Next year will be a big one for Brad Paisley. In a recent interview with USA Today, the CMT ‘Artists of the Year’ honoree revealed that in addition to his huge Camobunga! Tour, he’ll also be working on a new album. 2012 is slated to be a year of “intense creativity.”

“I’ve got some strong possibilities for stuff that could be cool. If a few of them materialize, then I think 2012 is going to be not only the end of the world but a really creative Armageddon,” Paisley joked when asked about his next release.

His tour, which kicks off on Jan. 12, is also expected to be an inventive and unique project — or “very high-tech redneck,” in Paisley’s words. “We’ve got some cool technology. I like to take technology to where people walk out not sure how we did certain things. That’s always a goal of mine,” he said. “We’ve got a few of those in our bag of tricks. I got to see them the other day for the first time, and I was floored.”

We imagine that the ‘Old Alabama’ hitmaker will welcome 2012 with open arms, given the roller coaster ride that his personal life took in 2011. “My sister-in-law got married to a guy I think is fantastic. My brother-in-law had a baby,” Paisley shared. He then added that 2011 also brought the death of his wife’s cousin.

The singer said that the death in the family was especially scarring for him, because it’s the first time in his life that he’s had someone in his life that’s near his age die. “It’s crazy what that does to your psyche,” he admitted. “It’s the first person anywhere near my age that I’ve ever lost that I was that close to. We never had the kid in high school die, in my high school. There was never that phone call in the middle of the night that somebody has had a wreck. I realize that I’m really lucky to have made it to this age without that. And this is the first time that I’ve ever been that close. That’s what’s going to scar this year for me.”

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