When Brad Paisley isn’t entertaining thousands of country music fans packed into a stadium, he’s likely to unwind in front of a TV set.
As for what kind of program catches his fancy, he’s likely to be found watching a heartwarming holiday romance about a big-city career woman who returns to her small hometown for the holidays, only to find unexpected love amid the mistletoe and holly.
That’s right, the cowboy hat-wearing Nashville star who brought us such hits as “Mud on the Tires” and “I’m Still a Guy” is an aficionado of Hallmark Channel Christmas movies.
He Loves That Most Wonderful Time of the Year
That revelation comes from a reliable source: his sister-in-law Ashley Williams.
As Hallmark fans already know, both Ashley and sister Kimberly Williams-Paisley have starred in plenty of Hallmark movies over the years, and she confirms that the country star has a soft spot for Hallmark’s annual holiday fare.
Interviewed for Decider’s “Pause Rewind,” Williams explained that she and her family usually celebrate Christmas at the Paisleys’ Tennessee ranch.
As she revealed, he’s a big softie when it comes to the yuletide season.
“He’s a massive Christmas fan,” she said, as reported by Pennsylvania NBC affiliate WJAC.
“Just in general, loves Christmas, loves the trees, the decorations, and you know the traditions. He’s all about it,” she added.
Brad Paisley: Hallmark Holiday Movie Fan
That affection for Christmas also extends to Hallmark movies.
“He’s a massive Hallmark Christmas fan,” Williams continued, “which I don’t even think I fully registered until a couple of years ago when my sister was like sending me surreptitious videos and being like, ‘Brad Paisley’s like recreationally watching Hallmark movies when no one knows.’ And I was like, ‘What?!’”
In fact, when the television is turned on at the Paisley ranch during the Christmas season, it’s likely to be tuned to Hallmark Channel.
Brad Paisley’s Favorite Show Is a TV Classic
In an interview with the Fort Collins Coloradoan (via MeTV), Paisley revealed his all-time favorite TV show to be “The Andy Griffith Show.”
“He has influenced my life more than most people that I actually knew my whole life,” Paisley said of the show’s star, Andy Griffith, revealing how he came to enlist the TV legend to appear in his music video for “Waitin’ on a Woman.”
“I wrote him a letter telling him that he had basically raised me, thanks to re-runs of ‘The Andy Griffith Show,'” Paisley told the Talahassee Democrat (also via MeTV). “I know every one of those by heart. The ones that were shot in black and white, that is. Not the color ones. I just wanted to tell him thank you…”
That letter led to an invitation to visit Griffith, then 82, at his home — which Paisley immediately accepted.
“I took my whole band over to Andy’s home in North Carolina and we just sat around and played bluegrass in his living room,” Paisley said. “He pulled out his guitar and played a few songs and was smiling the whole time. It was nice to give him a little pleasure after all that he had given us over the years.”
Love you Brad! You are one of a kind, as is your hero, Andy! Keep them wonderful songs coming!