Brad Paisley-a different kind of cowboy before 'Accidental Racist'?: EBSCOhost

Brad Paisley-a different kind of cowboy before 'Accidental Racist'?: EBSCOhost



If there's one thing that has described me since I was 5, it's that I am a huge country music fan. From Hank Williams and Alabama, to George Strait and Garth Brooks, to modern day guys like Thomas Rhett, I love them all. I've never really had the opportunity to do a project about it, so I thought I would research some topics this time. It's a very broad topic to search so I wasn't sure what I was going to come up with. I didn't even know if this would work since I really had no direction in the topic. However, scrolling through the many pages, I found a really interesting and recent article on one of my favorite country artists who I actually just saw in concert- Brad Paisley. Brad Paisley is known for his dry sense of humor heard in his songs that can be viewed as satire, and his amazing guitar skills. He's well known in other music genres as seen by his collaborations with pop artist Demi Lovato as well as with rock and roll legend Mick Jagger. Country music is very different compared to many other genres and I think everyone knows this which is why people tend to either hate it or love it. Although, there are some fair weather fans, who literally only listen to it when the weather is good and their car windows are rolled down. While country music is seen as this "feel good" genre, there is so much depth within in the music that is not always so "feel good". Though it is always not this "Sunny and 75" type of music (pun intended- that is a name of a country song), country music tells a story that is more than the 3 minute song length. That is what this article is about. This article dives into some of the depth that Brad Paisley has wrote about. In particular, Paisley wrote two songs that this article really analyzes- "Those Crazy Christians" and "Accidental Racist." Paisley sings about two very controversial topics that usually catches everyone attention- racism and religion. While these songs do have some provocative lyrics, I think it is important to realize that there are SO many other genres that do this to an extreme. I don't mean to stereotype but I think rap is one of these genres. Listening to one rap song says all you need to know about the genre. It's all about drugs, guns, strippers; these VERY provocative terms used to describe all the above makes me wonder why Paisley's tracks were seen as so controversial. I learned a lot from this article and even though country may not be for everyone, these two songs are a good listen, and listeners can learn so much from them. It's a different outlook on racism and religion that is not always seen in the media.