Taking a few notes while opening for Brad Paisley on his H2O Frozen Over tour earlier this year, Jerrod Niemann, who returns to the bill for the H20 II: Wetter & Wilder World tour this summer, learned why the headliner is so popular with fans.

"When I was first asked to be a part of that, which was such a huge honor, I thought I needed to learn because, obviously, Brad is so great. He's the reigning Entertainer of the Year," Jerrod tells The Boot. "So, I thought, 'What makes someone an Entertainer of the Year when you're on tour with them?' Brad is a class act. I just realized that every single second of his show is dedicated to something to entertain the audience, whether it's the animations in the back or his great guitar ability, great vocals or songwriting, just a great entertainer. So, that was amazing to watch, and then just to be a part of a tour, that kind of exposure, was amazing."

The tour, which includes five stadium shows and a set of dates overseas in England, Ireland, Denmark and Oslo, Norway, will also feature Blake Shelton, as well as Darius Rucker, who opened for Brad on the original H2O trek, on select dates.

"We had Darius the first round, and of course, Blake will be out. I know Blake, but I didn't know Darius," says the singer-songwriter. "It was great to get a chance to meet him, and he's just such an amazing guy. Blake [heavy sigh], I'll be interested to see the element that Blake adds to the tour. It will be wilder."

While Jerrod didn't get caught in the crossfire of practical jokes for which Brad is famous, he did audit the whole process for his own peace of mind.

"Probably for just self-defense reasons, I watched [Brad] and Darius go at it with their pranks, so at least I got to see how it goes down," the Kansas native divulges. "The unfortunate thing about all that is it doesn't matter how good your prank is, it's all about manpower and Brad has about 70 or 80 people out there, and I have about 10. Not very good odds. [laughs] But I learned how it goes down, and who to keep an eye on. So, I think I'll just prank him the first night. I asked for it. I said, 'Don't prank me unless it's the best. Don't bring none of this Limburger cheese on stage. I want to lose a limb. [laughs] I want some danger."

The second round of the H2O tour will bring back the Water World Plaza, which will also feature supporting acts Sunny Sweeney, Edens Edge and Brent Anderson. The trek will kick off in Pittsburgh, Pa., May 28.

In the meantime, Jerrod is scaling the country charts with his Top 10 single, 'What Do You Want.'

if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_614766635001','codever':0.1,'autoload':false,'autoplay':false,'displaymnads':true,'playerid':'89761511001','videoid':'614766635001','width':476,'height':357,'playertype':'inline','stillurl':'dynamic','videolink':'#','videotitle':'dynamic','videodesc':''});

More From TheBoot