One of the biggest decisions when  you start out as a country artist is to wear a hat, or NOT wear a hat. 

BRAD PAISLEY went with the hat.  He tells "Parade", "The real question when I first became a recording artist was hat or no hat.  'Cause there were not a lot of people having success wearing hats at that point.  There still aren't. 

"But I all along said I want to look like my music.  How I look is kind of like how I sound.  The good thing is, the older I get, some day I'll be bald . . . if my paternal grandfather's side has anything to do with it . . . so this way it won't matter."

You can read the rest of the story in this weekend's issue of Parade.