Perseverance has definitely paid off for county music superstar Jason Aldean.
Before selling recording 27 No. 1 hits and selling 20 million albums, including seven platinum records, Aldean was fighting for his musical life.
At 21 years old, the singer from Macon, Georgia, signed with a label but was subsequently dropped, before repeating the process with another label. After struggling through the circuit, playing bars around Nashville, Tennessee, Aldean caught the eye of Broken Bow Records in 2003, who he has been with since.
Having released his 11th album with the label, Georgia in April, Aldean is on the road with Chase Rice and John Morgan and will stop by Memorial Coliseum on Friday, Oct. 7, during the Rock N’ Roll Cowboy Tour.
Success comes calling
After signing with Broken Bow Records, Aldean’s debut self-titled album peaked at No. 6 on Billboard’s Country chart and earned him the ACM’s Top New Male Vocalist award, his first 11 awards from the organization, his latest being ACM Dick Clark Artist of the Decade in 2019.
Also on Aldean’s mantle are two CMA awards, seven from American County Awards, five from Billboard, and two from CMT. His most successful awards show was the 2011 American Country Awards where he was nominated for eight awards, and won six: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year (My Kinda Party), Male Single of the Year (“My Kinda Party”), Single of the Year with Vocal Collaboration (“Don’t You Wanna Stay” w/Kelly Clarkson), Touring Headline Act of the Year, and Group, Duo, or Collaboration Music Video of the Year (“Don’t You Wanna Stay” w/Kelly Clarkson).
“Thank you very much. It’s been a hell of a year,” he said. “(I want to thank) everybody that had a part in the last year. It’s been amazing. I’m proudest that over a million of you guys came out to our shows this year. You guys are the reason this year has been amazing. See you all on the road next year!”
Meeting with tragedy
Despite all the awards and record sales, Aldean has been a part of tragedy. He was on the stage during the 2017 shooting at a Las Vegas country music festival that left 60 dead and more than 850 injured.
“When I turned around, my bass player was just looking at me like a deer in the headlights,” he said in a press release for the documentary 11 Minutes, streaming on Paramount+. “And my security guy was on stage at that point, telling me to get down, waving me off the stage.”
The four-part documentary features first-person accounts from musicians, concertgoers, and first responders.
