Brad Paisley Leaks Songs to Label’s Dismay
‘Troublemaker’ is certainly not a word used to describe Brad Paisley very often. But the country superstar’s rebellious new “Moonshine in the Trunk” song — the title track of his upcoming album — is rubbing off on him.
See Where Brad Paisley Falls on Our 100 Greatest Songs List
Over the weekend, Paisley posted a video on Twitter previewing each song on the new LP, out Aug. 26th, writing, “I’m going rogue. The label doesn’t know I’m doing this. Seriously. But I made a Moonshine Preview teaser. Don’t tell.” The tweet was followed by screenshots of several emails from executives at Sony Music Nashville, along with texts and emails from his manager, telling him that permissions aren’t in place for such leaks. Well, those only added fuel to his defiant fire, so the singer re-posted the video and other song clips, along with his responses to label emails, including one telling someone at Sony, “I love you guys. But go —- yourselves.” (Paisley blacked out the obvious four-letter word before ‘yourselves,’ along with the names and email addresses.)
In another email to his label, Paisley sarcastically promised that he himself would not post any more new songs. Instead, he recruited a partner in crime, fellow “Rising Star” judge, Ludacris. The rapper took to his own Twitter page to share a second version of the Moonshine album preview, featuring about 2 to 4 seconds of each song meshed together. (Listen via the YouTube video player below.)
While he’s pushing buttons at his record label, Paisley is pushing the lyrical envelope with Moonshine in the Trunk. The singer has hinted that the album tackles topics not normally heard on country radio.
“I think my format will be like, ‘Oh, great! Good, yes, somebody’s singing that.’ Because right now it’s not hard to stretch from what’s on our airwaves because it’s a very limited sort of thing,” he tells Rolling Stone Country. “There’s a lot of people complaining about that. So I try to look at it from that perspective and I see that as opportunity. That’s like, ‘Well, you won’t expect this, let’s sing this, this will be fun.’ And also something that my fans will be like, ‘You know what, I’m so glad to hear that topic.'”
Moonshine in the Trunk is the Grammy winner’s tenth studio album.