See Brad Paisley Sing About North Carolina Bathroom Law on ‘Kimmel’

Brad Paisley has never exactly shied away from broaching difficult subjects in song (see: “Accidental Racist”), but he ran head first into a very contentious current issue on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night (May 24th). During his couch interview with Kimmel, Paisley busted out out an acoustic guitar to demonstrate how North Carolina’s controversial HB2 bathroom law has come up in song.

“We were way ahead of that in our format. Country music dealt with this in the Sixties,” Paisley tells Kimmel, strumming the familiar opening chords to Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man.” “Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman, especially when you were born a man,” he sings, rattling off punchline after punchline. The chorus is transformed to “Sit by your man, we’re all just human beings,” followed by “he’s just a human peeing, in the stall right next to you,” a funny but ultimately pointed critique of the law.

Paisley’s visit to the show also included a performance of his Demi Lovato duet “Without a Fight,” which was an immediate sensation with radio, debuting at Number 27 on Billboard‘s Country Airpay chart. Penned by Paisley with Lee Thomas Miller and Kelley Lovelace, “Without a Fight” is the first release from Paisley’s forthcoming studio album.