Play: The Guitar Album (CD - 2008)

Personnel: Brad Paisley (electric guitar, baritone guitar, mandolin, bass guitar); Manny Rogers, Snoop Dogg (vocals); Robert Arthur (acoustic guitar); Gary Hooker (electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar); James Burton, John Jorgenson, Keith Urban, Albert Lee , Steve Wariner, Vince Gill (electric guitar); Randel Currie (steel guitar); Kendall Marcy (banjo, keyboards); Aubrey Haynie, Justin Williamson (fiddle); Frank Rogers, Bernie Herms, Gordon Mote (piano); Jim "Moose" Brown (Farfisa, Hammond b-3 organ, Wurlitzer organ); Kevin Grantt (upright bass, bass guitar); Ben Sesar, Brian David Willis (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Kenny Lewis, Wes Hightower (background vocals); Chris O'Donnell, Nick Michaud, Drew Bollmann, John Harvey, Justin Niebank, Steve Short, Greg Lawrence.

In an unusual move for an established country singer, Brad Paisley's PLAY is a primarily instrumental album that puts its focus entirely on Paisley's underrated guitar work. Far from being a traditional country album, or even a contemporary country-pop album, PLAY works in a wide variety of genres, including Les Paul-style jazz, ripping surf rock, old-fashioned electric Chicago blues, and metal-tinged rock & roll.

Paisley also assembles quite a list of guest stars: a re-recording of an early hit features a guest appearance by the actor Andy Griffith, while the Bakersfield country rocker "Come On In" features the late Buck Owens and a bluesy take on "Let the Good Times Roll" welcomes B.B. King. Two vocal tracks, "Start A Band" and "More Than Just This Song," feature Keith Urban and Steve Warriner, respectively, while the epic "Cluster Pluck" is a tongue-in-cheek high-speed dash through the history of country guitar showcasing James Burton, Vince Gill, Albert Lee, and four other guitarists besides. PLAY is a detour, but a worthwhile one.

Brad Paisley never made his love of classic '60s country a secret, often inviting his idols into the studio to record cornpone skits straight out of Hee Haw. Paisley is so steeped in the '60s that it's easy to ignore that he was born much, much later, growing up in the heyday of shred guitarists in the late '80s. These two seemingly opposed sides surface on Play, a predominantly instrumental album where the spotlight shines so brightly on the six-string that even the cuts with vocals are either about or are showcases for the guitar. Some of this falls well within the bounds of the expected chicken-picking, with Paisley paying such loving, explicit tribute to Don Rich that he quotes the "Buckaroo" theme on the opening cadence of his duet with the late Buck Owens, "Come on In." Paisley's picking on the hypercharged "Huckleberry Jam" and "Cluster Pluck" is a pleasure, but it's also nice to hear him stretch out and play some deep blues on "Kentucky Jelly," trade licks with B.B. King on "Let the Good Times Roll," cop some swinging jazz from Les Paul on the aptly titled "Les Is More," and roll on the breakers on "Turf's Up" (there may not be any novelty songs here, but Paisley sure makes up for that with his punning song titles). As good as these are, it all falls within the realm of the expected; what surprises on Play is how the '80s shred gods surface -- how Paisley's love letter to his wife, "Kim," sounds like how Joe Satriani slowed things down (and Satch surfaces again on the slow-rolling "Departure"), or how he answers Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" with "Cliffs of Rock City." These ventures into pure '80s shred go a long way to illustrating just how versatile a guitarist Brad Paisley is, and they wind up as accidental autobiography, revealing a side he's previously camouflaged -- but now that it's surfaced, it's easy to see why his albums are always among the most adventurous and best country music of this decade. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize