CMT News

With his latest single, "We Danced," at No. 1 on Billboard's current country singles chart, Brad Paisley was on hand Monday (Nov. 20) for a first look at his very own, custom-made Dobro. "It's a fretted Dobro, and the sound of a fretted Dobro is sort of a vintage thing you'd associate with things like [Merle Haggard's] 'Mama Tried' and some old Buck Owens and Loretta Lynn songs," Paisley explained after the presentation at the Gibson Showcase in Nashville's Opry Mills mall. The singer had some input into the design, which includes an orange body and paisley print inlays in the neck. "I wanted it to match the orange of my Country Gentleman guitar, a color Chet Atkins pioneered back in the '60s," Paisley told country.com. "I picked the color and brought in some paisley print that I had from some old wallpaper or something." Gibson also donated a Paisley-autographed Epiphone acoustic guitar to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. The guitar will be auctioned off on Paisley's Web site (www.bradpaisley.com). Having just returned from his first performance in Japan, Paisley is gearing up for an opening slot on next year's George Strait Music Festival. He also is putting the finishing touches on the follow-up to his gold-selling debut album, Who Needs Pictures. "We'll cut three more things next week, and that will round it out," he said. "I still need one up tempo [song], and I have until Tuesday to either write it or find it. I've got something in mind that I'm dancing around at this point, but I'll find it. I really fee like this record is 100 times better than the first one."