Mud on the Tires

这是Brad Paisley的第三张个人专辑，他的三张专辑的销量一直是节节进步，本张专辑的首周销量也是再创新高，超过了8万5千张，Billboard乡村音乐专辑榜的冠军和Billboard 200的第八名也是这位乡村歌手的新纪录。此前发布的专辑中的单曲《Celebrity》在单曲榜的优势地位也是推动新专辑销售的重要因素。

在这张乡村音乐专辑中，依旧由Brad Paisley的老搭档Frank Rogers担任专辑的制作人，他目前已经包办了Paisley所有三张专辑的制作，他制作的前两张唱片全部被认证为白金唱片。Brad Paisley初道时以把多种乡村音乐风格的融合而获得了评论界和商业上的双重成功，在这张专辑中Brad Paisley仍然坚持着自己的音乐特色，Contemporary Country（当代乡村）的音乐特点依然是专辑的主要风格，在这些现在流行的乡村音乐作品中，又夹杂了西部特点的Western Swing Revival（西部摇摆复兴）风格作品，歌词一贯的诙谐幽默又富有思想性。也许正如Paisley自己所说的：“这才是他自己最喜欢的音乐风格。” Brad Paisley一直能够坚持并发展自己的音乐风格，取得成功也是情理之中的。

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Ever since 1999, Brad Paisley has been touted by some critics and fans as new traditionalist country's great hope. Blessed with good looks, good taste, and a nice twang in his voice, Paisley could have gone pure country-pop but decided to stick fairly close to his roots and play a nice amalgam of honky tonk, Western swing, and pop. It was straight out of the George Strait handbook, but it was nicely done on his first two records, particularly compared to a crop of new artists who seemed anxious to gun for the big hit. Paisley never seemed that desperate for chart success; he took it easy, so any sales seemed to be the side effect of his easygoing charm. That, along with his exceptional taste, garnered critical favor and a nice, dedicated base of fans, but his third album, 2003's Mud on the Tires, is where some cracks in the facade are revealed. It's not that it's a bad album, because it isn't. Far from it, actually -- it's a really good record, boasting a set of songs that are arguably his most consistent and illustrating Paisley's capable grasp on a wide variety of styles and sounds, from honky tonk and Western swing to plaintive bluegrass, country-folk, and even country-pop novelties. These are all the things that have made Paisley such a hot commodity among those listeners who prize traditionalism in country music (which, let's face it, most country fans do).

With his crackerjack band, featuring guitarist Redd Volkaert and bassist Kevin "Swine" Grantt, he sounds good, reverent, and muscular, recalling classic country in a way that will be appealing to most listeners, whether they prefer George Jones or George Strait. No, the cracks in the facade do not lie in the sound of the music -- it's in the feel and flavor of the music. Brad Paisley suffers from a near-terminal cutesiness that undercuts his music, making even good moments seem a little affected. And this cutesiness just flows from every other song on the record. There's the hit single "Celebrity," where he "skewers" celebrity hijinks in a way that suggests nothing but the "wacky" video that's sure to accompany it. There's "Ain't Nothin' Like," a paean to simple pleasures boasting one of the shrillest kid's chorus ever committed to tape. Then, there's "Spaghetti Western Swing," primarily a showcase for Volkaert, but burdened with an awful mock radio play written by Paisley and performed by George Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Bill Anderson. There are the homespun "truths" on "That's Love" (as in, "That ain't a lie/That's love") that operate on the same level as Tracy Byrd's "The Truth About Men," only without the conviction to be truly silly. The Byrd comparison is a good one -- Paisley has more musical muscle and a better band than Byrd, but he lacks the spirit; he seems to be putting on a show, and that affectation keeps his music from digging as deep as it should. On the surface, Mud on the Tires is a fine, satisfying listen, but to truly live up to the mantle that's been bestowed upon him, Paisley had better start adding substance to his admittedly fetching style.