BIGGER COUNTRY FOR BRAD PAISLEY.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Music Writer

Country music star Brad Paisley is at home in Beverly Hills, talking about life as a celebrity, when he hears a knock at the door. Excusing himself from the phone, he answers. It's UPS.

``Hey, there,'' Paisley says in his cheery Southern drawl.

``Your last name?'' asks the deliveryman very matter-of-factly. ``Paisley.''

``P ... A ... I ...'' Now if the UPS guy followed country music, he would have recognized Paisley, who is up for two Grammy awards. Since he made his debut in 1999, the West Virginia native has become a triple-threat star on the rise. Not only does he write and sing his own songs, USA Today calls his guitar work ``some of the most adventurous picking you'll hear in mainstream country.'' Two platinum-selling albums, one gold album and a string of hit singles - ``He Didn't Have to Be,'' ``We Danced,'' ``I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song),'' ``Celebrity'' and ``Little Memories'' - later, the 31-year-old Paisley has even attracted attention for himself outside music.

Paisley has dabbled in acting: In 2003, he portrayed Ricky Nelson on an episode of the NBC series ``American Dreams.'' The year before that, he appeared on an episode of ABC's ``According to Jim,'' co-starring his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley.

The two were married last spring. A portion of their wedding was featured on the ABC special ``InStyle Celebrity Weddings,'' which aired in January. ``Now, that wasn't my doing,'' Paisley says, as good-natured as ever. ``That was my wife's doing. I just had to say OK.''

The fact is that Paisley is about as down-to-earth as they come. He admits that the more famous he becomes, the harder it is to stay grounded. While he's still not recognizable to UPS deliverymen, he has noticed that people stop him more - especially following the announcement of Grammy nominations in early December.

``When I'm out here in Los Angeles or I go hang out on the set ... it's like, 'Hey! Wow. Congratulations,' '' Paisley says. ``All of a sudden, I'm not just some joker that hangs out on the set and eats their catering. I'm a guy with a Grammy nomination or two.'' Paisley is up tonight for best country instrumental performance for the song ``Spaghetti Western Swing'' and best country song for his hit single ``Celebrity.'' Both are featured on the chart-topping ``Mud on the Tires,'' his third release, which Billboard touts as the next ``installment of what's already shaping up as a remarkably consistent and imaginative recording career.''

As an artist who doesn't stray beyond country's borders very much - at least not yet - recognition from the recording academy is especially crucial in achieving more widespread appeal without changing musical styles. In Paisley's experience, he says, people notice Grammy nominations more than they notice any other accolade - except in Nashville, because the whole town's entertainment industry is country music. Paisley recalls the first time his wife (then his girlfriend) flew to Nashville and the gate attendant allowed him to greet her as she exited the plane.

This was after 9-11. Only passengers were allowed in the gate area. ``Kim steps off the plane and I said, 'Hey!' And she says, 'How did you do that?'''

True. Celebrities are granted more opportunities in a town like Nashville, but Paisley insists that the preferential treatment hasn't gone to his head - not in a negative manner anyway. He's channeled it through writing.

``A song like 'Celebrity' I don't think I could have written before I was a celebrity, because you notice things a lot more,'' he says. ``And becoming a little more worldly can be good.'' On the other hand, he says that staying grounded is equally important as a songwriter.

``When you are famous to any degree, reality does slip away,'' he says, recalling how his guitar tech was taken aback the time they had dinner with William Shatner, who along with ``Seinfeld'' co-star Jason Alexander and ``Bachelorette'' Trista Rehn, allowed himself to be made fun of in the music video for ``Celebrity.''

As Paisley recalls, his friend looked him in the eye and said: ``You do realize that this is not reality?''

``It's true,'' Paisley continues. ``You know how many people get to do that kind of thing. So I have to be careful as a songwriter that I still write about the right things - and there's little tricks that I do as I write.''

One of those tricks is spending time with his best friend and songwriting partner, Kelly Loveless. His family lives in a tiny Alabama town, perched high atop a hill, with a population of 204. Loveless' aunt runs the town's only restaurant, which Paisley describes as a diner with a room in the back that was home to her and her husband until he passed away. ``For many years, you could go in there and in the middle of the day hear them argue. Just like you're in somebody's kitchen. Literally,'' Paisley says.

But the diner is only part of the lure. The real purpose of their trip is to fish, one of Paisley's lifelong passions.

``There's nothing like getting on a boat ... and going out into a body of water, as you sit there quietly and take some scientific measures to try and get a fish to bite,'' he says. ``It's a release from everything else that I do. My job consists of writing songs, getting on a tour bus, going to a city, playing a show, meeting people and then getting back on the bus and watching TiVo as we're going down the road, which is also not reality, because how many people can do that?''