Country star Brad Paisley was so tied to his Twitter account in the
days leading up to the release of his new album, "Moonshine In The
Trunk," he had to finish tweeting during an interview. "So I am sending a tweet," Paisley said during an interview at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. "You can film it if you want."
Paisley has had a lot of fun with leaking songs directly to his fans, either doing it through his own account or through his famous friends like NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, Ellen DeGeneres or even a NASA astronaut. But he's quite serious about why he's doing it this way.
A controversy erupted when his song with LL Cool J, called "Accidental Racist," leaked out last year. Critics panned the song before the album, "Wheelhouse," was released to the public.
Paisley said he felt blindsided and decided that he'd be in control of the leaks this time.
"I am trying to lead the conversation," Paisley said. "I should be the one starting the conversation, not like journalists or something. I felt like last time…. Or the Twitterverse, or something. Last time I had my album high-jacked. It was just before I was able to say the first thing about it, it was making the news. And not positively, necessarily."....
So for the month of August, Paisley been presenting each song to the public in his own way and taking playful jabs at his record label.
Paisley, who was also an expert judge on ABC's "Rising Star" this summer, said he wants fans to hear the music first, before reading critic's reviews.
"There might be some great reviews," Paisley said. "There might be some one-star reviews. But the beauty of that is I control this. I sent it out. And my fans, who have heard almost every song at this point, from 'Country Nation' to 'Crushin' It' to 'Shattered Glass' to 'Flag' to 'Perfect Storm, you name it. When they see, 'Two stars, should have taken more risks,' they know they are wrong. They got to hear it first. They know that that is BS."
Even the President of the United States didn't get a chance to hear a sample of one of the songs before the fans did.
This summer, President Barack Obama invited Paisley to join him on a trip to visit troops in Afghanistan and Paisley was finishing up the last song on the album, a gospel cover called, "Me And Jesus."
Paisley recorded the song at his house just before hopping on Air Force 1, where he finished mixing the song.
"He hasn't heard it yet," Paisley said of President Obama. "He frequently interrupted me when I was doing it. But I didn't let him hear it at that point. No. He was busy."
