Brad Paisley on the set of "Welcome To The Future". Photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

As a kid growing up in Altoona, Iowa — a very white suburb of Des Moines, I had almost no firsthand exposure to the racial divide that newspapers and the TV news regularly referenced in the 1970s.

Until I began working in Des Moines at the age of 16, the main way I learned about the issue was through Stevie Wonder albums. In songs such as “Living For The City,” “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” and “Cash In Your Face,” Stevie described the unfairness of being denied work or shelter because of an arbitrary physical trait — skin color — and I got an education through music that was not present on the street where I lived.

Tuesday was the anniversary of Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a Caucasian man. The date went by with little fanfare, though the results of her noble revolution can now be seen in country music, where she’s referenced in not just one, but two hits from the last six months: Brad Paisley’s “Welcome To The Future” and Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice.”

“Welcome To The Future” has brought me close to tears on numerous occasions, including the first time Brad played it publicly: for President Barack Obama at the White House. Brad wrote the song after seeing the celebration in New York’s Times Square over the election of America’s first black commander in chief. The moment came more than 50 years after Rosa Parks’ daring personal stance, but it was — as Brad noted in the song — a direct result of her decision.

Tim’s nod to Rosa is a mere four words — “Rosa Parks rode it” — but it comes in the middle of “Southern Voice,” a veritable laundry list of Dixie-bred public figures. What’s particularly satisfying about the song is that in the middle of its simple construction, it makes its own statement about the progress of race relations. It’s loaded with Caucasian names such as William Faulkner, Billy Graham, Paul “Bear” Bryant and Charlie Daniels. But it also includes a bevy of African-Americans such as Rosa, Martin Luther King and Henry Aaron (who received a ton of hate mail when he pursued Babe Ruth’s career homerun record in the 1970s) — and does so without making a big deal about the fact that they just happen to be black.

All of that comes at a time when Darius Rucker is ironically lodged in country’s Top 15 with “History In The Making.” That song itself has nothing to do with issues of discrimination or fairness, but Darius got a lot of ink just last month when he became the first African-American ever to win the Country Music Association’s New Artist of the Year award.

Reporters, always looking for an angle, have focused heavily on Darius’ pigmentation over the last year and a half, though in the several times I’ve seen him perform over the last 18 months, I’ve not heard a single concert-goer even comment on his skin. Because it doesn’t matter.

Which is what’s particularly heartening about the Rosa Parks anniversary. “Welcome To The Future” recognizes her contribution. “Southern Voice” matter-of-factly — perhaps accidentally — tips its hat to the change she influenced in the cultural landscape. And Darius’ ascension in a medium with an audience that is primarily (though not exclusively) white validates the view that race doesn’t have to be the divisive issue that it once was.

Thanks to Rosa for the effort. Thanks to Stevie for the education. Thanks to Brad, Tim and Darius for the confirmation.

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On Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Brad Paisley performed for the President, First Lady and family, members of Congress and White House staff in the historic East Room of the White House. Photo credit Ben Enos.

Tuesday is Election Day in many parts of the U.S., and the week is a monumental anniversary as well: Barack Obama was voted the nation’s first African-American president on Nov. 4, 2008.

That same date marked the release of Brad Paisley’s Play album, and he couldn’t have created better timing if he’d planned it. He was in New York to promote the CD the day the nation went to the polls, and he witnessed hysterical celebration in Times Square. That helped inspire his song “Welcome To The Future,” which hit No. 1 this anniversary week in Country Aircheck.

“Welcome To The Future” had even better timing this summer. Brad performed the song live for the first time in the East Room of the White House with Obama sitting just a few feet away. Neither the president nor his staff were aware of the song when Brad was invited to perform.

Brad didn’t know when he started writing it that “Future” would be a single, and he didn’t know the rest of its destiny either — that he would play it for the man who inspired it or that it would become his 12th No. 1 single. And, as things go, it’s just as well.

“If you had made me aware of that when we were writing it, it would’ve been a different song,” Brad says. “It would have been very hard to focus thinking about performing that in the East Room.”

Whatever statement the election made about the red state-blue state divide, Brad felt the real focus of the song was the social progress he’s witnessed.

“I caught a little bit of flack from some people that didn’t quite understand, that thought for a second that maybe I was getting political with this song,” he concedes. “This isn’t that. This is my tribute to the emotions of Nov. 4th and that, just that verse, regardless of where you stand, to me, a year prior to the election, comments were made among friends and people that said to me, ‘I kinda like that guy… but I just don’t think this country’s ready to elect, you know, essentially a minority.’ And on Nov. 4th we proved that we were willing to sort of put things aside.”

“Welcome To The Future” makes its biggest impact by drawing a line from Obama’s victory to Martin Luther King and to Rosa Parks, the African-American woman who refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus in 1955. Brad’s song isn’t the only current one to reference them. Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice,” which hit the Top 15 this week, namechecks them both.

Meanwhile, Brad continues his impeccable timing. Just as “Future” hits the top this week, Brad released his new single, “American Saturday Night,” to radio stations on Monday. And all this activity rolls him toward next week’s 43rd annual Country Music Association Awards. He’ll join Carrie Underwood as co-host of the Nov. 11 show, where he’s the top prospect with seven nominations.

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