Brad Douglas Paisley

Brad Douglas Paisley is an American country singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Glen Dale, West Virginia, in 1972. He received his first guitar from his maternal grandfather at the age of eight and was performing in church and at local civic events soon afterward. By the time he was a teenager he had his own band, Brad Paisley and the C-Notes, and he opened concerts for visiting Nashville stars in the Wheeling area.

After studying at West Liberty State College and Belmont University in Nashville, Paisley signed with Arista Nashville and released his debut album Who Needs Pictures in 1999. The single He Didn't Have to Be, about a stepfather, became his first number-one country hit. He followed with albums including Part II, Mud on the Tires, Time Well Wasted, 5th Gear, and This Is Country Music, racking up more than thirty number-one singles on the country charts.

Paisley is known for his Telecaster-driven guitar work, his comic timing on songs such as Online and I'm Gonna Miss Her, and his more reflective writing on tracks such as Whiskey Lullaby, recorded with Alison Krauss. His work has earned multiple Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Awards, including Entertainer of the Year, and three Grammy Awards.

From 2008 to 2018 he co-hosted the Country Music Association Awards with Carrie Underwood. He has also written and recorded with Bill Anderson, Dolly Parton, and Buck Owens, and he and his wife, the actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, founded The Store, a free-referral grocery in Nashville for people facing food insecurity.

The name Brad is a short form of Bradley, an English place-name and surname meaning broad meadow, from Old English brād and lēah. It came into use as a given name in twentieth-century America. He carries it as the easygoing public face of a sharply observant songwriter.