This isn’t one of Paisley’s best songs—he’s known for his wit and his hooks, but even before LL Cool J’s arrival, “Accidental Racist” is rather prosaic and inert, like a carefully hedged position paper set to music. But it’s also a more interesting artifact than some of its detractors admit—an awkward but earnest song about being “caught between Southern pride and Southern blame,” sung in the voice of a white man who suggests there are good reasons for both.