Brad Paisley reunites with old friends at a new record label

After a six-year break between full-length releases, country music fans can expect a new album from Brad Paisley this year.

The "Whiskey Lullaby" hitmaker inked a deal with EMI/UMG Nashville for his forthcoming studio release, the label announced Wednesday. He joins a roster at UMG that includes Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, Eric Church and Luke Bryan, among others.

It marks the first release of Paisley's major label career to not be released under Arista Nashville, a division of Sony Music that signed the then-unknown singer in the late 1990s.

In launching a deal with UMG Nashville, Paisley reunites with two executives who helped shepherd his best-selling career in its formative years: label chairman Mike Dungan and president Cindy Mabe. While Dungan announced his retirement earlier this year, Paisley should continue to work with Mabe — who elevates to CEO of the company in April — at his new label.

"There were two people that should get the credit that you even know my name - Mike Dungan and Cindy Mabe," Paisley said in a press statement. "I ran into Mike at the fishing department at Wal-Mart after having met with several labels and he talked me into signing my first deal with Arista. They assigned this woman named Cindy Mabe to me - we graduated the same day at Belmont. I got to work with her on my first few albums and now I get to work with her at UMG."

Paisley releases his first UMG song, "Same Here," on Friday. An album plans to be released at a to-be-announced date in 2023.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Brad Paisley inks a new record deal with UMG Nashville