Brad Paisley took a break from co-hosting the 2018 CMA Awards to perform his latest single, "Bucked Off." The country star dropped the brand-new song on Tuesday (Nov. 13), one day before the annual awards ceremony.

It's a wide-known fact that Paisley doesn't drink, but boy can he sing a drinking song. The up-tempo single was a crowd pleaser; from the very beginning, it exuded his wry sense of humor as he sang, "It's been a great ride but here we sit tonight/The look in her eyes says something's wrong/This ain't a wild bull, it's just a bar stool/But it's all I can do to just hang on."

"Bucked Off" is reminiscent of 90s country. Its lyrics are highly relatable to anyone who's been through the cycle of a relationship turning into a breakup. Case in point: "It feels like there's a number/Pinned on to the back of my shirt/'Cause this is where the cowboy gets bucked off/Yeah, this is where the cowboy gets bucked off." Paisley's fiddle player reminded viewers that the band members are also incredibly talented, and his solo was a highlight of the performance.

Paisley says "Bucked Off" reminds him of "the reason I wanted to do country music." He calls the song his "George Strait moment" -- or, rather, his own version of that.

"I came of age during the golden era for us, which was the late '80s, early '90s, and that time period ... you had so many different things on the radio, but one of the things that was kind of consistent was the rodeo songs -- the metaphors and the analogies to that way of life," Paisley explains, "and I realized as I was writing songs for this new record, I've never done one of those."

Paisley is working with producer Dann Huff on his new music. He says the song's demo was "way down-the-middle traditional," but Huff wanted to make the guitars on the song "in your face."

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