Jason Aldean
Jason Aldine Williams, known professionally as Jason Aldean, is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to BBR Music Group, a record label for which he has released eleven albums and 40 singles. His 2010 album, My Kinda Party, is certified quadruple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. His 2012 album Night Train is certified double-platinum, while his 2005 self-titled debut, 2007 album Relentless, 2009 album Wide Open, and 2014 album Old Boots, New Dirt are all certified platinum. Aldean has received five Grammy Award nominations throughout his career, twice for Best Country Album.
30 of Aldean's 41 singles have reached number one on either the Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts. In 2023, he released "Try That in a Small Town," which was the subject of widespread controversy following the release of its music video, whilst becoming Aldean's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Aldean has had many hits including "Amarillo Sky", "She's Country", "Big Green Tractor", "Crazy Town", "My Kinda Party", "Dirt Road Anthem", "Fly Over States", "When She Says Baby", "Burnin' It Down", "You Make It Easy", "If I Didn't Love You", "Trouble with a Heartbreak", "Try That in a Small Town", and "Whiskey Drink".
Early life
Jason Aldine Williams was born in Macon, Georgia, on February 28, 1977. His parents separated when he was three. He was raised by his mother in Macon, and during the summer he spent time with his father in Homestead, Florida. He attended Windsor Academy, a private Christian school in Bibb County, Georgia. Before his father went to his work, Aldean would map out guitar chords on notebook paper to show his son where to place his fingers to play the chords and Jason would sit and practice all day while his father was at work. When his father got home, he got out his own guitar and they played together. Soon he could play a song after hearing it only a few times. His early favorites included George Strait's "The Cowboy Rides Away", Hank Williams Jr.'s "The Blues Man", and Alabama's "My Home's in Alabama".Both of his parents encouraged young Aldean as he progressed musically. From age 14, after watching the country-music awards on television, he wanted to perform on stage. With his mother's help, he performed at the local VFW hall in Macon. He sang John Anderson's song "Seminole Wind" and Tracy Lawrence's "Sticks and Stones". He then began performing at area talent contests and local fairs. At 15, he joined the "house band" at Georgia nightspot Nashville South.
In order to stand out, Aldean changed the spelling of his middle name, Aldine, to come up with the name Aldean.
Career
1998–2004: Career beginnings
After high school, with his father's help, Aldean and his band performed at clubs and festivals around the Southeast. With Justin Weaver, Aldean began writing and recording original songs. In 1998, he performed songs from his first album at a showcase staged by Atlanta nightclub The Buckboard. He was approached by Michael Knox, then of the Warner-Chappell song-publishing company. After signing with Warner-Chappell, Aldean moved to Nashville on November 1, 1998, at the age of 21.Aldean was offered a recording contract but was subsequently dropped. He signed with another label but again was dropped in 2000 after his label postponed his recording sessions repeatedly. Various showcases failed to bring him a contract. The last straw was an attempt at the Wildhorse Saloon where the promised label talent scouts never showed up. Frustrated and discouraged with his struggling career, Aldean gave himself six months before planning to leave Nashville and return home to Georgia. Then five weeks later, he was offered a deal from Broken Bow Records in Nashville. Shortly after the release of his self-titled debut album, Aldean picked up his new agent Kevin Neal. While recording Relentless, Aldean moved to Clarence Spalding and Spalding Entertainment for management.
2005–2008: ''Jason Aldean'' and ''Relentless''
Aldean's debut single, "Hicktown", was released in early 2005. It served as the lead-off to his self-titled debut album and reached number 10 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The album contained his first number one hit with "Why". This album contained the number 4 hit "Amarillo Sky", which had previously been a non-charting single in 2002 for McBride & the Ride. The song earned a 2006 ACM nomination for Song of the Year and Video of the Year. Aldean earned the title "Top New Male Vocalist" at the 2006 ACM Awards. Over 1,000,000 copies of the album were sold in the United States and it was certified platinum by the RIAA in 2007.Aldean spent most of January 2007, in the studio with producer Michael Knox to finish his second album, Relentless. The album was released on May 29, 2007, and at Wal-Mart locations was sold with a Limited Edition CMT Pick DVD that included Aldean's performances. The album's lead-off single, "Johnny Cash", was originally recorded by Tracy Byrd, but Aldean's version of it peaked at No. 6. Its followup "Laughed Until We Cried" became his 5th consecutive Top 10 hit. Relentless was also certified platinum by the RIAA, and its title track was released as its 3rd single. The song was Aldean's lowest-charting single both in the U.S. and Canada, failing to reach the Top 10 on the country charts.
2009–2012: ''Wide Open'' and ''My Kinda Party''
Aldean released his seventh single titled "She's Country" on December 1, 2008. This song serves as the lead-off single from his third album Wide Open, which was released on April 7, 2009. The single debuted at No. 51 on the Hot Country Songs chart in late-November 2008. Being his 7th consecutive Top 40 hit on the country charts, it is also his 1st Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It later became his second number-one hit, and his first since "Why" in May 2006. The next single, "Big Green Tractor", became Aldean's third number-one hit. Wide Open debuted at No. 2 on the Top Country Albums chart. "The Truth" became the album's third consecutive number-one hit in January 2010, with "Crazy Town" being the album's fourth single and peaking at No. 2 on the country charts.Aldean performed with Bryan Adams on an episode of CMT Crossroads in the beginning of May, and the episode premiered on June 26, 2009. In an interview with Shave Magazine, Aldean explained that working with Bryan on Crossroads "was great" and that "e was a lot of fun." But the real highlight for him was that he was working with Randy Owen. "I am a big fan of Alabama so I got a chance to work with Randy Owen on this album. It was really cool. Alabama were like 'The Beatles' for me so working with him was definitely one of the highlights," he said "I mean, both of those guys were really cool moments, but if I had to pick one highlight, it would be working with Randy this year." A live DVD titled Wide Open Live & More was released on August 25, 2009. At the 2010 CMT Music Awards, Aldean picked up 3 nominations in Video of the Year and Male Video of the Year for "The Truth", as well as Collaborative Video of the Year and CMT Performance of the Year for his performance of "Heaven" with Bryan Adams.
In August 2010, Aldean released the single "My Kinda Party", which entered the Hot Country Songs chart at No. 41. It is the lead-off single from his album of the same name, which was released on November 2, 2010. It marks as Aldean's tenth top-10 country hit. Aldean also collaborated with Kelly Clarkson on the intimate duet "Don't You Wanna Stay". His and Clarkson's performance on November 10, 2010, at the CMA Awards received positive recognition, and debuted at No. 59 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart from unsolicited airplay for the week of November 20, 2010. In March 2011, it became Aldean's fifth number-one hit.
In early 2011, Aldean's version of "Dirt Road Anthem", which was recorded previously by both of its writers country rap artist Colt Ford and Brantley Gilbert, debuted on the Hot Country Songs chart at No. 57 as an album cut from an unsolicited airplay for the week of February 5, 2011. In March 2011, the song was chosen as the third single from My Kinda Party. Aldean also collaborated with Ludacris for the song at the 2011 CMT Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on June 8, 2011. In addition to making #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart for the week of July 30, 2011, it also became Aldean's first Top 10 hit on the Hot 100 chart, peaking at #7.
Aldean performed "My Kinda Party" at the start of the 2011 Home Run Derby, which was broadcast on ESPN. Aldean won the CMA award for Album of the Year in 2011 as well as the Musical Event of the Year with "Don't You Wanna Stay", his duet with Kelly Clarkson. This was his first win. On October 25, 2011, it was announced that Aldean would be performing on The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music's Biggest Night, the 1-hour special which took place live on Wednesday, November 30, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. "Don't You Wanna Stay" received a Grammy nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, but lost to The Civil Wars at the 54th Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012. The fourth single from the album was "Tattoos on This Town", which peaked at No. 2, followed by yet another number one single, entitled "Fly Over States".
2012–2016: ''Night Train'' and ''Old Boots, New Dirt''
The first single from Aldean's fifth album was entitled "Take a Little Ride". It was released on July 16, 2012. Later, the album's title was announced as Night Train. This album was released on October 16, 2012. Its second single, "The Only Way I Know", is a collaboration among him, Luke Bryan, and Eric Church. The album's third single, entitled "1994", is a tribute to Joe Diffie. The album's fourth single, the title track, was released to country radio on June 24, 2013. The fifth single, "When She Says Baby", was released to country radio on November 18 of that same year. "Take a Little Ride", "The Only Way I Know", "Night Train", and "When She Says Baby" all peaked at number 1 on the Country Airplay chart respectively.During a radio interview on May 18, Aldean hinted at another possible collaboration with Ludacris. He did state that it would not be on Night Train. On December 16, 2014, Ludacris released an Extended Play titled Burning Bridges, in which the title track featured him and Aldean as a duet. Aldean performed "My Kinda Party" during the People's Choice Awards on January 9, 2013. On June 5, 2013, Jason Aldean co-hosted the 2013 CMT Music Awards with actress Kristen Bell. He and Lenny Kravitz opened the awards show singing "American Woman".
On July 22, 2014, Aldean released a new single "Burnin' It Down". This song would serve as the lead single off his sixth studio album Old Boots, New Dirt, which was released on October 7, 2014. This song reached No. 1 both on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. The album's second single, "Just Gettin' Started", was released to country radio on November 10, 2014. It reached No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart in March 2015. "Tonight Looks Good on You" was released as the third single on March 23, 2015. It reached No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart in July 2015. also performed CMT Crossroads with Bob Seger song called "Turn the Page". The album's fourth single, "Gonna Know We Were Here" released to country radio on August 17, 2015. It reached No. 2 on the Country Airplay chart in January 2016. Jason Aldean is one of only three artists to achieve RIAA platinum sales certification on an album released this year. His Old Boots, New Dirt album, which debuted at the top of Billboard's all-genre Top 200 chart in October, has now shipped more than one million units. This means that he is the only country star to release a platinum-seller in 2014, and joins only Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande in platinum album certifications for collections released this year.
At the conclusion of Aldean's Burn it Down Tour, he donated over $600,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure of South Florida.