Wide open: Jason Aldean plowing through career at full throttle

By Diana Nollen

Jason Aldean really does drive a big green tractor.

But instead of using it to pick up girls, this family man uses it to pull a mower over his 20 acres outside of Nashville. Not quite as sexy as the lyrics to his chart-topping song, but at least he can put real driving experience behind his words.

He's had lots of practice steering this year, watching his country crooning career blow wide open.

“It's kind of weird,” Aldean, 32, says by phone from a recent tour stop in St. Joseph, Mo. “In 2005 I released my first album and first single (“Hicktown”). Every song that's been released has done pretty well - all but one have been in the Top 10. This year has kind of exploded. I don't know why that happened.”

But it did, and he's all over the radio, record charts, store shelves, television, ring tones, videos and awards shows.

“When it explodes like that, it seems like you're everywhere. We've been getting a lot of offers to come play that we weren't getting before, plus the new album just came out,” he says. “... I didn't feel like I burst on the scene, but it felt like everything has kicked into overdrive.”

He'll put on the brakes long enough for a “Wide Open” tour stop Friday night at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Cedar Rapids. He's been touring as a headliner since last fall and has done a few shows this year with Toby Keith and Keith Urban. That's good company for the singer-songwriter who grew up in Macon, Ga., with dreams of being a big-league baseball player. These days he helps coach his oldest daughter's softball team and takes a few swings of his own in charity ballgames.

When he's not fielding concerts.

He says being the headliner really isn't that much different from being the opening act, except for getting more time on stage and free rein of the stage surface. No more setting up in front of another band's equipment.

Being on tour with the stars while your star is rising has its advantages. It means having mentors close at hand.

“I've had a lot of advice from the guys in Rascal Flatts,” he says. “I was on tour with them for a year. They took me under their wing a little bit. Tracy Lawrence has given me some advice. If you're smart, you kind of listen to those guys who have been around longer than I have.”

Aldean grew up around music by spending summers with his dad.

“He'd play guitar and sing and a couple of my uncles play guitar and sing. That's where the music stuff rubbed off. Mom had a sister who played guitar, as well.”

He was 13 or 14 when he started following suit.

“My dad taught me the basic chords. I took that and expanded on that and taught myself,” he says. “I took two guitar lessons, and that wasn't for me. The songs they wanted me to play didn't appeal to me, so I got a songbook that I wanted to play, sat down and figured it out.”

He didn't set out to strike it big in music, however. He wanted to strike it big in baseball.

“I thought I was going to make a career out of it,” he says, but then he turned 18 and didn't get drafted by the Atlanta Braves.

“That meant I had to go back to school four more years, which I didn't want to do,” he says. “I'd been playing music at the time as a hobby. I just decided to pursue that a little bit. Luckily, it worked out.”

He moved to Nashville at age 21, put down his musical roots and put down some family roots, too. He and his wife, Jessica, have been married eight years and have daughters ages 6 and 2.

His early musical influences range from Alabama, George Strait and Tracy Lawrence to the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Charlie Daniels.

“I like a little bit of everything, from really traditional to more Southern rock and rock-edged stuff. I'm a big fan of all that.”

His fans will hear all that in his concerts, he says.

“When we come to play a show, we try to put on a show, not just stand up there singing our songs and going through the motions,” he says. “We try to put on a show and make it worth their while. We try to make it fun for everybody.”

FAST TAKE

What: Jason Aldean's Wide Open Tour, with Gloriana and Love & Theft

When: 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23  

Where: U.S. Cellular Center, 370 First Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids

Tickets: $34.75 general admission pit; $29.75 reserved seats on the main floor, risers and concourse; $24.75 balcony; through the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, all Ticketmaster outlets, 1-(800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com

Information: www.uscellularcenter.com; www.jasonaldean.com 

Information: www.uscellularcenter.com; www.jasonaldean.com