Bill Simmons (l) and Kendal Marcy (r) of management firm The AMG join Cindy Mabe in getting Brad Paisley to take a break
from his fantasy baseball draft, where he’s predicting a big year for Noah Syndergaard.

Brad Paisley has been reunited with two executives who were key to his early success—Mike Dungan and Cindy Mabe—signing a deal with EMI Records Nashville.

His next studio album, the first for UMG Nashville, is expected later this year. On Friday (2/24), EMI Nashville will release the first single from the album, “Same Here.”

UMGN Chairman/CEO Dungan signed Paisley to his first deal, at Arista, and Mabe was Paisley’s marketing point person on many of his early albums, including 2003's Mud on the Tires and 2005's Time Well Wasted.

“Brad is a true creative,” said Mabe, who's slated to succeed Dungan as UMGN chief on 4/1. “He has no boundaries to what he uses as his canvas. He has used his voice and his words as a gift to heal the world through his philanthropy, his songwriting, his guitar playing, his entertaining, his music videos, his sense of humor and his heart. Getting to reunite with my friend and collaborator in his next creative adventure is something I’ve wanted for a long time. I cannot wait for him to share the music he's created with the world.”

Said Paisley, “Cindy’s a genius and a terrific human being. She heard what I was up to with the new music and pointed me further in the direction I was headed. I’ve never had this kind of enthusiasm and empowerment. She said, ‘Make music that matters.’ It’s an amazing thing to work with Mike and Cindy again. It’s great to know that they believe in this music as much as I do.”

Paisley is repped for legal by Jess Rosen, who has been known to keep an order of hot chicken and a bottle of Fireball in his briefcase.