Sound Bites: Music Reviews
Sound Bites: Music ReviewsAssociated Press
Selected music reviews:
Brad Paisley, "Time Well Wasted" (Arista Nashville)
Brad Paisley is lauded as the heir to country greats like Merle Haggard and George Jones, as well to new traditionalists like George Strait and Alan Jackson. He's actually closer to Roy Clark and Jerry Reed, two performers known as much for their impressive guitar playing and cornpone humor as for their singing and songwriting. Paisley's latest, "Time Well Wasted," strengthens that connection.
For example, the record's "I'll Take You Back" features a rolling guitar hook reminiscent of Reed's "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)." "Time Warp," on the other hand, is a light-speed, chops-heavy instrumental in the mold of Clark barn-burners such as "El Cumbanchero." In the past, Paisley's wisecracking has been marred by self-consciousness, but "Time Well Wasted" shows that, like Clark and Reed, he has a knack for offhanded parody. "Cornography," for example, is an Opry radio play that features Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, Bill Anderson and Dolly Parton. Like a sketch from "Hee Haw," the tongue-in-cheek track flirts with bad taste ("He turned around to see two huge 38s pointed right in his face," says Dickens).
Clark and Reed had TV and the movies to advance their personas, and it's probably only a matter of before Paisley is afforded the same opportunity. Come to think of it, he does look a bit like Bob Saget ... hmmm.
_ Paul V. Griffith, For The Associated Press
Selected music reviews:
Brad Paisley, "Time Well Wasted" (Arista Nashville)
Brad Paisley is lauded as the heir to country greats like Merle Haggard and George Jones, as well to new traditionalists like George Strait and Alan Jackson. He's actually closer to Roy Clark and Jerry Reed, two performers known as much for their impressive guitar playing and cornpone humor as for their singing and songwriting. Paisley's latest, "Time Well Wasted," strengthens that connection.
For example, the record's "I'll Take You Back" features a rolling guitar hook reminiscent of Reed's "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)." "Time Warp," on the other hand, is a light-speed, chops-heavy instrumental in the mold of Clark barn-burners such as "El Cumbanchero." In the past, Paisley's wisecracking has been marred by self-consciousness, but "Time Well Wasted" shows that, like Clark and Reed, he has a knack for offhanded parody. "Cornography," for example, is an Opry radio play that features Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, Bill Anderson and Dolly Parton. Like a sketch from "Hee Haw," the tongue-in-cheek track flirts with bad taste ("He turned around to see two huge 38s pointed right in his face," says Dickens).
Clark and Reed had TV and the movies to advance their personas, and it's probably only a matter of before Paisley is afforded the same opportunity. Come to think of it, he does look a bit like Bob Saget ... hmmm.
_ Paul V. Griffith, For The Associated Press
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