It pays to be 'Relentless'
Persistence made the difference for Aldean
MARK PRICE
Photo by Kristen Barlowe
The title track from Jason Aldean's second album, "Relentless," reminds him of the trials he faced in getting a record deal.
JASON ALDEAN WITH TIM MCGRAW
Young country singer known for “Hicktown” lands dream job opening shows for McGraw's 2008 “Live Your Voice Tour.”
WHEN: 8 tonight.
WHERE: Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 707 Pavilion Blvd.
TICKETS: $29-$59.
DETAILS: 704-522-6500; www.ticketmaster.com.
It's one thing for a young country singer to hear Tim McGraw is a fan, but something else completely to be told he wants you – yeah you, dummy! – to be his opening act on a big summer tour.
Jason Aldean is the one who got that call, and you better believe he said “yes.” Aldean is now booked to open 35 shows for McGraw over the next 21/2 months, including a concert tonight at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.
“I'm a fan, so it was a no-brainer,” says Aldean in a phone interview. “The fact that he was interested enough to call us up and hand-pick us, so to speak, made it better, cooler. The money will be good, but I'm looking at the bigger picture. I've heard some of the shows have sold 18,000 tickets. I couldn't get that kind of exposure on my own.”
Aldean is one of country music's fastest-rising stars. He has only two albums to his credit since 2005, but both have won gold or platinum status for sales of between 500,000 and a million copies.
His latest single, the title track “Relentless,” follows a string of five consecutive Top 10 hits like “Hicktown,” “Laughed Until We Cried” and “Why.”
Aldean is currently hunting songs for a third album, and he claims to have listened to hundreds in the process. It won't be released until next year, partly because he'd like to see a fourth and even a fifth single released off his current album.
“We went with the song ‘Relentless' as a next single because I thought the title was fitting for what I went through in Nashville for the six years before I got a record deal,” he says.
Aldean, 31, got his start in the music business at age 14, playing guitar in clubs around his hometown of Macon, Ga. After high school, he was given the option of playing college baseball, but opted instead to form a band and begin touring the Southeast.
At one of those shows, he was spotted by a producer who led him to Nashville, where he quickly scored a record contract and a songwriting job. However, things began to sour in 2003, when the record deal fizzled and Aldean found himself in debt.
“My daughter was born in 2003,” he says. “I just started putting in for jobs back in Georgia. My priorities changed. It was more about making sure I had baby formula and diapers than it was about getting a record deal.”
He says Nashville's independent Broken Bow label came through with a new record deal at the last possible minute. Two years later, his self-titled debut album hit the Top 10 on the Billboard country charts and won him the Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Male Vocalist.
“My priority now is the next album,” Aldean says. “The first two were really successful, and I want to make an album that will match up. I figure if I make a good record and go out and play shows, everything else will take care of itself.”
