Sorry For Screwing You Brad Paisley, Here’s a Random TV Special
Look, the semi controversy over the CMAs choosing to replace Brad Paisley as the long-time host in 2019 with Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire is water under the bridge at this point. The move by the CMAs and ABC with the purpose of putting more emphasis on women feels shortsighted and symbolic as opposed to a subsnative move to actually help support women in country music, but whatever. There is no doubt Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire are stellar hosting personalities, will do a great job, and it’s exciting to see these country legends get greater face time. Carrie Underwood will also resume her CMA hosting duties with the two country legends.
But it is kind of amusing that the CMAs and ABC recently announced that Brad Paisley will be getting his own television special later this season called “Brad Paisley Thinks He’s Special.” The special will include Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker plus Hootie & the Blowfish, Kelsea Ballerini, the Jonas Brothers, and long-time CMA co-host Carrie Underwood. The Bachelor host Chris Harrison (ABC cross-marketing tie-in) and football player Peyton Manning (Nationwide insurance tie-in) will also be involved. The special was recorded at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville at some point later this year.
“Wait, I thought it was called the Brad Paisley Special. Who added the ‘Thinks He’s?'” Paisley joked in a canned press release. “Oh well, I’m still psyched.” Paisley is also the Executive Producer of the special.
Hey, cool for Brad I guess. But anyone who doesn’t see this as a consolation prize for getting unceremoniously booted out of his CMA hosting duties doesn’t know how these things work. Do we really need a special for Brad Paisley? If we were really into supporting women in country, would we perhaps give them their own special as opposed to shoehorning a couple into hosting duties on the CMAs, and then giving Brad and hour slot for himself?
If you’re a Brad Paisley fan, no reason to look this gift horse in the mouth. And I guess you have to give some props to ABC and the CMAs for trying to do a make good for their dumb decision with the CMA hosting situation. But if you want to “support women,” do the stuff behind the scenes to make sure they’re given equal opportunities, and don’t monkey with what’s working, like Brad and Carrie hosting the CMAs, and then end up getting caught in a PR nightmare where you’re trying to play catch up.
Just my opinion.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:29 am
Though it was only announced a few days ago, this show has been in the works for some time now.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:33 am
Vox/Vulture/Rolling Stone/Salon/Pitchfork/NYT headline: “Country Music Blogger Promotes Patriarchy with Brad Paisley Coverage”
September 24, 2019 @ 11:43 am
“Toxic Masculinity Is Alive And Well in Traditional Country Music, Here’s What To Do About It.”
September 24, 2019 @ 11:38 am
love and appreciate paisley’s voice , picking and songwriting . imo he’s been underrated and under-respected for the musical talent he is ……and the bro-scare didn’t help him any more than it helped AJ or george .
.. while urban embraced the pop-ness permeating the genre way back when and still rides it today ( with the same punk boots ,90’s non-haircut and ripped t-shirt …wtf ??….) brad found a way to keep substance in so much of his writing while implementing a second-to-none understanding of the country music crafting necessary to have it heard . not to mention his VERY high energy talent and music-based live shows and comic gifts . this guy could easily have been entertainer of the year EVERY YEAR …..NO ONE approaches his talents on so many fronts while incorporating that lyrical substance in all of his album releases . I’d give mcGraw a similar nod on the substance count if it wasn’t for so many shitty singles . tim doesn’t write so kudos to him for at least taking the time to FIND great album material throughout his career . its out there …everywhere .
i’m not concerned that brad isn’t hosting the COUNTRY MUSIC ADVERTISEMENTS show whatsoever . except for the first 15 minutes of the show his talent and time is absolutely wasted there . in fact , i’m convinced that if he focused on writing what HE wanted to write and release with no major label input or radio play as factors he would blow us all away . not radio ……US .
September 24, 2019 @ 1:08 pm
I agree with your view. The instrumental is generally good and the lyrics as well. other than “moonshine in the trunk” album, I think he is pretty solid while maintaining a mainstream presence. This is very hard for him to do given how bad is the state of mainstream music.
September 24, 2019 @ 1:42 pm
”This is very hard for him to do given how bad is the state of mainstream music.”
I was watching the kristoferson section in the burns doc last night wondering ‘ what must kris think of today’s country lyric-writing ”. man, he’d be ignored today in favour of the nursery rhymes passing for song lyrics . for a guy like paisley , it must be hard to walk that line as well . he may not be a kristofferson -not many are – but he’s heads , hands and feet above mainstream stuff even on his worst day .
September 24, 2019 @ 2:25 pm
I agree 100%.
September 24, 2019 @ 12:56 pm
Brad, please get back to your great songwriting and mind-blowing, ass-kicking guitar.
– All of Us
September 24, 2019 @ 1:05 pm
we’ll never know, but I’d wager that some of that “great songwriting” in Paisley’s past had Chely Wright’s imprint all over it, Benny Lee.
September 24, 2019 @ 12:58 pm
I kinda want him to do another comedy jam for Netflix. I thought that used his humor and hosting and music well, and was light and easy. Small room, small club circuit comics. I thought it was alright,
September 24, 2019 @ 1:42 pm
If Brad Paisley hasn’t complained publicly about NOT being the host of the CMAs this year how do we know that he was treated unfairly? This current DEAL may be the reason why he chose NOT to host the CMAs. We don’t know what happens behind the scenes and what agreements were made so why make assumption?
September 24, 2019 @ 1:47 pm
Well, we know why he was not chosen to host the CMAs because they told us. The emphasis this year will be on women. So this special did not play into that decision, or at least not publicly. And the people saying the special had been planned in the past, so may have been the decision to not ask Paisley to host this year. But ultimately, as I alluded to in the article, I’m just spitballing here. I can’t imagine any other reason they would give Brad Paisley a special, and apparently the people putting it together can’t either or they would have told us.
September 26, 2019 @ 7:50 pm
Thank you for pointing out the obvious. I mean the way it’s being talked about you’d think Brad had thrown his toys out the cot over this being a celebration of woman in country music, something I am sure he’s more than happy to support. I mean it’s a celebration of woman and everything they’ve given to the genre, what’s so wrong about that? Oh I’m sorry is the timing not right for some? I didn’t realize we all had to wait for the equality issue to go away before letting the CMA’s show some equality. Heaven forbid they take a step in the right direction when it comes to support and appreciating woman of the genre……wait what centry is it again??
September 26, 2019 @ 8:14 pm
Brad Paisley hasn’t complained because he’s a nice guy. Brad Paisley has never complained about anything.
And I’m in no way up in arms that a bunch of women are hosting the CMA Awards. I’m up in arms that they’re having a bunch of women hosting as a symbolic token to a systemic issue that the CMAs seem unwilling to help fix. But as I said above. It’s water under the bridge.
September 24, 2019 @ 4:58 pm
I’m excited for the special but like many others have pointed out, Brad is completely underrated for what he brings to the table. Saw him a few weeks back in Raleigh and forgot how many great songs he has, and how many he didn’t get a chance to play. Dude is a complete class act.
September 24, 2019 @ 5:54 pm
Sorry to Carrie Underwood, but Brad Paisley pretty much carried the hosting at the CMA. Hopefully Dolly will bring some of her trademark humor to the table. But if the CMAs really wanted to make a statement for women in country music, maybe it would have been a better idea to actually nominate them some more. I know Maren Morris is nominated more than anyone, but it’s Maren Morris for God’s sake. Do we really have to stoop that low and that far into awful pop (not even good pop music). And the only woman nominated for the big entertainer of the year award is Carrie Underwood, who doesn’t really deserve it. She’s also pop, although I would listen to her 24/7 over having to listen to Maren Morris. If Eric Church doesn’t win this year, it will just go to show how rigged the award is. The guy tours more, sells more tickets, plays shows back to back, has no opening act, and spends literal hours on stage. If it goes to lip syncher Garth Brooks again I will lose the little bit of respect I still have.
September 24, 2019 @ 7:29 pm
Excuse me, doesn’t deserve it? Lola do you have any children? You do realize that she is a full time mum to two boys one of which is still an infant? She’s currently on a massive world wide tour and every night she finishes she doesn’t get to just hop into bed like the guys on tour do, no she has to breastfeed her child and if he’s not hungry well then she has to express. Any woman whose had to breastfeed will know what this is like, and how painful it is when your breasts are full. Yes her husband is there with her some of the time but not all of it. She went to Europe as well this year, and promoted country music to the rest of the world. She went through the exact same thing on her last tour with her first born, and she was a first time parent, any first time parent knows how hard it is. She manages to stay top of her game, do her part for the genre she loves, goes out there every night kicking ass on stage to sold out crowds whilst being a mother, having to change diapers and feed babies and deal with mastitis and all that other stuff. If you can’t see how much effort, how much hard work she’s put in you need to go to Specsavers and get your eyes checked. And while you’re at it learn the art of empathy. That’s where you put yourself in someone else’s shoes to better understand what it’s like being them. She more than deserves that award, it’s long overdue.
September 24, 2019 @ 8:36 pm
What does any of that have to do with the fact that Carrie is pop not country? Is it fair Carrie’s is up for EOTY? Yes, it’s fair because she works hard but the guys also nominated are not really country either. Should any of them be nominated? No.
September 25, 2019 @ 2:35 am
I’m actually a mama to two daughters, both of which I breastfed while working full time as a registered nurse and believe me, I know the challenges of being a working mother. Oh, and in my experience, pumping hurts much worse. I never meant to imply that Carrie wasn’t an extremely talented, hard-working woman, it wasn’t my intention to imply that and if it came across that way I apologize. With that being said, I don’t think anyone should win based on their gender or family dynamic. Again, as a woman I wouldn’t want to be recognized because of that. I simply feel that if you consider the criteria for the award, and I may be wrong about this but my understanding it’s ticket sales, touring etc and no one is touring the way that Eric Church is. I think he’s been overlooked previously. The biggest point I was trying to make was that the CMAs could have supported women in a more profound way by nominating more women for the big categories. It was never my intention to down Carrie Underwood. I think she’s one of the best vocalist out there and like I said I would much rather listen to her music than most of what’s out there on radio. Also, as a woman who suffered a miscarriage on my way to motherhood along with many other challenges with my daughters, I appreciate her immensely for having the courage to speak up about her struggles.
September 25, 2019 @ 2:52 am
I’m actually a mama to two daughters, both of which I breastfed while working full time as a registered nurse and believe me, I know the challenges of being a working mother. Oh, and in my experience, pumping hurts much worse. I never meant to imply that Carrie wasn’t an extremely talented, hard-working woman, it wasn’t my intention to imply that and if it came across that way I apologize. With that being said, I don’t think anyone should win based on their gender or family dynamic. Again, as a woman I wouldn’t want to be recognized because of that. I simply feel that if you consider the criteria for the award, and I may be wrong about this but my understanding it’s ticket sales, touring etc and no one is touring the way that Eric Church is. I think he’s been overlooked previously. The biggest point I was trying to make was that the CMAs could have supported women in a more profound way by nominating more women for the big categories. It was never my intention to down Carrie Underwood. I think she’s one of the best vocalist out there and like I said I would much rather listen to her music than most of what’s out there on radio. Also, as a woman who suffered a miscarriage on my way to motherhood along with many other challenges with my daughters, I appreciate her immensely for having the courage to speak up about her struggles. Oh, and yes I’m a bit bitter about the fact that these award shows seem to keep going more and more pop each year, it’s just my dying hopes…
September 25, 2019 @ 4:06 am
because being a mother means she deserves an award for entertainment?
September 26, 2019 @ 7:43 pm
Missed the point, she’s the biggest selling female in country music right now and is still holding that top spot regardless of having two children which is her number one priority. I mean if you can’t appreciate what it takes to achieve that level of success and continue it whilst raising two boys (one of them an infant) then I can’t help you. She’s playing sold out show after sold out show every night, coming off stage to breastfeed or pump & is not burning up or losing it, that’s pretty remarkable given how intense a tour must be. And yeah she has help but still it’s a lot of work being a parent as well as the biggest female star currently in country music. She works just as hard as anyone else in country music. She’s had massive tours since her second album came out and has continued to hold her spot at the top despite country radio turning against females. So yeah she deserves to be there.
September 28, 2019 @ 10:46 pm
Has Carrie Underwood even had any big hits in the last few years?
October 1, 2019 @ 6:03 pm
LimaOhio09 – Her last album Cry Pretty was number one on the Billboard 200 which is a massive hit, name another female artist in country music whose achieved that in the last two years? In fact how many country artists in general have had that across the last two years? You can find that information on Wikipedia as it lists the charts out by year, only 3 other country artist got a number 1 on the Billboard 200, Jason Aldean, Kane Brown and Thomas Rhett.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:22 pm
I appreciate Brad Paisley. I’ve got most of his albums, I’ve seen him a handful of times, and I think he’s entertaining. I think he does a fairly good job of walking a difficult line of trying to stay relevant on radio and still being country. And I’ll look forward to watching this, despite Hootie and the Jonas’.
But why this and why now?
Does he have a new album coming? Does he have a hot, new single? A Greatest Hits package? I get that “Who Needs Pictures” debuted 20 years ago this summer, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the reasoning behind the special. So, why now?
Unless you’re right, Trig. Sounds like a reasonable, educated spitball to me.
September 25, 2019 @ 8:10 pm
Brad has a sitcom he’s producing in and starring in on Netflix or one of the other streaming services.
He has been squeezed out of country radio the last few years to the point he wouldn’t be on the award shows anymore if not hosting. Despite, or maybe because of, this, he is the kind of person who overall will be rooting for the trio of hostesses, even if he misses hosting this year.
It will be a win for him to get more music in front of a national audience while still having a chance to showcase his personality. He’s branching out with acting, his clothing brand, Nationwide endorsement, comedy show, etc. and still doing philanthropic work.
Much as I hate it, I have to doubt whether his music will ever have the kind of run at the top it did for a few years. The industry itself has just changed so much, even just the shift from CDs to streaming, let alone the programming decisions.
He seems smart enough, and enough of a student of Nashville, to be realistic. He did the Country Nation college shows, rather than try to sell out stadiums like Chesney and Bryan.
He can have some fun in the variety-show type stuff, and acting, etc, make some revenue from those and music he makes in his home studio, and not depend on selling out to get back on the charts or please the label.
September 30, 2019 @ 1:05 pm
Her last album Cry Pretty was number one on the Billboard 200 which is a massive hit, name another female artist in country music whose achieved that in the last two years? In fact how many country artists in general have had that across the last two years? You can find that information on Wikipedia as it lists the charts out by year, only 3 other country artist got a number 1 on the Billboard 200, Jason Aldean, Kane Brown and Thomas Rhett.
September 25, 2019 @ 1:44 am
“The special was recorded at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville at some point later this year.”
Cool…Time travel! Seriously though It could be a cool thing with some of these performers, or it could be a complete train wreck with others.
September 25, 2019 @ 8:12 pm
Noticed that, too. “Welcome to the future”
September 25, 2019 @ 4:52 am
For me Brad Paisley will forever be the ‘doo rag / rebel flag’ Accidental Racist guy.
September 25, 2019 @ 10:54 am
Sincerely hope your favorite artist has never had a misstep in his/her career…
September 25, 2019 @ 11:11 am
Are you sure misstep is the right word? He sat down and actually wrote the song before deciding to record it, release it and film a music video for it. With LL Cool J.
September 25, 2019 @ 12:06 pm
Yep. I blame LL.
September 25, 2019 @ 6:33 am
Love Paisley and will happily watch this, but you’re right that it’s way past time for female artists to get similar treatment. There’s enough amazing women out there to fill a dozen specials, and then some.
September 25, 2019 @ 8:15 am
Never really fond of Paisley especially as CMA host but this makes zero sense, he is far past the height of his popularity, don’t imagine a big audience for this. Isn’t network tv all about ratings?
September 26, 2019 @ 4:06 am
Perhaps he was under contract to host the CMA’s but agreed, (being the nice guy he is!) to accept this “special” in exchange for not hosting and letting women have the spotlight this year. That decision could have been made right after the last CMA’s (weren’t the ratings down? Not sure about that.) Regardless, I agree that the time for him to have his own network special would have been years ago when he was a bit more relevant, not now.
September 29, 2019 @ 5:50 pm
Carrie has spoken about Brad not hosting the CMA’s this year on a radio show recently.
Here’s the quote:
So what about Carrie’s former CMA co-host Brad Paisley? “Brad is one of my best friends, he’s been supportive of all of this, he loves the ladies of country music, and it will not be the last time that Brad & I will cut up together.”
And here’s the link to the article
http://www.countrycountdownusa.com/2019/09/28/carrie-underwood-two-boy-tour/