While many country singers pumped the brakes while touring was stalled in the early days of the pandemic, Brad Paisley found ways to maintain full speed ahead.
He held socially distanced concerts in parking lots, wrote songs and made a daily habit of visiting with fans over Zoom.
“In the height of it, I felt a connection with fans and friends,” Paisley said. “I don’t know how I would’ve ever had these moments that I’ll never forget without being forced to figure out this app called Zoom. It started to be so much fun to see that somebody had a special thing happening that I could be a part of because I had the time. It was just so rewarding to just drop in on a group of nurses.”
Paisley was so engaged during everyone else’s downtime in 2020 that as things have started to return to normal, he found himself needing to take a step back. He’s still playing shows, including March 11-12 at The Wynn in Las Vegas, but he cut back the time he spends on social media and is carefully considering his next musical move.
“I feel like I’m resetting a little bit right now,” Paisley said. “We toured all last summer, and it was never back to normal, but it was back to something. I don’t even want to say new normal because that better not be the case. I don’t want new normal. Normal better come back.”
by Cindy Watts
Brad Paisley Is “Resetting,” “Finding Some Clarity” On What’s Next