"This Is Country Music," from Brad Paisley

A while back, during the CMA recap post, I mentioned Brad Paisley's new single, "This is Country Music" (I hyperlinked it to a music video, so just roll over and click to watch it).  For a week in November, it was available to his fans for free on his website, along with the following message, which I believe has a such purity of sentiment and honesty of voice that I wanted to post here.  Enjoy.

As I stood on the stage at the CMAs last week clutching a glass trophy and fighting back tears, it occurred to me why I am so proud to do this for a living.  See, country music is unique.  It is brace.  It is not afraid to deal head on with subjects like disease, death, religion, drinking family, or anything else that qualifies as life.  It isn’t above its fans.  It is about them.  It is the soundtrack to my life, and probably yours.  As its recording artists, we are given the dog-tags from family members of fans who die in battle for our country.  We are there in song at the most impactful moments of our fans’ lives.  We are loved unconditionally, and we are given loyalty beyond what we deserve.  This is country music.