Paisley was born on October 28, 1972, in Glen Dale, West Virginia. He is the only child of Douglas Edward "Doug" Paisley, who worked for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, and Sandra Jean "Sandy" (née Jarvis) Paisley, a Teacher. He was raised in Glen Dale, West Virginia. He has stated that his love of country music stems from his maternal grandfather, Warren Jarvis, who gave him his first guitar, a Sears Danelectro Silvertone, and taught him how to play at eight years old. At ten, he performed for the first time in public by singing in his church. He later recalled that, "Pretty soon, I was performing at every Christmas party and Mother's Day event. The neat thing about a small town is that when you want to be an Artist, by golly, they'll make you one." At age 13, he wrote his first song, "Born on Christmas Day", which later appeared on his album Brad Paisley Christmas. He had been taking lessons with local Guitarist Clarence "Hank" Goddard. By 13, Goddard and Paisley formed a band called "Brad Paisley and the C-Notes", with the addition of two of Paisley's adult friends.