Wheelhouse

Brad Paisley courts controversy with "Accidental Racist," a track that pulls in LL Cool J to messily discuss the meaning of the rebel flag on a Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt, black men with their pants hung low, LL's doo-rag, Robert E. Lee, and Abraham Lincoln. Paisley's a complicated country singer. He's a member of the Grand Ole Opry who here works with artists as non-country as LL Cool J, Mat Kearney, and Monty Python's Eric Idle. Wheelhouse features "Southern Comfort Zone" about his love for the American South and the world outside of it, which showed and taught him things he'd never imagined. The world's a complicated place, and Paisley hopes to open minds on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line—and if that means having Charlie Daniels rap, then that's what Paisley's going to do. He struggles with his thoughts and isn't always eloquent, but "Those Crazy Christians" praises people's good works without getting mired in dogma.