When South Park, the irreverent, long-running animated series, returned for its 29th season last month, it did so under a new name: South America. “Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to South America,” wrote show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, a not-so-subtle jab at tech giants who have capitulated to the current administration’s calls to change the names of bodies of water and even states to something pro-American.
Courtesy of Brad Paisley, the citizens of South America also got their own theme song, a proud yet ignorant anthem titled “We Are South America.” Paisley, who appeared as his animated self in a 2012 episode of South Park, tells Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast how it happened.
“I got a call from their producer, a good friend of mine named Frank [C. Agnone II],” Paisley recalls. “He said, ‘We may need an anthem.’ I said, ‘Deal. I’m up for the challenge. What do you need?’ And they said, ‘Do you want to write a theme for South America?’”
Paisley was on board but only had a few days to write and record the song. “This is how they run things. Six days to air. So, I started writing,” he says. “I come running down here, and I sang what he wanted and printed it out and sent it to them 15 minutes later. That’s really fun, that guerilla style: get in there, hammer this thing out.”
But the country singer-guitarist didn’t only write what fans heard in the season premiere — he wrote an entire song, which according to him will ultimately see the light of day
“There are verses you haven’t heard yet. The whole thing will come out eventually,” Paisley says. “By the end of the season, we’ll put the single out.”
Paisley says Parker and Stone came to one of his concerts a few years ago at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. “I think they’re genius,” he says. “Everything they do, it never lands flat.”
Aside from South Park, Paisley has been busy with another project outside of his own country music career. He co-produced William Shatner’s new spoken-word album, Love & Other Mysteries. Earlier this week, Paisley also appeared at a CMA Presents tribute concert to Dolly Parton, singing his 2005 collab with Parton, “When I Get Where I’m Going,” with Sierra Hull. Watch Paisley’s full interview on Nashville Now below.
Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s country-music podcast, Nashville Now, hosted by deputy editor, head of country Joseph Hudak, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). New episodes drop every Wednesday and feature interviews with artists and personalities like Shania Twain, Shaboozey, Vince Gill, Lainey Wilson, Sheryl Crow, Ashley McBryde, Brothers Osborne, Midland, Maggie Rose, Hardy, Charley Crockett, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Kings of Leon, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, the Black Crowes, Braxton Keith, Carly Pearce, Amy Grant, Luke Grimes, Brandon Lake, Breland, Bryan Andrews, Noeline Hofmann, Adam Mac, Aaron Raitiere, Devon Gilfillian, Gavin Adcock, Amanda Shires, Shooter Jennings, Margo Price, Michaela Anne, Ink, Ne-Yo, Rival Sons’ Jay Buchanan, Halestorm, Dusty Slay, Lukas Nelson, Ashley Monroe, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, Clever, Love on the Spectrum’s Tyler White, Willie Nelson scholar John Spong, and authors Marissa R. Moss, Josh Crutchmer, Mark Gray, and Jonathan Bernstein.
