Jason Aldean is coming to Charleston –probably the Civic Center early spring –according to his publicity people.
Aldean kicks off the tour Feb. 21 in Louisiana and the tease from the publicist has about 25 cities listed, alphabetically, but details past that haven’t been released. The Civic Center went about as far as to acknowledge there was something in the works, but nothing had been confirmed. They don’t have anything locked down, I guess.
According to Aldean’s publicist, further announcements about the Charleston show will come from an area radio station. They want them to break it and that’s fine. I’m not bitter. I remember my interview with Jason.
Jason Aldean wasn’t a natural interview –not everybody is. As I remember it, he was a nice, if sort of dull guy who seemed a little sleepy and was more interested in talking about music business stuff (how well his hit was doing) than who he was beyond being a guy who made his living selling records. He didn’t open up much.
That was about three years ago and since then Aldean has done very well for himself and from what I understand, he puts on a dynamite pop country show. I have friends who are near fanatical about him and it’s cool that he’s coming back.
Anyway, details about the show as they develop (if they develop. Stuff falls through) and in the meantime, here’s my yawn of an article about the man.
Country singer Jason Aldean got off to a rough start in Nashville. Before he got his major label deal, he was signed to another, and then dropped. Nothing was working. So he decided to leave town, go back to Macon, Ga., and get a factory job. It was only chance that a record executive spotted Aldean at one of his last shows and eventually signed him.
The 32-year-old has been pretty lucky since. His third album, Wide Open,” was released in the spring and, so far, he’s scored two No. 1 hits from it – “She’s Country” and “Big Green Tractor,” which currently dominates the country charts.
Aldean will perform these hits and more on Sept. 24 at the Charleston Municipal Auditorium.
Music, he says, is entirely different for him these days. His tours take him all the way across the country and usually into country-music territory.
When Aldean called, he was just getting up and getting his bearings somewhere in Washington state. He’d played in Oregon the night before.
“We don’t get a chance to get into this part of the country often,” he said. “Mostly just once or twice a year, but we’ve got fans out here.”
In the beginning, Aldean played wherever he could. Now as a bona fide hit, he can mostly stay where he knows for sure people have at least heard his music.
“For the most part, the shows are all good,” he said. “You still have some weird shows – like New York, where there’s not any country radio.”
New York City hasn’t had a country station in seven years.
It’s been a great summer for Aldean, but the tour has been long. He’s looking forward to playing Charleston, but he’s also looking forward to the inevitable slowdown of the autumn season. Summer is always the busiest time for performers like Aldean, but his wife and two daughters are waiting for him at his little farm in Tennessee.
“I try not to be gone any longer than two weeks at a time,” he said. “At the first of the year, I take a look at the calendar. I make sure I’m home for all the birthdays and Halloween and things like that.”
It would seem like a couple of hit songs would make controlling your music career a lot easier. “Big Green Tractor” is his third No. 1.
“The first time you have a number-one song, you’re just excited you got it,” he said. “I had my first in 2006, but haven’t had another until this year. It’s not something you ever take for granted. It’s hard.”
He’s like every other mainstream country artist; Aldean wants the hit records and the huge crowds coming to his shows. But he’s not following a formula or trying to fit a particular mold.
“I tell people all the time that, back when I was trying to get my record deal, I always heard the record companies didn’t want you to get married. They wanted to be able to market you as the single guy/bachelor kind of thing.”
After his first record company dropped him, he gave up on trying to fit into what he thought were the expectations of other people. He got married.
“And it’s a funny thing. Once I got my personal life in order, everything else kind of straightened out.”
The results, he says, speak for themselves.