Country star Jason Aldean takes risks with new album
By Alan Sculley
Photo: Jason Aldean will perform at Riverbend Music Center on Aug. 23; photo: Jim Wright
“Burnin’ It Down,” the first single off of Jason Aldean’s current album, Old Boots, New Dirt, has become one of the biggest hits of the country superstar’s career.
After its release last fall, the song took just two weeks to reach the top of Billboard magazine’s Hot Country Songs singles, ending 2014 as the year’s number two single on that chart with sales of more than 1.4 million.
But “Burnin’ It Down” was far from a unanimous choice for Old Boots, New Dirt’s lead single—even though Aldean said he felt it was the obvious choice right from the start.
“That’s a song where I got a lot of, sort of, resistance from the label and from even from my management and a lot of people on my team,” Aldean says over the phone.
The reason? “Burning It Down” was not the typical Aldean song. A simmering ballad, its rhythm track is built around a loop, and other programmed percussion mixes with drums and the traditional instrumentation of the song. In fact, one could easily argue that it draws more from today’s glossy pop and hip-hop production than from anything country, which was a key reason why some in Aldean’s camp saw it as a risky single.
“They wanted something that was a little more safe,” Aldean explains. “But to me, I felt like, my career hasn’t become what it is by me playing it safe, ever. The biggest songs we’ve had are things that were a little left of center and things that we sort of stuck our neck out on a little bit and took some chances. And I felt like this was one of those songs. Plus, it was just a great song.”
As Aldean mentions, “Burnin’ It Down” isn’t the only time he’s gambled on a song that tested country radio’s status quo. “Dirt Road Anthem,” which featured a pair of rap segments to go with its easy-going country sound, is another shining example of the adventurous side to Aldean’s music. And that 2010 single also generated mixed opinions before being green-lighted as a single.
The song went on to become Aldean’s biggest single to date. It sold more than four million copies and remains the biggest-selling song in digital history for a male country solo artist.
It’s not just the choice of singles that has given Aldean a reputation as a bit of a risk taker. With each of his six studio albums, he has sought to walk the line between maintaining his signature sound and cutting songs that take him in new stylistic directions. He feels Old Boots, New Dirt is his most adventurous album yet.
“I think you just kind of want to grow a little bit with each album,” he says, “and I feel like this was one of those albums that probably shows it more than any other album that we’ve done probably.”
Obviously, “Burnin’ It Down” is a prime example of a song that was a stylistic stretch for Aldean. But he feels he pushed forward in other ways on the album.
The rocker “Just Gettin’ Started” (a recent single, which topped Billboard’s Country Airplay chart) uses some synthetic percussion to give its quieter moments a modern feel. The song “Sweet Little Something” pairs a pulsing synthesizer and banjo as primary instrumentation in its verses—a move that helps make this bouncy rocker a true collision of pop and country.
In a larger sense, Aldean also feels he dialed back on the kind of turbo-charged rockers that have been his musical signature.
“The one thing that’s not on this album that we’ve typically had a lot of over the years is those big, big uptempo ‘She’s Country,’ ‘Hicktown’ kind of things,” he says. “There are a couple of big tempos, but not a lot. I think from a song standpoint, some of the coolest songs that we’ve ever recorded are on this record, if you believe in songs like ‘Two Night Town’ and ‘Burnin’ It Down’ and also ‘Too Fast’ (all ballads), things like that. They’re just really good songs. So I think it’s a little bit about showing some maturity as far as an artist.”
Maturity is one thing, but sounding fresh doesn’t hurt, either. And when Aldean released his self-titled debut album in 2005, his brand of rocked up guitar-based country was something new—and a bit risky—for the genre.
But the sound caught on quickly, and Old Boots, New Dirt, like all five of Aldean’s previous albums, has gone platinum and has now notched a third chart-topping single on Billboard magazine’s Country Airplay chart with “Tonight Looks Good on You.”
Those successes have made Aldean a bona fide arena headliner, and he’ll be filling those venues on a tour that so far is booked well into the fall.
The show Aldean is taking out figures to be a visual as well as musical treat.
“It’s called the ‘Burn It Down’ tour, so obviously we’ve incorporated a lot of fire, a lot of flame, a lot of heat coming,” Aldean says. “Obviously you want it to sound as good as possible, but visually you want it to look great, too. I think from that standpoint, this is by far the coolest thing we’ve ever had on the road.”
Jason Aldean will perform Sunday, Aug. 23 at Riverbend Music Center, 6295 Kellogg Ave. in Cincinnati. For tickets and more information, please visit jasonaldean.com.
Reach DCP freelance writer Alan Sculley at AlanSculley@DaytonCityPaper.com.