toledoblade.com --

Brad Paisley's new CD, "American Saturday Night," showed up in my mailbox earlier this week, and it got me thinking about how the Glen Dale, W.Va., native's career has exploded over the years.

I met Paisley in 2001, shortly after he had sneaked off his bus on the grounds of Country Concert in Fort Loramie, Ohio. He was looking for a fishing hole, and he found one, but there happened to be a family of four sitting near it. At that point, Paisley was a promising young singer but certainly not the star he is today. But he was big enough that the family recognized him and began screaming.

Paisley quieted them down and drank a soda alongside the water with them. When he came back to the bus, he told me that story and spent quite a bit of time talking to me. I still smile at the memory of a Blade photographer posing him in a variety of locations, including in the luggage compartment, covered with suitcases.

When Paisley returns to Fort Loramie next month for Country Concert, he'll come back as a bona fide superstar these days. When "Then," the first single off the new album went to No. 1, it became his 10th straight No. 1 single. No other country artist has done that since Nielsen began tracking radio charts in 1992. The last single that failed to reach the top for Paisley was "Alcohol," which peaked at No. 4 in 2005. His previous single, "Mud on the Tires," was a chart-topper, so it's been 11 out of 12. Not too bad.

Personally, a lot has also changed for Paisley since that meeting in 2001. There were lines of women near his bus back then, clamoring to get a glimpse of him or maybe even shake the hand of the guy whom magazines had declared to be one of the sexiest bachelors in country music. He joked that "most" of the women were pretty civil when they met him and told me he didn't really have time for dating.

He's been married to actress Kimberly Williams since 2003, and the couple's second son was born in April. Where once Paisley sang about falling in love, "American Saturday Night" is filled with songs about being in love and parenthood.

That really is a neat thing about country music. Artists share so much of their lives in their lyrics. And when you have an artist like Paisley who has been around for awhile, you feel as if you're growing up with him. It's been fun watching Paisley's career. Hopefully, we'll have many more years of hearing his stories about his life.

Congratulations to former Toledoan Michelle Poe. It's a rough time for the music industry right now, and she's had some ups and downs in trying to get her pairing with former Trick Pony member Keith Burns off the ground. This week, their single, "It's Always a Woman," climbed to No. 39 on the Music Row Breakout Chart. Poe continues to tour with Hank Williams, Jr., until the new gig is able to pay her bills.

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