Brad Paisley took to Twitter on July 26 before a concert in North Dakota. He ‘leaked’ song clips from his upcoming album, Moonshine in the Truck.
“I’m going rogue. The label doesn’t know I’m doing this. Seriously. But I made a Moonshine Preview teaser. Don’t tell. Better listen to this while you can. I bet the label tries to pull it down. Clock’s ticking.”
The next day he had Ludacris, one of his costars on Rising Star, post links to the teaser. On July 28 he posted a preview of the song “Crushin’ It” on People Magazine’s Twitter page.
Is this a publicity stunt to get fans to preorder the West Virginia native’s album (release date August 26)? Or is this to bring attention to his unhappiness with his label, Sony Music Nashville’s Arista Records? Earlier this year Brad brought a $10 million dollar suit against the label for breach of contract and unpaid royalties, and other claims.
“River Bank“, the first single from his tenth studio album for the label, was originally released this past April. Brad co-wrote the song with Kelley Lovelace.
“My best memories with my grandfather are on that body of water, and my dad and learning to ski. It’s kind of like a back-to-basics song, which is really an inner tube and a boat and you’ve got a theme park.”
The music video premiered in May and stars Twiggy the Water-Skiing Squirrel. On a side note, Brad, in response to Westboro Baptist Church members picketing his June concert in Kansas City, posted selfies he took with the picketers. He captioned the photos with,
“Can’t wait til Twiggy goes to ski at the next boat show in Missouri and Westboro Batsh!t pickets HIM. #SinfulSquirrel.”
Brad is definitely not afraid to speak his mind.
On July 28 Brad released a remix version of “River Bank“, with country rapper Colt Ford. Might be said two free spirits have combined their talents, taking the tune from an inner tube ride to one more suited for a four-wheel drive. Colt, a Georgia native, was a professional golfer before becoming a singer/songwriter. He co-wrote “Dirt Road Anthem” with Brantley Gilbert – each of them released a version before Jason Aldean. Colt is a co-founder of Average Joes Entertainment Group, a label that, in its early days, marketed their music by hosting concerts at mud bogs.
Brad previously stated his new album will include songs on topics not normally on country radio.
“I think my format will be like, ‘Oh, great! Good, yes, somebody’s singing that.’ Because right now it’s not hard to stretch from what’s on our airwaves because it’s a very limited sort of thing. There’s a lot of people complaining about that. So I try to look at it from that perspective and I see that as opportunity. That’s like, ‘Well, you won’t expect this, let’s sing this, this will be fun.’ And also something that my fans will be like, ‘You know what, I’m so glad to hear that topic.”
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