Brad Paisley: From Tunes to 'Toons

8/8/2007 Stephen L. Betts For his Bonfires & Amplifiers tour, Brad created a pair of short films — a silent Western and a cartoon that portrays Brad as a race-car driver. The clips accompany him in concert, as well as footage that changes with each market.   Brad Paisley's humorous videos for "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song)" and "Celebrity" helped cement his reputation as "one of country music's most clever video stars," says USA Today's Brian Mansfield. He spoke to the 34-year-old singer about how he's turning his talents to animation and editing. "When you play amphitheaters, I don't care how good the instrumental is, they're just waiting for the next hit," Brad says. "With this, it's a fun way to entertain them." "Uh, this is fun," says Brad, working with the editing software Final Cut Pro on his Macintosh laptop while en route by private jet to his recent show at the Delaware State Fair. "I spend a lot of time traveling, and I did a lot of this on the road last weekend." He's editing a special for country cable channel GAC on the making of his latest video, "Online." Brad became known for his creative video concepts when he invited Jerry Springer, Dan Patrick and Kimberly Williams (now his wife) to join him for a mock fishing tourney in 2002's "I'm Gonna Miss Her." That won the Country Music Association's video of the year award. He parodied reality TV with "Celebrity" the next year, and "Online" co-stars William Shatner, Maureen McCormick and Jason Alexander, who also directed the clip. Brad is a cartoon buff who draws and paints in his spare time. He began using animation last year to accompany instrumentals on stage, drawing inspiration from a Fox cartoon. "Brad called me and said, 'What do they do Family Guy on?' " says Scott Scovill, owner of Nashville video company MooTV and one of Brad's show designers. "I said, 'They use software called Toon Boom, but it's got a big learning curve. I don't think you just buy it and start making cartoons.' He goes, 'Toon Boom, got it. Bye.' A month and a half later, he'd done a full four minutes, with two screens and a different cut for each screen. It was very impressive."