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Brad Paisley is gearing up to release new music, and its debut is a long time coming. Paisley is joining forces, once again, with his record label’s president, after the two graduated together from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Paisley said in an Instagram caption on Wednesday morning (February 22) that “for the last year or so I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into a new project with this team and I cannot wait for the world to hear it.” He didn’t confirm a release date, however, as of publication time on Wednesday.
Cindy Mabe, president at Universal Music Group Nashville, graduated the same day as the award-winning superstar country artist, who remembered, “she was an honor student and I got a ‘D’ in guitar. …Also Cindy says my guitar playing is at least a B now. So there’s that.” Paisley is also reuniting with the label’s chairman and CEO, Mike Dungan.
“There were two people that should get the credit that you even know my name – Mike Dungan and Cindy Mabe,” Paisley said in a statement, per his laebl. “I ran into Mike at the fishing department at Walmart after having met with several labels and he talked me into signing my first deal with Arista. They assigned this woman named Cindy Mabe to me – we graduated the same day at Belmont. I got to work with her on my first few albums and now I get to work with her at UMG. Cindy’s a genius and terrific human being. She heard what I was up to with the new music, and she pointed me further into the direction I was headed. I’ve never had this kind of enthusiasm and empowerment. She said, ‘Make music that matters.’ It’s an amazing thing to work with Mike and Cindy again. It’s great to know they believe in this music as much as I do.”
Mabe hailed Paisley a “true creative,” who knows “no boundaries to what he uses as his canvas.”