfect song. It might not be a totally inoffensive or non-hilarious song. But, dangit, Brad Paisley and LL Cool J were just trying to start a conversation.

"I felt like when we were writing this song," Paisley told Ellen DeGeneres, "it wasn't necessarily up to the media, I don't really trust Hollywood ... or talk radio or anything like that to sort of deal with that anymore. I think it's music's turn to have the conversation."

And yet here's the media, butting in anyway. Why should we let the pointy-headed liberal non-racistsphere dominate yet another discussion? If you want to see the REAL conversation about "Accidental Racist"-- the conversation Brad Paisley was hoping to start among our nation's true stars-and-bars country rebels-- you need to go straight to America's free and open tractor pull of ideas and opinions: CNN comments section.

See also: How to Make Sense of Brad Paisley and LL Cool J's "Accidental Racist"

More »

Every couple weeks, starting now, the Voice takes a hard listen to the music in which millions of Americans soak.

Brad Paisley, "Southern Comfort Zone"
Current Billboard Country Singles Chart Position: 10
The Verdict: Holy shit, songs on the radio can still be important!

So, here, in a shimmering single whose title buzz markets a godawful no-whiskey whiskey liqueur, we have a black gospel choir belting "Dixie" while a Nashville star shreds his guitar and sings "I know what it's like to be in the minority." This is the future, people, and it's beautiful.

See also:
- The Ten Best Country Albums of 2012
- Live: Brad Paisley Keeps It Real At Jones Beach

More »

nickyp84/Instagram

Brad Paisley w/ The Band Perry and Easton Corbin
Jones Beach
Friday, June 1

Better than: Going to a show where an aging radio host plays out his mid-life crisis by telling me what music I can and can't listen to.

He spent the '90s as a Nashville newcomer attempting to close the decade with his first No. 1 hit, but the past decade has seen Brad Paisley mature into one of the most popular and influential performers in country music, a regular guy who writes endearingly hokey songs about the peculiarities of domestic life, the melting pot that is the United States, and how much he loves water. No, really, it's better than it sounds: Those hokey songs are often quite clever, and they're clearly delivered by someone who means every word he sings and can play guitar like it's nobody's business. Besides, at the end of the day, who doesn't love water?

No one, I guess, but his Friday show at Long Island's Jones Beach would have been a touch more enjoyable if less of it had fallen from the sky and none of it had flooded the area directly in front of the stage, pushing doors back from 4:30 to 7 o'clock. Always charming, Paisley couldn't help but make light of the situation, slipping into what he considered a New York accent—it wasn't even close—to express how excited he had been to go ta the beach before leading his band through an inadvertently melancholic take on "Working on a Tan." Ah, what times we could have had, what memories we could have made, and what tans we could have worked on.

More »

Last night, country music's biggest stars (not to mention welcome outsiders like Lionel Richie and Kenny Loggins, who joined Male Vocalist of the Year Blake Shelton for a performance of "Footloose") convened in Nashville for the CMA's annual awards show. By the time hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood ended the ceremonies, joking that they'd see us at the Oscars, The Band Perry's three awards had put them above the rest of the pack, their "If I Die Young" winning both single and album of the year, and the group themselves taking home New Artist of the Year over Luke Bryan and Eric Church (who somehow qualified for the category despite releasing, between the two of them, four top-ten albums before 2010). And despite losing Album of the Year to Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party, Taylor Swift came out as entertainer of the year, thanking everyone who has a made a guest appearance on her ongoing Speak Now tour, a list that includes, among others, Tim McGraw, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Kenny Chesney, and T.I.

As far as performances go, the night's best both involved Paisley, though the first—a duet with Underwood, performing "Remind Me," the lead single off Album of the Year nominee This is Country Music—was dominated by his co-host's flawless vocals and the second —a run through three Glen Campbell songs with Keith Urban and Vince Gill—by the ailing man sitting in front of the stage. Meanwhile, before the show Sound of the City favorite Luke Bryan held his own reporting on the red carpet for Ellen. List of all winners below the fold.

More »

A tip of our metaphorical cowboy hat to our Nashville cohorts, who've unveiled their annual country critics' poll and further underscored the supremacy of Brad, Miranda, Taylor, and Jamey. "With Paisley and Lambert, Swift and Johnson completed the Mount Rushmore of country music's near future," writes poobah Geoffrey Himes. "Four relatively young singer-songwriters who are inventing new ways to mix carefree jokes and reluctant confessions, twanging guitar and banging drums. It's been a while since the prospects for hillbilly music looked so bright." Results are here.

Karen Blakely

At the Grand Ole Opry, which is just like MSG, when you think about it. CREDIT.

Brad Paisley/Dierks Bentley
Madison Square Garden
Thursday, October 22

Today's lecture topic is manhood. "There are no sissies in New York," Brad Paisley declares, bantering in the midst of "I'm Still a Guy," a kindhearted lope that nonetheless asserts that his feminine side has its limits. "If you have the courage to live here, cross the street here, get a cab here -- then you're not a sissy." Raucous applause. And then it's time for the verse about "dudes getting facials." Repeat: This was not a CMJ show.

More »