Sometimes I forget just how many great songs Brad Paisley has in his catalog.
In the early 2000s, Brad was the biggest name in country music with hits like “We Danced,” “She’s Everything,” “I’m Gonna Miss Her” and so many more. I even remember (kind of) seeing him and college and singing along with “Alcohol” while I was blackout drunk. Good times.
Of course Brad isn’t on the charts as much as he once was, but back in 2003 one of the biggest songs in country music was “Mud On The Tires.”
The title track to his third studio album, “Mud On The Tires” hit #1 on the Billboard country chart and was #11 on the year-end chart of the biggest country songs of the year.
It’s a song that still holds up today, so it’s no surprise that Brad decided to revisit one of his biggest hits with his new single “Truck Still Works.”
The sequel of sorts is a callback to “Mud On The Tires,” featuring not only the same sound but also including some of the same lyrics as he talks to an old lover that’s back in town – and inviting her to see if that truck that got all that mud on the tires still works after all these years:
“Let’s see if that truck still works
Let’s see if that song still sings
Let’s see if them miles of corn still got that shade of green
Let’s see if we can find that place I used to know about
Let’s see if they paved that old, dirt road that used to run out
Find out if that dogwood limb is still there to hang our shirts
If you ain’t got nothin’ else to do tonight
Let’s see if that truck still works”
The single is Brad’s first since leaving Sony Music Nashville and signing with EMI last year. And speaking on the decision to release an ode to one of his classic hits, Brad said quite a bit of thought went into just how much to throw it back in order to still keep it fresh:
“‘Truck Still Works’ is a track where everything old is new again. We debated on how much to really allude to the original and there were questions like ‘Do you moonlight in a duck blind, catfish on a trot line?’ What do you not put in, what’s too much, what is enough and what is not enough?
And trust me, we tried each of those and it was really fun. I think it was Chris Dubois’ idea to end the first verse with the line, ‘How about a little test drive down by the lake.’ It was really fun to go through the process of what makes this song both new and old.
What I love about it is that the groove, the feel, is all very modern and very country. We hope it’s a blast for anyone who’s a current fan or for someone to become a new fan.”
The West Virginia native debuted the song last night at the People’s Choice Country Awards before dropping it today, and I’ve gotta say, it’s definitely my favorite song that Brad’s released in a while.
Nice to see he’s getting back to his old sound instead of releasing songs with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Give us some more like this, Brad.