Concert Reviews

And did we mention his blistering guitar work?

Brad Paisley, with Hannah Harper and Jake Worthington, at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Aug. 28, 2026.

Way back in the 1970s there was a singer/songwriter named Ray Stevens who mixed humor with country music, giving us classics like “The Streak” (which I’m pretty sure I still have on a 45 in the closet), and later “The Mississippi Squirrel Revival.” But he also won a grammy for his ballad “Everything is Beautiful.” He was an odd mix of funny and fiercely wonderful. He became known as the Clown Prince of Country Music.

I believe Brad Paisley might be his more charming and clever cousin, the Earl of Wit. Paisley brought his own level of musical humor and charisma to MGM Music Hall at Fenway Friday, and his loyal subjects showed their pleasure with raucous cheers, and a lot of toe-tapping, hip swaying, and very loud singing along. 

One might think Paisley would be on tour to push “Tacklebox (Disc 1),” his collection of previously unreleased country songs that he put out in July, but that did not appear to be the case. Every song Paisley sang Friday, all 19 of them, were old friends, some you hadn’t seen in a while, but every one you knew. 

Paisley was nearly 10 songs in before he took a breath and asked how everyone was feeling.

“Wicked good?” he asked. 

Like Ray Stevens, Paisley is a clever wordsmith. He kicked off the night with “American Saturday Night,” which talks about diversity and how things like a French kiss, Italian ice, and margaritas (in the moonlight) all come together to make the perfect American Saturday night.

He sailed through his early hit, the sweet “Wrapped Around,”  2014’s “Perfect Storm,” and his love letter “World” before landing on the uber-crowd-pleasing “Ticks,” which is where shades of Ray Stevens comes in.

With lyrics like, “I know the perfect little path/Out in these woods I used to hunt/But don’t worry, babe, I’ve got your back/And I’ve also got your front,” and “’Cause I’d like to see you out in the moonlight/I’d like to kiss you way back in the sticks/I’d like to walk you through a field of wildflowers/And I’d like to check you for ticks,” “Ticks” is a perfect example of Paisley’s amusing repartee that works —  it became a huge hit in 2007. 

Similarly “Alcohol,” a song sung from the point of view of libations that has been, among other things, “helping white people dance,” and “I’m Going to Miss Her,” about a guy who chooses fishing over his girl, showcases Paisley’s offbeat humor to perfection.

But then he charmed the audience again with his ode to wife Kimberly, “She’s Everything,” while a kiss cam picked out couples in the packed house who all readily smooched for the camera. It’s also on “She’s Everything” that Paisley gets to put to use this beautiful lilt he has perfected, almost half a yodel but not really.

The entire night was just a ton of good fun, with a “Mr. Policeman” that came with a cartoon short of a “Smokey and the Bandit” Matchbox car police chase that played on the screen behind the band — in fact, they even broke into a slight mashup with Jerry Reed’s “East Bound and Down,” Bandit’s theme song— and the head-shakingly funny “I’m Just a Guy.” 

And as devoted as his loyal subjects are to him, Paisley is equally devoted to his people. He signed someone’s arm who planned to have the signature made into a tattoo. He signed one of the many guitars he played and gave it away to a young boy, telling him to learn to play it well, and when he became the male version of Taylor Swift, he’d be back to go out on the road with him. He took a woman’s phone, took a selfie with opener Jake Worthington and then posted it to her social media page. He whipped at least two dozen guitar picks into the audience and gave away his hat. 

And then he brought the house to tears with a tribute to the late, great Dolly Parton.

In 2005 Paisley sent Dolly Parton a song, “When I Get to Where I’m Going,” about life after death, and said he’d love to have her voice on the cut. She agreed. Friday, as he has done at shows since the great icon’s passing on Aug. 25, he sang a powerful, pared-down acoustic version of their hit with photos of Dolly flashing behind him that left nary a dry eye in the hall and showed him left visibly raw by the loss of his friend. 

That is Paisley’s magic. He has the ability to make you laugh with songs like “Online” and quiet the crowd to almost pin drop status with “Whiskey Lullaby,” which is hauntingly beautiful and yet to me, infuriatingly depressing. 

But that’s not all he does.

What puts Paisley on another level altogether from most country artists is that he is also an amazing, and I mean devastatingly so, guitarist. Paisley plays guitar on pretty much every song he sings, but he doesn’t just hold it and strum while someone in the background does the heavy lifting. He lifts. He is on fire when he plays. He is blazingly fast, he is perfection, and I think I might have seen a little smoke at one time. Seriously, he is considered one of the most virtuosic guitar players in today’s country music, but I would say in all country music, period. The guitar is like an extension of him — Keith Urban may be his only match when it comes to country guitar chops, and if you want to see them duke it out, check out their 2010 duet “Start a Band.”

And speaking of bands, Paisley ais backed up by a band that is just as devastatingly marvelous as he is.

Paisley is also kind.

Country music stars are always gracious to their opening acts, but Paisley was downright reverent. He called Jake Worthington several country legends rolled into one, and one of the best things to happen to the country landscape. He called first opener Hannah Harper the true star of the night. Harper was the winner of “American Idol” season 24, when Paisley served as her mentor.

“Now I’m opening for him … it’s a full circle moment,” she said.

With her Dolly-esque-piled-high curls, she is undeniably vintage country and as much light and joy as Worthington is pure honky-tonk hillbilly. They both whipped up and readied the crowd appropriately for Paisley, who, as gracious as he is, was, hands down, the one and only true star of the night. 

Setlist for Brad Paisley at MGM Music Hall, Aug. 28, 2026:

• American Saturday Night
• Old Alabama
• Wrapped
  Perfect Storm
• The World
• Ticks
• She’s Everything
• Last Time for Everything
• Mr. Policeman
• I’m Just a Guy (with Jake Worthington)
• This is Country Music
• When I Get Where I’m Going
• Then
• Water
• Whiskey Lullaby (With Hannah Harper/ a Jon Randall cover)
• Celebrity
• I’m Going to Miss Her
• Mud on the Tires
• Alcohol

Chris Stevens

Chris Stevens is a freelance concert reviewer for Boston.com.

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