Brad Paisley's multi-platinum claim upon the country mainstream hinges
on a nimble mix of sincerity and showmanship. On the one hand, this has resulted
in a string of heart-tugging pledges of fidelity dating back to "He Didn't Have
to Be," his 1999 single about a stepdad who embraces his new wife's kid as his
own. On the other, it's accounted for some of the punchiest, most dexterous
guitar playing this side of Dwight Yoakam's early hits -- and for Paisley's
sometimes irksome penchant for corn-pone humor.
It's all here on "Time Well Wasted," the 32-year-old West Virginia
native's fourth and best album. There's everything from "Waitin' on a Woman," a
wry profession of undying love worthy of Alan Jackson, to the stratospheric
"Time Warp," a dazzling flight of cowboy jazz in the spirit of '50s daredevil
pickers Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant. (As a guitarist, Paisley is equally adept
playing bluegrass, honky-tonk and rock-and-roll.)
There's even a load of hay-bale hokum called "Cornography." In this
particular sketch, a trio of Paisley's randy Opry elders -- Bill Anderson,
George Jones and Little Jimmy Dickens (aka the "Kung Pao Buckaroos") -- ogle
Dolly Parton's "guns" and, with good-natured encouragement from Dolly herself,
actually manage to deliver the yuks.
Paisley's reach as an entertainer harks back to a time when country
singers worked a little bit of everything into their vaudeville-derived acts. In
Paisley's case, though, this ecumenism has also contributed to the lack of
respect he gets from alt-leaning listeners, many of whom came to country from
rock and expect more depth from Paisley than his lyrics typically
afford.
With "Time Well Wasted," however, Paisley gives his detractors less to
complain about. In addition to being lighter on the cracker-barrel witticisms
than his previous records, the album is full of juking shuffles, amped-up
turbo-tonk and burnished, muscular ballads sung in Paisley's molasses baritone.
And for lyrical heft, there's a cover of Guy Clark's "Out in the Parkin' Lot," a
mystical-existential meditation in which Paisley and Alan Jackson trade
plain-spoken musings about the human condition while sipping whiskey outside a
roadhouse teeming with lovers, fighters and assorted 9-to-5ers.
Granted, the Hallmarkisms of "She's Everything" and "Rainin' You" are a
bit saccharine. Yet anyone who's ever been in a committed relationship but can't
relate to admissions like "She's the giver I wish I could be / And the stealer
of the covers" (from "She's Everything") just isn't listening. Even the
borderline corn of "You Need a Man Around Here" is inspired -- a
self-deprecating reversal of the notion of a bachelor's decor needing a woman's
touch: "You could use a little help / Someone to kill the spiders / Change the
channel and drink the beer."
Even more tonic is "Alcohol," a playful personification of all manner
of spirits that's likely to be in the running for Single of the Year come time
for the Country Music Association Awards this fall. Maybe best of all is "When I
Get Where I'm Going," a statement of faith featuring a goose-bump-inducing vocal
from Parton that's free of the cheap piousness that's alarmingly prevalent in
country music today.
Brad Paisley is scheduled to perform Sept. 10 at First Mariner Arena
in Baltimore.
