He’s formed a loyal following, he’s a new daddy, and he’s on fire. He’s Brad Paisley.
"Bigger Fish To Fry" 00:30 Sample
Brad Paisley has been winning over our hearts ever since he joined the Grand Ole Opry in 2001. “I think the steady pace of my career—never quite exploding and never stalling out—really was the best thing that could have happened to me to this point,” he told us in early July.
Born in Glen Dale, West Virginia, Paisley was given his first guitar at age eight (from his grandfather). By 12 he was performing regularly on Jamboree USA, the legendary Saturday night live radio broadcast. And after graduating from high school, he followed his heart to Nashville to join the Belmont University music business program.
He built a steady following and released his first big hit in 1999 with his single, “He Didn’t Have to Be,” from his first album Who Needs Pictures. And he hasn’t looked back since.
Q: Brad, it seems to me that you and your team are really on top of your musical game. It seems you’re at a very good place in your musical and personal life. Can you talk a little about that? A: My first single came out in 1999 and it’s been around eight years now of building a foundation for this career of mine. The diversity that I can get away with in terms of song topics, styles, tempos etc., really is something that we have built over time. I love being able to release a song like my current single, “Online,” with its light observations on current events, all the while also being associated with the deeper, darker song like “Whiskey Lullaby.” That freedom to do whatever I want musically and also having a wonderful home life and great people to work with, make this experience of being me truly exciting. And you’re right, I feel like my team, be it road crew, production, band, management, publicist, dentist, etc. is really firing on all cylinders.
Q: How do you like being a new Daddy? A: The greatest adventure I have ever had. Completely unexpected emotions; it truly is a life-enriching experience. The greatest I have ever felt.
It was fitting we spoke with Trent Willmon from Dove Creek, Colorado, a small town in the Four Corners area; he grew up on a ranch in West Texas.
"Good Horses To Ride"
“Nope, I’m no longer with Columbia Records. I just signed with Compadre Records, which was recently bought by Mathew Knowles, Beyonce Knowles’s father (Editor’s note: Beyonce Knowles, the former lead singer of the trio Destiny’s Child, is a popular R&B singer and actress from Houston).
I’m really excited about our new deal. It was tough being over at Columbia, watching all the merger stuff to down (Columbia’s parent Sony merged with BMG last spring.
“I have to say, I’m a songwriter before I’m a singer. I’m really picky when it comes to songs; I try not to cut cheesy songs. I’m a very big blues fan, artists like B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
“My hometown is Afton, Texas, outside of Lubbock. I moved away from Texas about 10 years ago, but it will always be my home. As a songwriter in Nashville, I signed with EMI Music Publishing in a co-venture with Sea Gayle Music Publishing.
“Growing up on a ranch in West Texas, I started rodeoing. I found out about Chris LeDoux, and I met him a couple of times. He was a bright, shining star.”
Troy Gentry and Eddie Montgomery, two proud Kentuckians, make up Montgomery Gentry, who along with Brooks&Dunn are the two hottest duos in country music. Eddie is the older brother of John Michael Montgomery. We didn’t have room for all of Eddie’s comments in the magazine story; more of them are below.
“When Troy and I started out playing clubs in Kentucky, we didn’t want to be overnight sensations. So we want to take our career a little step at a time and just climb that mountain. Somebody said to me the other day, `What do you want to get out of this?’ And I said that between now and the year 2050, you’re gonna walk into any old honky-tonk you want to and look at the CD jukebox. There will be a Skynyrd song, a Waylon+Willie song, and if you look in there and find a Montgomery Gentry song too, you’ll know we’ve really done something . . .
“We call our fans at our shows our friends, like `We’ve got a bunch of friends together.’ We sing songs about their lives, and what a great country this is, and how we want to thank all our heroes serving in uniform. The bottom line is this: No money can pay for the feeling I get when someone comes up to me after a show and says, `Your song helped me make it thru this monrh, and helped me thru some tough times.’ I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world. Young artists who are in it for the money or the fame, they’re in this for the wrong reasons.
“I absolutely LOVE performing. I eat it, I breathe it, I sleep it. I’m thinking about it every day. Hell, I ain’t gonna lie about it. If you look at those pretty boys in Nashville, I’m gonna lose that contest every time. I’m not that pretty.
“I still watch Western movies right now. My son’s into ‘em too. We love riding horses together. Your great cowboys, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, and my favorite of all was a true American hero – Audie Murphy. Audie was awesome in Westerns. I just love watching him. First of all, Audie Murphy was in World War II, and he took on the Germans and captured them by himself. He helped his unit. In his movies, sometimes he was the bad guy early in the picture but he always ended up being the good guy. I thought, he was really just being hisself (`hisself’ is the word Eddie used).
“My nickname in the studio is `One Take Eddie.’ Joe Scaife (who produced Montgomery Gentry’s first album) gave me that name, whenever I’d screw up a lyric or I’d say stuff. `You’re One Take Eddie,’ Joe would always say.”
This third-generation Montanan is a singer, songwriter, cowboy, and author. He literally grew up on a horse, and that connection has remained with him ever since. Here are more of Ken’s remarks.
"Montana Lullaby"
“I started playing music really young, about 9 or 10 years old. I played in the Dance Band in high school, did a little rock’n’roll in the 60s. Then I played honky-tonks here in Montana on Friday and Saturday nights, usually staying within 100 miles of home. My family and ranch were more important. Then, when the kids left home, my wife started traveling with me on the road. We have a great time.
“One thing that lots of musicians don’t realize is that folks don’t go to a concert or to a performance of any kind to be wowed by how great the artists are. At my shows, folks are gonna have a good time. Life is a challenge sometimes, and if you can get people away from that for a little while, and then they realize that everybody screws up once in awhile, so they just relax and have a good time.
“We raise 250 cattle on 2,500 acres up here. My Dad still helps me out. Yesterday my granddaughter, whose name is Faith, played music with me. She’s a great fiddler; Faith just won the Montana State Pee Wee Fiddling Championship. She just eats that thing up.
“What I do, I like to call cowboy music. Mainstream country music sounds all the same to me now. I hate it. With cowboy music, I’ve got a really narrow audience that appreciates what I do. When I started doing my weekly radio program, I realized that there are countless friends of mine who are dynamite singers and songwriters, and they NEVER get the airplay. I think that cowboy music is just genuine. It’s not contrived. The public perception of what cowboy is, that perception is distorted. First of all, Hollywood distorted it, then the cats in Nashville started wearing hats and they stole our shtick. That works to my detriment, because when they see a guy with a guitar and a cowboy hat, they instantly put you in the same category with the other so-called `Hat Acts.’
“I probably do half-and-half Western swing and traditional cowboy songs in my shows. Songs like `Little Joe the Wrangler,’ `Ghost Riders in the Sky.’ I like to try to put about 50 percent original songs on my CDs. My wife has a beautiful singing voice, but she quit singing when we got married. She takes care of the business end of what we do – the office thing, the booking thing.
“Growing up in the saddle – well, it’s who I am. You can’t choose where you’re born. I just happened to born in this God-fearing family in Montana. That’s where I found myself.
“A couple years ago, I had my 4-year-old grandson with me one evening. The sun was going down over the mountains, one of those perfect nights. It was 70 degrees, the mountains were purple and the sky was red. I thought to myself that I needed to impress this kid with God’s handiwork, and make sure he notices it. So I said, `Look at that! What a wonderful picture the Lord painted.’ And he said, `That’s right Grandpa, especially with you and me in it.”
R.W.’s a multi-talented singer, songwriter, stage and movie actor from Miami, New Mexico. With his dashing mustache and traditional cowboy attire, R.W. could looks as if he could just as easily come from 1887 as 2007.
"For The Freedom"
“My son Cooper is 20, and he’s in the Marine Corps now. He’s with the Security Office in Washington DC now. His MOS is as a machine gunner. Miami is about four hours north of Albuquerque, in rural New Mexico. We’ve got a ranch with a few hundred acres, it’s big enough. I spend a good deal of time on the road. We run some steers here, and we’ve got a bunch of horses that we raise, even though it’s what earns me my means.
“The way I got started in movies is kind of a long story. In the late 70s, Kenny Rogers did a documentary musical show about the West. I was working on ranches up in Idaho and Nevada then. I was not as shy as some of the other cowboys, so they interviewed me and put me a lot onscreen. There was a scene where Kenny played a song, then I played a song. That was a lot of fun, and they paid me for it. After that, I went back to my regular life. A few years later Ken Kragen, Kenny’s manager at that time, called me and told me that Kenny was gonna be doing a movie called `Wild Horses’ as a Movie of the Week. After that, I got my Screen Actors Guild card, and kind of sought out work in movies where I could find it.
“The acting has affected my music. I realize there are different things. To me, one of my heroes was Will Rogers.
“I do listen to country radio. I’ve got to tell you this, I’ve become partial to satellite radio because they’ve been so good to me. I love listening to `Willie’s Place.’ Here’s the deal. I’m not taking anything away from anybody. When I was younger and I listened to the radio, when I heard the opening bar of a song, I knew who it was. Whether it was Johnny Cash or Hank Snow or Marty Robbins, I knew right away. I’m not finding that anymore. But I have to give this disclaimer, it’s the corporate system in music that forces anybody to sound the same.
“I’ve got children from 29 years old to 11 months old. I raised them all on B Westerns, because they’re fun with the horses and cattle, and they show the right and wrong values. I appreciate that, I think it’s important. We live in a world where there’s no absolute truth – or so they tell us – but that’s not the way I was raised. One of my great heroes from B Westerns was Audie Murphy, the last of the B Western guys, although he didn’t sing. I got a lot of inspiration from Audie’s life story. I went to see Audie’s final resting place when I was in Washhington DC. Seems to me like I went to see all of his pictures growing up in Richardson, Texas.”
Don lives in the little Texas town of Hico (pronounced HIE-ko). His wife Kathy handles the business end for this marvelous cowboy music traditionalist. Edwards records for Western Jubilee Recording, an outfit based in Colorado Springs.
"Moonlight And Skies"
Hiko is between Fort Worth and Austin, in the hill country, near Hamilton and Meridian. I started working shows in the Fort Worth stockyards in 1974. Early on, I came to Texas and originally auditioned for Six Flags Over Texas in 1960 (and began playing there the following year). I was highly influenced by Gene Autry, Marty Robbins, and Jimmie Rodgers. I was a musical hodgepodge of those three people. I just loved all kinds of music, and was never concerned about being a country star.
“I just loved old-time music and mountain music, and come to find out that there wasn’t that much difference between that and cowboy music. To me, this was just a calling to a service. This music is part of the culture, and people aren’t learning these old songs. Ian Tyson (part of the Canadian duo Ian&Sylvia of “Four Strong Winds” fame) has been a friend of mine for 20 years. Folks want me to sing the old songs, as well as the new ones.
“Another influence both on Bob Wills and on me was Robert Johnson, the blues pioneer. Bob thought he was sort of a cowboy Bessie Smith. But Western music went away after the B movies did. It’s a tradition, and there’s a mystical power to it – all you’re doing is bringing a campfire to the footlights.
“I’ve tried to preserve this music and to perpetuate it. I kind of look around for old 78s with cowboy songs. In bluegrass music you find young kids taking up the music; you don’t as much in the Western field. Some great songwriters don’t have a clue who Old Paint was – and I think they should.
“Some of the oldest songs in the cowboy genre that we do include `The Work’s All Done in the Fall’ and ‘The Strawberry Roan.’ Marty Robbins was pretty adamant about his hit `El Paso;’ Marty called it a narrative ballad, which is exactly what it is
(Editor’s Note: `El Paso,’ written and recorded by Robbins in 1959, won the Grammy for Song of the Year; the Tex-Mex classic is in the very difficult musical time signature of 3/8).”
This gifted African-American woman is, along with Miko Marks, helping to pioneer the role of black women in country and in cowboy music. J’Lee now lives and works on Nashville’s Music Row. Here are her answers to our interview questions:
"The Roughest Ride"
Q: In the Bio on your very cool Web site, you say that your music is "the sound of contemporary Pop, Rock, R+B, Country, or somewhere in between." Talk more about that fusion in your music, and where it came from. A: My music mixture is Country music energized with a little pop rocking flavor enriched with soulfulness. I believe my style emerged from listing to diverse genres of music as a child as I still do. And now when I create music all those sounds collide into what I call J’Lee style.
Q: Where did your love for Rodeo and Cutting Horses come from? A: I can remember loving horses even before school age. My most exciting childhood memory was coming home from elementary school and my Dad had bought me a horse. Wow! They are so beautiful to me. To observe a Cutting Horses, in action totally mesmerize me. To watch a horse soar across an open field in full speed electrifies me. I have become a lover of Rodeos because I know I can see horses and bulls perform. Oh yea those bulls. As a child I had a recurring dream about a bull that was always about four feet behind me. The dreams had different scenery but the same bull. I remember being terrified of him but I also recall he never tried to harm me. Now if you're looking for a short answer (Blame it on my childhood).
Q: Where did you grow up? A: I grew up in the country with the hogs, chickens ducks and horse of course. In the small country town call East Palatka, Florida.
Q: How did you get started in music? A: I have been a music-head all my life. As a little girl I always visualize myself singing on stag or television.When it comes to writing song I started writing songs after having dreams of hearing songs I'd never heard before. That went on for almost a year before I begin trying to write and put music to my songs.
Q: When did you move to Nashville, and how's your career on Music Row going in terms of publishing and artist deals? A: I moved to Nashville in 1995. Since moving to Nashville I have changed direction and right now seeking a publishing and artist deal is not a priority. However, if the right deal came along – cool. I just want to make music and sing because it’s my passion it’s what I LOVE.
Q: What reaction do you get when you play live? Where do you usually play - at Rodeos, in clubs, or where? A: The response I have received from the public have beenreally great. What’s really cool is listening and watching people sing and dance after hearing “Cutting Horse Dance” for the first time. You can hear them singing dance, dance – to the left to the right – bounce, bounce”. It’s just makes me smile. Performing at rodeos and clubs and looking forward to really touring the Texas area along with other cowboy states.
Q: Black females are a true rarity in Country; have you run into any resistance from the business because of that? A: Nope. Maybe it’s because I’m not looking for it. And if a person don't like my music it’s because it’s not their cup of tea not because the color of my skin. I don't think racism just because a radio station doesn't play my song. It simply might not fit their station format. I have received countless positive comments from so many people not of my ethnic group. I am ecstatic with the public response toward me performing country music. Many times it’s been said too me “you don't look like you would sing this kind of music” then they say “J’Lee I think you're on to something great”.
Q: OFFBEAT RODEO is a wonderful title for your CD; what does that title mean to you and how does it symbolize your music and your Christian gifting? A: I am not your typical rodeo cowboy cowgirl singer and songwriter. So please don't expect to hear the norm because it’s uniquely my own style. My own interpretation of what I see when watching a rodeo event. I believe we all have a God given talent and there are a certain amounts of people we have to touch in a positive way with that gift. I love people and if I can sing a song about a cow, bull, horse, cowboy or cowgirl and cause someone to forget their troubles for a moment … THEN LET ME.
Miko, who lives in the Bay Area with her husband, played Nashville’s Fan Fair in June and got a wonderful reception – just as she does many weekends on the Bill Pickett Rodeo circuit and other concert venues. Here is her complete interview.
"The Son My Daddy Never Had"
Q: Miko, you've been a remarkable success playing music and selling CDs and merch on the Bill Pickett Rodeo circuit. Some readers may not be familiar with that circuit. What is the Bill Pickett Rodeo circuit? A: The Bill Pickett Rodeo is the only touring African American Rodeo in the country. I have been traveling with the rodeo from coast to coast (California, Arizona, Texas, Washington, D.C. etc) with several stops in between. It’s awesome to be part of such a historic event while sharing my music too! However, I also tour the country performing at various colleges and universities which gives me the opportunity to “Hank it up” with people I like to call “Rowdy Scholars”! The college tour has taken me from Montana, Alabama to North Carolina and Virginia so far.
Q: How exciting is it for you to do so well at those events? A: The Bill Pickett Rodeo allows me to travel from one end of the country to the next singing the songs from my debut album “Freeway Bound” and this summer I will start performing songs from my sophomore effort “It Feels Good” which will be released August 2007. It truly does feel good to have the audience jump onboard with the songs. The support and encouragement they give in their response to my music is astounding! While performing at the rodeo, I get to run around the arena and be the tomboy that I am on the inside J. By the way, I just released the first single off my new album, “It Feels Good”, the songs name is “The Son My Daddy Never Had” and it gives listeners a peek into the rough and tumble rabble rouser that I can be!
Q: How did you fall in love with Country music? A: The answer to this question is a bit complex. I was first exposed to country music, R&B, Rock and Classical at a very young age. In my house, there was never a boundary set around what I listened to or what I could like. On the country side, I took a liking to some of the more popular hits by Loretta Lynn, Tanya Tucker, Barbara Mandrell, Kenny Rogers and Charley Pride. However, I also loved Journey, Kansas, Genesis, and Men at Work! I could write a song about my love for Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as well. Honestly, I have been in love with MUSIC for as long as I can remember! Although, I went full throttle into country music while attending Grambling State University (located in a dusty town called Grambling, Louisiana). While there, I would tune into the surrounding stations and really fell for the stories, lyrics and musical journeys of country music! I felt so strong a connection that I started to write my own songs, bought a guitar, and started teaching myself to play the songs that I wrote. The first song I wrote was called “Find My Way Home” and it’s about my journey from Michigan to Louisiana to the Bay Area which is where I now reside.
Q: 2006 was a banner year for you and your career. Talk about how exciting everything that's happening now has been for you.
A: Last year was spiritual and surreal. Sometimes, we question our actions, decisions, choices, etc. From time to time, I use to wonder was I doing the right thing by laying my heart out in song and pursuing the music I like to write and perform. I received a resounding “yes I am doing the right thing” in receiving the awards from my peers. For that I am truly grateful and honored.
Q: Finally, what do you see going forward in your career? A: I see so many positives going forward! I look forward to performing at the Grand Ole Opry and performing on the Mainstage at CMA Fest and touring along side Wynonna , Travis Tritt and Rascal Flatts just to name a few J. I just see platinum albums and a boatload of friends and fans in the future!
Utah’s Brenn Hill has won or been nominated for over a dozen Academy of Western Artists awards for his music. John Denver was one of his musical heroes.
"Meet Me In McCall"
“I don’t know if I fill John’s shoes, but I was a student of the JD school. I see myself as a contemporary artist. I think what I’m trying to do is to bring a modern voice to an age-old way of life and do it in a harsh and beautiful land. I’ve had three really busy years in a row. I work typically in the Intermountain West, though I’ve played as far south as Florida and as far north as Stony Creek, Alberta.
“I started singing at about age 4. My older brother was in a band, he was a good keyboard player – but he was smart enough to do something else with his life. I thought his music was cool, so I started playing guitar and piano when I was really young. I started writing poetry and short stories when I was about 11 or 12. An English teacher named Sharmian Merino really inspired me.
“I think cowboy music is really a growth industry. That’s probably the million-dollar question. Obviously, I want it to be a growth industry. Chris LeDoux was absolutely a hero of mine, not just as a musical influence but as a human being. I did meet him, and he was just a genuine cowboy icon. Chris didn’t think of himself in that regard, but he was. Have you ever seen his sculptures? He was so multi-faceted; there was no end to Chris LeDoux’s talents.”
Few have done country and cowboy music as long, or as well, as Red Steagall, who is still very active on popular on the road and on records. His CDs are available on Western Jubilee Records.
"Texas Bein' Texas"
“I thought Bob Wills was the greatest thing that ever lived. Bob knew exactly what he wanted, knew exactly how to get it, and expected everybody on the bandstand with him to respond to that. I’ve had the opportunity to work with several musicians who worked in Bob’s bands. The pattern in the Big Bands in those days was to use woodwinds and brass; Bob at times used those too, but often he substituted fiddles and steel guitars in place of the woodwinds and brass. The thing that was important to Bob – and I do this too – is to have his soloists `take a ride.’ I want the musicians to stretch out, that keeps the music fresh and exciting. That’s why sometimes a song might take us 3 minutes to play live; another night it might take 6 minutes because of the longer solos.
“After Keith Coleman died (Keith was Bob’s fiddler on many of Wills’s most beloved recordings), I wrote a song about how every fiddle player in the world could move up a notch, and that God obviously needed a fiddler.”
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"Bigger Fish To Fry" 00:30 Sample 
Q: Brad, it seems to me that you and your team are really on top of your musical game. It seems you’re at a very good place in your musical and personal life. Can you talk a little about that?
“My hometown is Afton, Texas, outside of Lubbock. I moved away from Texas about 10 years ago, but it will always be my home. As a songwriter in Nashville, I signed with EMI Music Publishing in a co-venture with Sea Gayle Music Publishing. 
“I absolutely LOVE performing. I eat it, I breathe it, I sleep it. I’m thinking about it every day. Hell, I ain’t gonna lie about it. If you look at those pretty boys in Nashville, I’m gonna lose that contest every time. I’m not that pretty.
This third-generation Montanan is a singer, songwriter, cowboy, and author. He literally grew up on a horse, and that connection has remained with him ever since. Here are more of Ken’s remarks.
“I probably do half-and-half Western swing and traditional cowboy songs in my shows. Songs like `Little Joe the Wrangler,’ `Ghost Riders in the Sky.’ I like to try to put about 50 percent original songs on my CDs. My wife has a beautiful singing voice, but she quit singing when we got married. She takes care of the business end of what we do – the office thing, the booking thing.
R.W.’s a multi-talented singer, songwriter, stage and movie actor from Miami, New Mexico. With his dashing mustache and traditional cowboy attire, R.W. could looks as if he could just as easily come from 1887 as 2007.
“The acting has affected my music. I realize there are different things. To me, one of my heroes was Will Rogers. 
“Another influence both on Bob Wills and on me was Robert Johnson, the blues pioneer. Bob thought he was sort of a cowboy Bessie Smith. But Western music went away after the B movies did. It’s a tradition, and there’s a mystical power to it – all you’re doing is bringing a campfire to the footlights.
Q: How did you fall in love with Country music?
