Man, bring me back to the good ol’ days of Brad Paisley, when the guy was a hit making machine with songs like “We Danced,” “I’m Gonna Miss Her,” “Mud on the Tires,” “Whiskey Lullaby,” and so many others.
With that being said, it appears that Paisley has put his career on cruise control since 2014, and it just hasn’t been the same.
However, we were all hoping the tide was starting to turn when he announced earlier this week that he had signed a new record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville imprint EMI Records Nashville, and we were all getting our hopes up that this could spark that old flame that he had in the early 2000s…
But those hopes came crashing down when he dropped the new single, “Same Here,” today, featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Paisley explained his reasoning behind the song:
“The song is grounded in observing life in the United States, then to people from other countries who speak different languages and to one across the ocean that’s at war. We start to realize how similar we all are.
That’s one of the things the President says in the song, ‘There is no distance between our two countries in such values.’ They are longing for what we as Americans have already. It’s heartbreaking watching this struggle in modern time for freedom and democracy and the ability to just simply be who they want to be in peace.
And this song is something that I hope resonates not only with my fans and people in America, but people anywhere that feel a similar desire to be free and safe and happy. Because I really do believe that as human beings when you take away the banners that determine what country we all live in, we all want the same things.”
Brad is also a celebrity ambassador for Ukraine’s United24 fundraising campaign, and all of the royalties from the song will be donated to help build housing for Ukrainians who have been displaced by the ongoing war with Russia.
Yeah, we won’t play Tyler Childers, but let’s try and get the President of Ukraine on country radio…
And yes, I know that there’s a brutal war that continues to rage in Ukraine, officially hitting one year today since Russia invaded their borders. I know that people are dying, I know that people have been displaced, I know that homes have been destroyed, I know that Putin is ruthless dictator, and I know that it’s an awful situation all the way around.
I don’t want to turn this into a conversation about American foreign policy and the pros and cons of sending $100 BILLION dollars to Ukraine to fight a proxy war with Russia, which could potentially escalate into World War III… but the people of East Palestine, Ohio, less than TWO HOURS from Brad’s hometown in West Virginia, don’t even have clean air or water right now, and Brad is gonna come out here and try to sell country music fans on a pro-war propaganda song in an effort to send even more money to Ukraine?
It just screams tone deaf, virtue signaling, Hollywood pandering to me… and I say this as a long time Brad Paisley fan.
But hey don’t take it from me, let the fans speak for themselves:
When is your song about the drug crisis, homelessness, veterans on the streets, non safe drinking water, etc, etc that is crushing your belived home state of WV. Or are we just helping the greatest money launderer of all time
— DJ (@Dcasto128) February 24, 2023
Brad turned the comments off his Instagram post for a reason…
Take a listen… if you want.
