CD Review – Brad Paisley – American Saturday Night

15 years ago Liv Carter 1


Brad Paisley – ‘American Saturday Night’ (Arista – 2009)

Brad Paisley has moved on. That was the first thing I thought after listening to brand new CD ‘American Saturday Night’. While there is still plenty of humor here, it is far more subtle and intelligent than on previous efforts.

The disc opens with the title track which is a party anthem with a difference. It celebrates the U.S. melting pot and how many ingredients of a typical American Saturday night are not, in fact, American.

Brad raised expectations by declaring that ‘Welcome to the Future’ was the most exciting thing he’s ever written. Expectations, mine at least, were exceeded. This is an absolute stand-out track! The song is built around the idea that things we used to think we could only dream of, now have been surpassed. Singing about how as a kid he used to wish he could have a Pac-Man game at home, he dryly adds ‘now I’ve got it on my phone’. But it’s not all about technological advances. The song hits a deeper level when it references the election of President Obama –

I had a friend in high school
The running back on the football team
They burned a cross in his front yard
For askin’ out the homecoming queen
I thought about him today
And everybody who’s seen what he’s seen
From a woman on a bus
To a man with a dream

Still typically Brad, these songs are personal, in fact, more personal than ever. Above all, Brad’s new collection of songs is honest and real. First single ‘Then’, already a #1 hit, might just be the sweetest dedication from a husband to a wife ever written. Whether he is recovering from a broken heart (‘Everybody’s Here’), channeling Johnny Cash, musically at least (‘You Do the Math’) , dispensing his grandfather’s wisdom (‘No’) or headed to the lake with his buddies for some fishin’ and drinkin’ (‘Catch All the Fish’), it all sounds authentic.

Anyone just looking for the next ‘Ticks’ or ‘Online’ will be disappointed. This album is not about cheap laughs. Even in the humorous ‘The Pants’ Brad has something to say and this reminder of a woman’s strength also comes back on ‘She’s Her Own Woman’ in which he sings that she’d be fine without him but he ‘wouldn’t last 45 minutes in this house without her living in it’.

Your heartstrings get pulled on the lament ‘Oh Yeah, You’re Gone’ and the touching ‘Anything Like Me’. The latter describes the rush of emotions and thoughts an expectant father gets when he is told the sex of the baby and the song has a cute surprise at the end.

Cautiously optimistic love-song ‘I Hope That’s Me’ and difficult-to-place ‘Water’ complete the tracks on this peach of a record. Such a peach that I find myself doing what I said I wouldn’t do and give it full marks. Don’t take that to mean it’s perfect because it’s not (on the next record can we get rid of the now overused sing-alongs at the end of songs, please?).

Brad Paisley has grown as a lyricist, vocalist and guitarist, and has just delivered his best album to date.

Hey hey, glory glory hallelujah, welcome to Brad’s future!
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Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter

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