Brad Paisley Cites This Country Icon as Kickstarting a New Era of Songwriting in the Late 1980s

Every so often, an artist will burst on the scene and rewrite the rulebook of a specific genre, and Brad Paisley can trace a notable stylistic shift in country songwriting to one musical icon’s breakthrough hit in 1989. Paisley cited this artist for bringing in a more conversational feel to his music without sacrificing the poetic beauty of the lyrics, a delicate balance that is far easier said than done.

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And in true “iron sharpens iron” fashion, the man who significantly influenced Paisley’s career when he was first cutting his teeth revealed that Paisley was a major inspiration to him, too.

Brad Paisley Said This Country Icon Started A New Songwriting Trend

Brad Paisley has been a lifelong country fan, which means he was poring over popular records years before he would ever cut one of his own. During that time, he noticed a significant shift in the lyrical and musical stylings of his favorite genre from the late 1970s country of his youth to the country music that was coming out while he was studying music business in Nashville in the mid-1990s. While making a 2025 appearance on a “Talking in Circles” segment for Circle Country, Paisley traced a major lyrical change in country music back to Clint Black’s 1989 breakthrough hit, “A Better Man.”

Speaking to Black himself, Paisley said, “When you first came out, it was unlike anything I’d heard before done. Here’s this traditional country. It’s 1989. We’re not realizing we’re at the beginning of a new movement that’s going to revolutionize the world, but you led the way. Yours was unlike anybody else’s. I devoured it. Poetry was definitely what you did. Heck, something as simple as, I’m leaving here a better man, the verses are poetry. You used lines that are what you would consider poetry just to make your point in the verse, and then got to this very simple chorus.”

I know I’m leavin’ here a better man for knowin’ you this way. Things I couldn’t do before, now I think I can, and I’m leavin’ here a better man.

How The Younger Artist Continued The Trend Himself

Brad Paisley and Clint Black both dominated the country charts in the early 2000s, but Black was a major influence on Paisley in the few years before the latter artist would achieve his own breakthrough hit in 1999 with “He Didn’t Have to Be.” Paisley told Black he used to cover multiple songs of his during his live performances while he was still cutting his teeth around Nashville. In doing so, Paisley learned the ins and outs of Black’s simplistic yet poetic songwriting and figured out a way to continue the trend on his own.

“I remember it dawning on me,” Paisley said. “The way I wanted to write was if you wouldn’t say it, I don’t want to sing it. If you wouldn’t use that line in life, then I wasn’t going to put that in a song.”

Black shared his praises for Paisley, too, emphasizing that this inspiration and artistic respect goes both ways. “You’ve done an amazing job of straddling that fence between something clever and humorous but deep and meaningful.” Both musical icons in their own rights now, it’s fascinating to think of all the songwriters Paisley and Black have influenced after doing the same to one another.

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