Brad Paisley - Mud on the Tires - Album Cover Analysis

Brad Paisley is a pop country singer and is predominantly a solo artist. The majority of his songs are about the various aspects of life related to romance, happiness and growing up. He has been known to stray from these themes occasionally for duet songs. The album cover for Brad Paisley’s album ‘Mud on the Tires’ shows him in a white suit and hat sitting down in the mud in front of his red truck with his guitar. The red truck symbolises his Americanism as a country singer and his guitar is also red to coincide with this colour scheme. The instant message we get from him sitting covered in the mud playing guitar with his ruined pristine white suit is that he does not care; he has a visible passion for the music he plays and guitar, money is of little importance to him and he is all for enjoying his life in the ways that make him happy. From this alone we get quite a hint of what kind of guy he is; care free and a lover of life. There is no fancy concept or art work, just the metaphoric meanings behind the picture. To add to the effect of the white suit, most people would say white is quite a particular colour to wear as the slightest marks or patches of dirt are extremely visible. This is taking a mockery of as he is literally caked in mud.
Something that also adds to his image and explanation of what kind of person he is and music he plays is his guitar model. His guitar seems to be a similar model to that of a Gibson ES355, a very stereotypical guitar of a jazz/folk/country artist. An alternative metaphor for Paisley’s suit is its colour. White is usually a symbol of moral correctness, purity or innocence. The suit he is wearing signifies that that is what he should be. However the mud that has ruined his pristine clean suit are the things he has had to do to fulfil his life and live it to the full that others might consider a staining not only of the suit, but of morals and good ethics.