“I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I didn’t sort of swing for the fence with things like this,” Paisley said. “For me, I’m happiest dealing with stuff as a songwriter that’s very true and very, very passionate. And sometimes I don’t know if you’d call it risky, but it’s more like it’s bigger than me.”Paisley brings his passion on stage during live shows. He’s been changing the lyrics to his hit song “American Saturday Night,” for instance, to replace a reference to the U.S.S.R.
The new record will be his debut on UMG since moving from Sony’s Arista label, and he said “Same Here” reflects the kinds of big universal themes on it. “We do deal with stuff going on in the world,” Paisley said. “How do you sing about things that are truly big — a big deal right now — that also don’t feel like maybe they’re the type of thing that you would be singing about typically? And yeah, on this album I have kind of really dug deep and tried to say something.”
Paisley, who has visited U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said he’s been invited to visit Ukraine, which he’d like to do. In the meantime, he hopes the song’s message will bolster the country now facing down year two of the war. “That’s where it gets really rewarding… feeling like maybe the heart of this helps paint the picture they want to paint,” Paisley said.