5th Gear, Brad Paisley’s fifth album, is his latest to go platinum. The reigning CMA Male Vocalist of the Year and ACM Top Male Vocalist, Brad has watched ten of his singles go to number one, including six consecutively, and three in a row entitled; “Ticks,” “Online” and “Letter to Me” from 5th Gear alone. Both the Country Music Awards and Academy of Country Music crowned Time Well Wasted, his previous double-platinum album, “Album of the Year.” The West Virginian has accomplished all this by establishing a fresh sound rooted in traditional country, yet modern in its outlook he fuses humour, sincerity, compassion, instrumental prowess and unique song topics. (You don’t find songs much more unique than “Ticks” on which Brad sings “I’d like to walk you through a field of wildflowers/And I’d like to check you for ticks.”) 5thGear also expands Brad’s musical palette, with the country-meets-‘80s-rock of “All I Wanted Was a Car” to the poignant “Letter to Me” and the full-speed “Mr. Policeman.”

A guitarist, singer, songwriter and entertainer, Brad is among the leaders of the new breed of country stars. The CMA has nominated him for no less than 38 awards since 2000, the year he won the Horizon Award. In 2006, besides winning Album of the Year for Time Well Wasted, he took his third Musical Event of the Year honour for “When I Get Where I’m Going”, his hit duet with Dolly Parton. That year, Brad and his band played to 750,000 fans as he headlined one of the top tours. His most recent tour, Bonfires & Amplifiers, has been going strong ever since.

Phoenix, Arizona native Dierks Bentley released his self-titled debut in 2003 and Modern Day Drifter, its follow-up, two years later. Both went platinum. The country singer has charted 10 singles on the country music chart, including five number ones: “What Was I Thinkin’,” “Come a Little Closer,” “Settle for a Slowdown,” “Every Mile a Memory,” and “Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go).” Three more of his singles have reached Top Five on the country charts as well. His latest album is Greatest Hits/Every Mile a Memory 2003-2008, and yielded a hit in “Sweet & Wild.” A fifth studio album is expected next February, and will feature “Feel That Fire,” a song that debuted at #49 in October.

Crystal Shawanda rose to fame for the world to see, in CMT’s six-part series “Crystal: Living the Dream,” which aired early 2008. Her debut single “You Can Let Go” was the fastest climbing single on the Canadian Country Singles Chart since Carolyn Dawn Johnson’s “Georgia” in 2000. It reached the top 10 in five weeks, and Crystal’s debut album Dawn of a New Day debuted at #16 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It became the highest charted album by a full-blooded Native American country artist in the SoundScan era.

Don’t miss The Paisley Party 2009 featuring Brad Paisley with very special guest Dierks Bentley and introducing Crystal Shawanda at the John Labatt Centre in London on February 12th!