When you hear Brad Paisley‘s latest hit, “River Bank,” it’s not hard to imagine the West Virginia native enjoys the water.
“I grew up 500 feet from the Ohio River… and summertime, for me, was that body of water. My dad got a boat when I was probably eight,” he remembers. “It was a little 75-horsepower Evinrude on the back of some mustard-yellow awful fiberglass thing, but I learned to ski there. I learned to fish. My fondest memories are with him and my granddad.”
When he had his first success, Brad put his money where his song is. He used his first royalty check to head out on the water.
“For $8,000, I bought a bass boat with a $10,000 check,” he laughs. “That’s how smart I am, ’cause boats never lose value. I just realized that that is really the trick in the summertime if you’re a country person at all. It’s like a body of water, an innertube, something to float, you’re good.”
Now that he’s a father himself, Brad continues the tradition with his boys.
“I have a pond on my property that I built, which is about a two-acre pond, and that’s fun. We’ll float around in that. We got bass in it, and I got a little jon boat with a little engine on the back… We have fun. “
“River Bank” is the first single from Brad’s new CD Moonshine in the Trunk, due out August 26.
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