Paisley has been turning out solid country tunes for albums now but he seems to have fleeting moments on radio sometimes. On this album, Paisley seems to be at his sharpest. He takes on fast tracks "Alcohol" & "You Need a Man Around Here" and lays on the humor and great song writing without killing traditonal country roots -- take a note Keith Urban.

There are the romance ballads such as "The World" & "Flowers" that I hope are hits on Radio and video format as well.

But there is a single song on here that is worth the purhcase alone. The heartbreaking ballad, "When I Get Where I'm Going" has to be one of the most beautiful songs of the last 20 years. If this song doesn't warm you up then there is no hope. It guests, Dolly Parton -- who has been turning out pure Bluegrass heaven on her last three discs. Their vocal harmonies and soaring melodies is a amazing. I can't recommend the disc enough.

Excellent.

This is Brad Paisley's fourth album, and I think it's probably his best one yet. I became a fan with his last album and the single "Whiskey Lullabye", I was impressed with his style and sound. As much as I love "Mud On The Tires" "Time Well Wasted" is a notch above "Mud". On this album he has two big name guests in Alan Jackson on "Out In The Parkin' Lot" and Dolly Parton on the incredible "When I Get Where I'm Goin'". His guitar picking and lyrics are once again unlike anyone else out there right now. His lyrics are interesting in that unlike most male artists, he doesn't aim his songs mostly at a female audience, he writes songs that guys can relate to and women think are cute. His sense of humor also shines thru as well without become a novelty. In the case of the final track, "Cornography" he does go for novelty. The story continues the story begun on "Mud On The Tires". This time around in addition to George Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens and Bill Anderson, Dolly Parton joins in on the fun, which gets a little risque for a country act. The whole album is a great listen and you won't be disappointed!

Brad Paisley does it again! This often overlooked country musician consistently puts out hit after hit and superb cd's and Time Well Wasted is no different. If you have yet to discover his talent then you are truly missing out.

What I enjoyed the most about this cd is it shows Paisley's maturity as an artist. Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty of his wry humor packed into the 16 tracks, but he has delivered on his promise to take the fans "somewhere different". While I thoroughly enjoyed "Out in the Parkin' Lot" with Alan Jackson, the duet with Dolly Parton on "When I Get to Where I'm Going" is one of the most poignant country songs I can remember. It would be an injustice if this song was not released to the general public, no offense Alan.

Duets aside, you can expect typical Brad toe-tappin' rhythm's and soaring guitar licks. If there is a musician that has come out in the last 20 years that is as talented as Brad with the guitar I throw down the challenge to show me.

I wish I could rate this cd 6 stars because it deserves it! 6 years ago the country torch was passed; not to Kenny, Keith or Toby, but to a talented singer, songwriter and musician from West Virginia. Brad, here's to this year being the year you get the recognition you deserve!

Today, country music, like many other genres of music, has taken on some challenging times. Trying to get off the hay bale while not stepping over so far as to look like the guys from say, Collective Soul, The country music scene is ever changing and evolving. Trying to hold on to its roots without twanging backwards into oblivion is no easy task, and yet many implement so much pop and Top40 feel to it that it really does "Crossover" and become something else.

To me country music isn't about the sound or the themes as much as the genuine writing that is crafty and crazy, beautiful and blunt all wrapped together. One of the artists that have come onto the scene that I think "walks the line" better than many of today's country performers, is Brad Paisley. While Tim McGraw started singing nearly every song about his wife, his love of his wife, making love to his wife, when he met his wife, why he loves his wife...yeah you get the picture, Brad sticks to random stories that are diverse on every album. You won't find the cliché' here of "I lost my dog" "I lost my truck" half as much as most. Instead, Paisley blends a great country sound with blue-collar vocals that reach out to the listener to say, "I'm just like you". In a time when McGraw I feel stepped down a notch when he started making concept albums about Faith, Brad stepped up, and never looked back.

Though I mentioned that the songwriting is what I think is the base of country music, the sound on this thing is second to none. Okay call me hypocritical, I know, but to listen to this CD all the way through, I'm taken into a world of fun, love, irony, and also a little heartbreak. From the guitars to the percussion and every sweet note in between, this album has a great fluid moving to the music that keeps us going as listeners, whether we're tapping our feet, nodding our head in agreement, or just hitting the back button to catch that song's power for another listen!

I won't preview or break down every track on the album; instead I'll just highlight some that I found superb. Don't let that last sentence fool you; this entire album is great, with a blend of old country Americana folklore and visions of our everyday life in the present tense.

Track one...wow! Starts out with a rocking beat and great guitar sound before Paisley comes in with some no nonsense vocals. The song is called "The world" and touches on the fact of a girl who is just a face in the crowd (described in a variety of ways and in a variety of locales, from ticket counters to restaurants) until she comes home to her man, who tells her "To the world, you may be just another girl, but to me, baby you are the world".

Track 2 is another superb one that is called "Alcohol" and is a bluesy rocker that has a lot of great sounding crescendo's in it in between chorus setups, whereupon Paisley is describing in first person the experiences seen by alcohol. When it says "I got you in trouble in high school" and "Helping white people dance". Very witty lyrics that really do make sense..."Since that day I left Milwaukee!" Alcohol is a fun song that is not to slow and not to fast. Track five gets us more into the usual lovey dovey song that we know is going to find its way on pretty much any album regardless of genre. This one is called "She's everything" and also is a strongly written song. Track seven has Brad singing with country legend Alan Jackson. This song is called "Out in the parking lot" and is a soulful duo sang tune that makes me smile remembering the days when Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard sang about Poncho and Lefty. The song is pretty basic in theme and writing but the fact it's got some sweet sounding violin on it and 2 of the best country music voices joined together taking turns singing of what all does go on in a parking lot during various times. The details of the song come out stronger and stronger and for someone like myself who grew up in a rural town in Idaho, I must say those memories may seem like nothing to many, but to me its a fun little trip down memory lane.

Diversity was mentioned before, and by now you know that Paisley is not your run of the mill, assembly line singer. Track 14 is a nice little instrumental that is fast and fun and features some great playing "speed style" on both the violin and on guitar. There's also what sounds like a Mandolin on the track. "Time Warp" does evoke some various timelines in the sound of music, and it includes a piano that even leads into the Charlie Brown theme for a couple of seconds. Another fun track on another great album by Brad Paisley. "Time Well Wasted" is just that, so if you are looking for some fun, fluid and truthful tunes that are not like some of the country music you've been tired of hearing on the radio, get this album!

Oh..Diversity again. Yes, I'm not quite done, and you'll find some bonus tracks on here that seem to be quips of various recordings from the studio or television. I really found them to be filler but at this point the album with just the track listings alone is a five star gem so I suppose these comical little voice add ins aren't going to hurt it any.

We last left Brad Paisley when he supplied us with his 2003 summer release--Mud on the Tires. Using the term "left" loosely, of course; it garnered airplay for him until early 2005, (just in time for the pre-release for this album to hit airwaves without missing a beat). Mud was a lighthearted affair, free-spirited in just about every way, that even the inclusion of suicide ballad "Whiskey Lullaby" couldn't dampen.

Brad was also going through engagement and marriage to Kimberly Williams at the time he wrote Mud On The Tires, so of course there was a lot of romantic fluff to the album, which while not always shallow, did influence the topics of tracks to the more positive. It should be no surprise that he had no hand in composing "Lullaby" when you hear a choir of small children join in the last chorus of "Ain't Nothin' Like," a picture-perfect example of the optimism.

The title of his 2005 follow-up, "Time Well Wasted", should show that he does have his trademark wit intact. But when you get into the album, it shows that he's not as interested in including only the positive aspects of life in his songs. Not that he shies away from those topics, (the last thing we want is for Brad to go dark on us), but he is interested in keeping his music out of one-dimensional territory. Even better, he keeps his tone optimistic and witty.

Hey, it's just his style. If he can deal with the topic of death ("Waitin' On A Woman") the same way he sings about his love for his wife ("She's Everything"), more power to him. It shows maturity more than anything else, a trait he hides well with his wise-guy lyricism. Singing about a break-up, ("I'll Take You Back"), he lists all the conditions required for another shot at the relationship ("The day that old morning sun rises in the west / And they pass a law in L.A. banning artificial breasts") and then takes a borderline-perverse pleasure in his ex's pleas for forgiveness ("You know I like it when you come crawling / It's like music to hear you bawling / Waa, waa, waa, waa, waa..."). Some tracks will make you crack a smile. Some might even make you laugh out loud upon first listen. But the humor isn't a crutch; the words flow well and sound good even after the jokes lose their initial punch.

The best part about this album is the fact that Brad is undoubtedly on the top of his game, and it doesn't foreshadow any difficulty staying there. This album feels like it came as naturally to him as the one before. (Meanwhile Green Day faces the challenge of topping their critically acclaimed concept album without penning another rock opera.) And his band sounds sonically deeper and richer to boot, to match the added dimensions of the music.

I can't remember the last time that an artist showed this much potential when their music is already close to perfect. A guaranteed highlight in Brad's catalogue, and quite possibly out of all the releases this year.