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."....