Brad Paisley Talks Summer Tour With Blake Shelton and Being the Justin Bieber of Country

Brad Paisley got punk'd when he called into WSOC in Charlotte, N.C. last week to talk about his summer tour. The Tanner in the Morning radio show hosts launched a series of questions at the 'This Is Country Music' singer to convince him that they'd mistaken him for Blake Shelton.

But as the true interview marched on, Paisley -- who is notorious for playing tricks on his fellow country stars -- couldn't quite come around from their prank. "I needed an ego check, so Blake is out," the singer says of his upcoming H2O II World Tour.

Paisley and Shelton will hit the road this summer (with a slew of other artists), and Paisley says he's excited to have his good buddy at his side. "We are so excited about this year. We've been friends a long time, but we haven't toured together since … well, back when we did some dates together neither one of us had a tour. We were both in two desperate situations career-wise when we did some tour dates together," he says of the county fair dates. "That became the biggest practical joke fest that I've ever seen. So now, to have him out there on our dime is gonna be great!"

In addition to tour talk, Paisley took the time to answer a few fan-submitted questions -- like how he keeps it real, and what he would be doing if not for country music. "I was so young when I started, I don't know that I'm any good at anything else," he admits. Because he's been performing since he was a kid, the radio show hosts joked that Paisley was once the Justin Bieber of country music. "I was him without the screaming girls. Sort of playing the mother-daughter luncheon would have been the closest," he says with a laugh.

Without a swoop hairstyle and swarms of girls chasing him, Paisley has found it fairly easy to keep in touch with reality. "We are, as a whole -- country music singers -- are by large more down-to-earth than what you would call normal celebrities, in the sense that it's a different type of fame," he says. "This is a fame that's based upon people who are supposed to be down to earth. I mean, it's required of us. Our fans are as loyal as anybody can be. They're like NASCAR fans. They don't go anywhere, and they're gonna root for you for all of your career."

Paisley adds that he knows how to have staying power and 'keep it real' ... "unless you do sort of lose that sort of normalcy. If they can sense that you're above them and you don't have respect for anybody anymore, then they're gonna leave."