Country superstar Jason Aldean takes us through his No. 1 on the Billboard chart hits with personal backstories like how “Don’t You Wanna Stay” came to be with Kelly Clarkson and why she made him throw his studio notes in the trash, why Ludacris was perfect for “Dirt Road Anthem,” how “She’s Country” became the game-changer that launched his superstar status and why he stands by his controversial chart topper “Try That in a Small Town.”
Jason Aldean:
Hey, what’s up everybody? It’s Jason Aldean here and this is my Billboard Chart history. I just remember that was our first No. 1 song. That was our first No. 1 single. All of us looked really young, you know what I mean? I remember us not having a lot of money. My guitar player in that video had on a pair of, I think he was wearing Chuck Taylors and, gaff tape or something holding them together because we didn’t… I’m like, “Really, that’s the shoes you’re gonna wear for the video today?” That was just kinda the point in time we were at. That was our second single. Our first single had, you know, took like 40 something weeks to crack the top 10. And you know, our first No. 1. And it was just like, you know, I just remember thinking, “Man, if all this goes away tomorrow, I can at least say I had a No. 1 single. “And I remember shooting that video in, in a house in Nashville somewhere. And it was cold, really cold, and that chick was in the pool, so I felt really bad for her, but it was awesome. It was just like us getting started really in the business, learning how to shoot music videos. And I think when we went in to record the first album, we had recorded a lot of demos and things like that leading up to that record. And, you know, I remember that song coming in. John Rich, Big Kenny those guys were songwriters on that song. And we were, you know, they were pitching us a lot of songs back then and, and, that was just one that, you know, I really kinda fell in love with. And I thought that it was really important for us to kind of establish that upfront that, hey, you know, “Hicktown,” these big, like, uptempo rocker type songs, like, we do that, but we also can dial it back a little bit and, and do a, more of a ballad style song like that.
Keep watching for more!