Hades

My Hero Jason Aldean

Jason Aldean's debut album is a country-music triumph, and maybe that's because he's been working toward it, quite literally, all his life. The Georgia native was listening to country music before he could talk. He was going to country concerts by the time he was in grade school. He was playing guitar before he reached his teens and was performing country music professionally while he was a junior-high student. In retrospect, his move to Nashville was inevitable and recording was his destiny. Like the old saying goes, the darkest hour is just before dawn.

In the summer of 2003, Jason was ready to throw in the towel. He'd been dropped from a record company's roster. His songwriting contract was expiring. He had a new baby, a mortgage and two car payments to make, and nothing looked promising on his musical horizon. For five years he'd been trying every way he could think of to make it in Nashville, and all he had to show for his efforts was a broken dream. Jason signed with Broken Bow Records. He joined a roster that included such outstanding stars as Craig Morgan (Almost Home), Joe Diffie (Tougher Than Nails) and Sherrie Austin (Streets of Heaven). The man who almost gave up had a whole new outlook. "I went through a time when I was depressed and didn't know what to do," Jason recalls. "I was just kind of at that point where I felt like I was beating a dead horse. I knew that if we moved back home to Georgia, that was probably going to be it with me and music. "I had no idea what was in store for me. I was scared that if we stayed here we were going to lose everythingÐ'--the house, the cars, whatever. I wasn't really bitter about itÐ'--I felt like I had come up here and given it a legitimate shot. I do believe that if it's meant to be, it will be. Luckily for me, things worked out."

Jason's Broken Bow debut showcases a singer with a honky-tonk tenor that resonates with emotional honesty. And it introduces country fans to a truly polished song craftsman. Although still in his 20s, Jason already has a wealth of performing experience. He was raised on country music from the time of his birth, February 28, 1977. Parents Barry and Debbie divorced when he was three. He was raised by his mother; mainly in Macon, Ga. Summers were spent with his father in Homestead, Fla.

"My dad played the guitar and is a pretty good singer. He's really the one who put the music bug in me. He's a big fan of Merle Haggard and Johnny Rodriguez. I was going to country shows by the time I was in second grade. My first concert was Kenny Rogers and The Gatlin Brothers. The first record I remember having was Mountain Music by Alabama. I've still got it. They were always my favorites growing up, and still are. I've seen them in concert 10 or 15 times. "I'd go to Dad's house in the summers. When he'd go to work during the day, he would always map me out the guitar chords on notebook paper to show my fingers where to go to play which chords. I just sat there and did that all day while he was at work. When he got home, we'd get out his guitar and play together. So that's how I learned to play. "Then it got to where I could just listen to songs and be able to play them after hearing them about three times. That's when I really started learning a lot of songs." Early favorites included George Strait's "The Cowboy Rides Away," "The Blues Man" (Hank Williams, Jr.) and, of course, Alabama's "My Home's in Alabama." Both parents encouraged young Jason as he progressed musically. "One day I was sitting at home watching the country-music awards on TV, then I suddenly got up and told my mom, 'I think I'm ready to get on stage and just see how it goes.' She knew a guy who played in a band in a VFW hall in Macon. She called him and said, 'Hey, can my boy come in and sing a few songs?' He said, 'Sure.' So I went in there and sang, I think, John Anderson's song 'Seminole Wind' and 'Sticks and Stones' by Tracy Lawrence.

"Well, all 10 people who were there applauded. You know how it is: You don't want to get up there, but once you do, people have to drag you off the stage." At age 14, Jason was hooked. He began performing at area talent contests and local fairs. At 15, he joined the "house band" at the Macon nightspot Nashville South. A year later, he bought his first car with money he'd earned singing, a '85 Toyota pick-up with a rusted-out tailgate. By the time of his high-school graduation, his future was set. He adopted Aldean for his stage name, a variation of his middle name, Aldine. He was ready. He was a pro. "Once I graduated, I wanted to get out and start playing and traveling around. I just couldn't see going to school for four more years. It was hard enough to get out of high school. I went to school basically because I had to and because I wanted to play baseball. That was about it. So it was a decision whether to go to college on a baseball scholarship or play clubs, make money and meet girls. It wasn't a hard decision for me to make."

His father booked Jason and his band into college towns in Florida, Alabama and Georgia, then further up the eastern seaboard.