accessAtlanta

COUNTRY
Brad Paisley
"Time Well Wasted." Arista Nashville. 16 tracks.
Grade: B+

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Brad Paisley is dependable — not just dependably average, but dependably good.

"Time Well Wasted" is the West Virginia native's fourth collection of solid, sturdy country in six years. He may be married to a Hollywood actress — Kimberly Williams-Paisley of ABC's "According to Jim" — but there's no show-biz flash in his music other than his ever-present paisley-patterned Fender Telecaster guitars.

He can make work lines like "and she's everything I ever wanted and everything I need" ("She's Everything") and "do you know how good a mounted bass would look there on that wall" ("You Need a Man Around Here"). He's got so much regular-guy charisma that you're willing to follow him anywhere.

The best places to accompany Paisley involve his plucky Telecaster and a few drinks. When he's sitting on somebody else's fender "Out in the Parkin' Lot" with Alan Jackson drinking "Old Crow Whiskey and hot 7-Up," it sounds like a lot more fun than it has any right to be. His sing-along ode to "Alcohol" and its ability to "make anybody pretty" was the obvious choice as the first single from this album.

The strangest thing here is the bonus track, "Cornography" (and a few outtakes), an endearing goof filled with some groan-worthy double entendres starring Little Jimmy Dickens, George Jones, Bill Anderson and Dolly Parton (so you can imagine the target of some of those bad jokes). The music-backed skit is funny the first couple of times, and it's worth the space just to hear these country legends having so much fun. After you get tired of it, you can stop at track 15, the terrific title song.

It could become your favorite waste of time, but an hour with Paisley's new album is really time well spent.