BRAD PAISLEY

This Is Country Music

[Arista Nashville]

With its playful humor, above-average songwriting and stellar musicianship, Brad Paisley’s eighth studio album includes some of his strongest work in recent years—and some of his most uneven. If his trademark boy-next-door charm fades a bit on tepid tunes like “Working on a Tan” and “Camouflage,” he makes up for it on the ballad “A Man Don’t Have to Die” and the rip-roaring Western instrumental “Eastwood,” which showcases his formidable guitar chops. The record’s ham-fisted title track joins the recent glut of country songs about country songs, delivering a rote list of references to classics by George Jones, Tammy Wynette and others. A far better expression of the same sentiment is found in the album closer “Life’s Railway to Heaven,” on which Paisley is joined by Marty Stuart, Sheryl Crow and Carl Jackson. Here, deftly straddling the line between traditional and contemporary country, is where Paisley proves himself a modern standard-bearer for his chosen genre. –Juli Thanki