Five albums into his career, Jason Aldean has punched his ticket into one of the most exclusive clubs in country music.
He has joined Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift as artists able to headline stadium shows — as evidenced by his April 13 sold-out show at the University Of Georgia’s Sanford Stadium in Athens.
He’s selling lots of music, too. His 2010 album, “My Kinda Party,” was some kind of blockbuster, cementing Aldean’s status as a premier hit maker. It sold nearly 3 million copies and spawned five No. 1 singles, including “Don’t You Wanna Stay,” a crossover duet with Kelly Clarkson.
Success, though, comes with a price — one cost being that his follow-up album, “Night Train,” would be judged by the standard he set with “My Kinda Party.”
Aldean confronted the expectations by taking a business-as-usual approach.
“I remember when we made the ‘My Kinda Party’ album, we had those songs that we felt like were cool,” Aldean said in a late-March interview. “We just went in and cut what we felt like was a great record, which is kind of the attitude we’ve had every time we’ve gone in the studio.”
Obviously, success has become a familiar feeling to the 36-year-old singer from Macon. But he knows struggles and disappointments as well.
He began his career playing in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, where he was “discovered” in 1998. Michael Knox, a representative with Warner Chappell Music Publishing, saw him in Atlanta and immediately offered Aldean a songwriting deal.
Soon after, Aldean landed a record deal with Capitol Records. But it fell apart before he was able to release an album.
By 2003, his dreams of a music career were fading. Aldean and his wife, Jessica, had just had their first child, and he knew he would soon have to move back to Macon to find a job that would support his family.
But days before he was set to leave Nashville, Broken Bow Records offered to sign him. With Broken Bow, he feels the freedom to take musical risks.
“I mean, I want to constantly try new things and push the limits a little bit. But at the same time, I think it’s important not to ever really get away from what got you to that point. So songs like ‘Take A Little Ride,’ you listen to that song and to me it’s obvious. That’s a right-down-the-middle radio hit. But then it’s things like ‘Black Tears’ … are kind of your risk takers.”
“Black Tears” is a ballad about a stripper and the damage that her work does to her self-image and her life — not exactly mainstream stuff in a genre that encourages themes of faith, family and patriotism.
Another song that’s a mild gamble is Aldean’s current top-15-and-rising single, “1994.” It features rap-ish spoken word lyrics and name checks country artist Joe Diffie, who enjoyed a run of hit singles in the ’90s, as part of an ode to that decade. Aldean knows from experience that sometimes the smart money rides on not playing things safe.
“Dirt Road Anthem” was a prime example of that, Aldean said, referencing a rap-inflected chart-topping hit from “My Kinda Party.”
“Sometimes when you take those risks, when they pay off, they pay off in a huge way.”
Obviously, Aldean hasn’t experienced many failures recently. “Night Train” is poised to at least approach the popularity of “My Kinda Party.” It sold 1 million copies just four weeks after its release in October and has already extended Aldean’s string of No. 1 singles to seven, after its first two singles, “Take A Little Ride” and “The Only Way I Know,” both claimed the top spot on the “Billboard” magazine country singles chart.
His shows will feature a hit-filled set and the biggest stage production Aldean has ever taken on the road.
“I think each year, you kind of want to make your show bigger and better and give your fans something they haven’t seen yet from you,” he said.
“This year, just from the stage setup to the video content, to the streams, to everything we’re able to take out this year, I mean, it’s a completely different experience than what people have seen from us in the past.”
About the Author
