Quotes from Brad Paisley

I can't play a solo without thinking about John Jorgenson. I always think about what he would do.

At certain times in your life, some things are heavier than others.

It's hard to be judgmental once you've been around the world... it's pretty hard to be anything but understanding, and I think it's good for everybody to get out and see someplace other than where you grew up.

You shouldn't listen to my music for political messages.

When you're with somebody as iconic as Mick Jagger or John Fogerty, I'm really aware that, in asking these guys to collaborate with me, I don't want to add a footnote to their career that's like, 'Shouldn't' have done that.' It's important to make sure that they're well represented.

I wanted to be Buck Owens and Bill Anderson and Roger Miller. With a higher-resolution video screen. And lasers.

I'm of the mindset that God loves everyone.

Some of the worst selfies I've ever seen are at Auschwitz or Ground Zero.

My first tweet was at the CMT Awards when I won an award and typed, 'Thank you.' Then I was hooked because the followers started multiplying. It's a great tool.

When you're a creative person, there are just times when you're not listening. You know, I could be looking right at you and thinking about something else.

I'm the smart aleck. The class clown. I'm the guy who does the song nobody expects.

As a songwriter, it can be a kiss of death for you to fall in love.

There are phrases that are totally cliche that we, as songwriters, owe it to ourselves to not use again.

Even in your darkest moments, you'll think of something that'll crack you up.

I'm not a person you can figure out in one month. And you can't listen to one song and say, 'That's who he is.'

I try to write like the writers I admire - I rip them off in form. It comes from George Strait and Merle Haggard records, and country music in general is really good at that, the twisted phrase... So I'm always looking for that angle in my own work.

In the past, I tried to be more of a typical session guitarist. I wasn't so concerned with impressing anybody.

I don't have the answers. But I am asking the questions, and that's the fun part. I'm like the kid in class with his hand up, going, 'Um...' I think that's a powerful place to create from.

You're going to get flak if you tell the wrong joke, but it's still the wrong joke. Give the wrong speech, you take it on the chin.

I really believe you'll get a music video one of these days that I shot with an iPad because it's that consistent and that good. It's HD.

If I get an idea for a song, I have a melody for it. I'm a musician first. I'm not limited by the fretboard.

I'm a country musician. I know how to play jazz, and I can play rock. But I've had to fight my entire career to get a little respect from people who don't understand where I come from.

Country music's always had the best musicians in any format of music, and I always gravitated toward that, stuff that was musically interesting.

You have different stages in your career where you have different things to prove. And early on, like most people who move to Nashville, I wanted to prove that I belonged here, that I belonged in this format, that I had a love for it.