10/29/2008

By GARY DEMUTH

Salina Journal

Ever since his dad taught him how to put a needle on a record album, Jason Aldean has been in love with country music.

"My dad was instrumental in getting me addicted to music early," said Aldean, who grew up in Macon, Ga.

Aldean learned to play guitar and started performing country music in Macon clubs at age 14. When he turned 18, he formed his own country band and began touring throughout the southeast.

He figured he and his band played a couple of hundred shows a year.

"We'd play anywhere," he said. "If there were 10 people out there, we'd play for them and be happy about it."

Aldean is playing for a lot more than 10 people now. After breaking into the country music industry with top 10 hits that included "Johnny Cash," "Why" and "Hicktown," Aldean is poised for country music superstardom.

He currently is headlining the 2008 CMT (Country Music Television) Tour, sharing the bill with country trio Lady Antebellum and singer/songwriter Eric Durrance.

The tour comes to Salina on Nov. 7 at the Bicentennial Center.

Ticket sales have been brisk so far, with more than 1,600 seats sold as of Tuesday.

"We've traditionally been stronger with country performances in the last 15 years than any other type," said Keith Rawlings, interim manager of the Bicentennial Center. "I'm real pleased we have the opportunity to bring this tour in. If we have a good show with this one, it'll help with future concerts."

Hard core country

Aldean, who now lives in Nashville, Tenn., described his music as hard core country with a southern rock influence.

"It's definitely country music, but it's got more kick to it than most," he said. "My hometown is where Otis Redding, Little Richard and the Allman Brothers came from, and I listened to all of them."

Aldean gained a large following while playing hundreds of small clubs in Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

"Touring a lot taught me a lot," he said. "It made me more of an entertainer. The audience not only wants to hear you sing, they want to see you perform."

Aldean introduced his first single, "Hicktown," at those small clubs. A rocking southern-flavored tune, "Hicktown" hit the country music top 10 charts and helped earn Aldean a nod as Top New Male Vocalist of 2006 by the Academy of Country Music.

A year later, he was named Billboard magazine's "Indy Artist of the Year."

The title track off Aldean's second album, "Relentless," has steadily been climbing the charts, and Aldean said he is preparing a third album for possible release next spring.

In the meantime, he finishes his tour with Lady Antebellum and Eric Durrance in late November.

Money well spent

Aldean said his live performances "are the bread and butter of what I do." His goal is to get audience members on their feet, invigorate them, and make them feel that coming to his concert was money well spent.

"If we can get people to go home and get on their computers to see where else we're playing, we know we've done something right," he said. "We know we've made a fan out of them."

Aldean said he is honored to be touring with Lady Antebellum, made up of Nashville musicians Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. The trio's harmonic vocals blend influences of classic country, 1960s rhythm and blues and country-folk music of the 1970s.

Lady Antebellum was awarded Top New Group at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards. The group previously has opened concerts for country stars Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Phil Vassar, Josh Turner and Carrie Underwood.

Their self-titled first album includes the hit single "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" and the romantic "Love's Lookin' Good On You."

A Willie Nelson fan

Tallahassee native Durrance has been writing songs since he was a teenager.

He said he grew up admiring the song craftsmanship of artists like The Eagles, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

"It's all about the song," Durrance said. "I love the stories country music tells. I write out of my heart, my personal experiences, but always putting a positive twist on them. They're like mini-movies."

Durrance's first album is entitled "Angels Fly Away," which he said can be downloaded digitally through ITunes.

This is Durrance's first experience playing arenas in a CMT tour, and he said it's a dream come true to be sharing the stage with established artists like Aldean and Lady Antebellum.

"I always used to sit up on the stands, looking down, and saying wouldn't it be something to be on that stage," Durrance said. "Now I am, and it's just the most unbelievable feeling."

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

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