Paisley's up for helping the country

In every live awards show, says Brad Paisley, someone is going to fall off the horse.

Paisley and Carrie Underwood return as co-hosts of the Country Music Awards Wednesday (ABC, 8 o'clock), and he says one thing they learned from their two previous years is that at some point they must become quarterbacks at the line of scrimmage who have to change the play.

"There's always someone who gives the acceptance speech you didn't expect or who shows up in a meat dress," says Paisley. "So even though you start with an idea where you're going, there are surprises."

He and Underwood have developed a comfortable enough chemistry, he says, that they don't go by a strict script anyway.

"We don't rehearse as much as we write and rewrite," he says. "You know, does this joke work here, does that work there? We have a lot of fun just goofing around. You have some things in your back pocket and you can sense when it's time to go off-prompt."

Personally, he says, "I like a host who gives you the sense he's bringing you inside the event. That's what I've always liked about Steve Martin. He always looks like he loves being there."

There's just one guideline, says Paisley, to which he religiously sticks.

"I don't do jokes where afterward I couldn't face the people I'm joking about," he says. "It's not that kind of show. So it's a balancing act. You still need the jokes, because they're entertaining, and in the end, it is a bit of a roast."

Paisley, himself a multiple CMA "male vocalist of the year," has made hits for a decade with wry, sometimes rock-flavored country songs like "Mud on the Tires," "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song)" and "Alcohol."

He's collected the songs into an unusual greatest-hits package, with one CD of studio recordings and another of live recordings. In a couple of cases, the same song appears on each disk.

"When the live recording was different, like with 'Alcohol,' I thought it would be interesting to have both," he says. "That song changed a lot over time. We wouldn't have used the live 'Celebrity' because it's pretty much the same as the studio version, only not quite as good."

He thinks country music in general is healthy these days and has hit the part of the cycle "where a lot of the new artists are exploring the roots and sounding traditional. That's good for everyone."

Beyond the CMAs, Paisley also has another potential TV project percolating: a scripted comedy/drama about a country singer, for which he's an executive producer. He and his partners originally made a pilot for the CW network and are now in talks, he says, with another company.

"We're hopeful we'll have something soon," he says. "I think television is ready for a show that isn't another 'Yee-haw, y'all,' but is more realistic about how people really live in our world."

dhinckley@nydailynews.com

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