It doesn’t happen often on Time Well Wasted, but on “Alcohol,” the two Brad Paisleys — the amazing post-James Burton guitarist and the conventional country singer — finally get together and make one of the year’s best singles. Rendered in funky triple time, it’s narrated by booze itself: “Since the day I left Milwaukee, Lynchburg, and Bordeaux, France/I’ve been making the bars lots of big money/And helping white people dance.” With effortless swing, a sing-along chorus, and of course superb guitar work, it’s a reminder that sometimes modern Nashville does its best work when it gets out of its own head.
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2005.