Moonshine in the Trunk
Moonshine in the Trunk is the eleventh studio album by American country music artist Brad Paisley. It was released on August 25, 2014, by Arista Nashville. It became Paisley's eighth album to hit No. 1 on Billboards country chart. Background The album was first announced on May 8, 2014, and features duets with Emmylou Harris and Carrie Underwood. Paisley revealed he built a honky tonk so he and his band can get inspired and to establish a vibe for the album. He said: "I wanted this to be a modern honky-tonk record, but not one that's a 'cry in your beer' honky-tonk record: more like a honky-tonk record that Buck Owens would've made". He wanted to make a record that's "everything [he] love[s] about country music, in a modern sense with some new technology". He added that "the record is a largely positive take on life right now. It's got this sentiment of, 'well, things aren't perfect, but it's Friday'". Promotion The first single released from the album was "River Bank". It was made digitally available on April 6, 2014, after Paisley's performance of the song at the annual Academy of Country Music Awards. The song peaked at No. 2 on the Country Airplay chart, behind Dierks Bentley's "Drunk on a Plane". On July 26, Paisley tweeted that he was going to release a preview of the whole album and that his label didn't know it. The joke continued with Paisley posting previews of songs from the album and simulating a feud with his label. He also posted a remix of the album's first single, "River Bank", featuring Colt Ford. The tracks "Perfect Storm", "Crushin' It", "Country Nation" and "Shattered Glass" were released as promotional singles in advance of the album's release, all of which charted at No. 45, No. 46, No. 37 and No. 44, respectively, on the Hot Country Songs chart. "Perfect Storm" was released on September 2, 2014 as the album's second single and it has since reached No.1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. The third single, "Crushin' It", was released on January 26, 2015. The fourth single, "Country Nation", was released on September 14, 2015. The popular YouTube series The Annoying Orange animated a music video for the track "Limes", featuring Paisley portraying himself as a lime wearing a cowboy hat. Throughout the video, several other limes are sliced in half, thrown into a blender, and are consumed as margaritas, including Brad himself at the end of the video. Songs and lyrics The opening track and third single from the album, "Crushin' It", is about having fun when things have not necessarily been going your way, drinking a beer and then crushing the can. Paisley stated the song has the sentiment of "well, things aren't perfect, but it's Friday". "River Bank" has been called a fun-loving warm-weather single. In the song, the narrator buys some scratch-off tickets and he and his girlfriend dream to be millionaires; until the dream comes true, they can have fun