Jason Aldean Quotations

When I was a kid, we went to St. Augustine, Fla., and I was lying on the couch one night with a Q-tip, cleaning my ear out after I'd taken a shower. I hit my arm on something, jabbed the Q-tip through my ear drum, busted my ear drum and couldn't get back in the water the rest of the time we were there.

I think my music is definitely country but it's got a little bit of that rock flair about it. I always try to find the things that everyday people deal with in their everyday lives and situations in the songs that I sing.

I think everybody would love to say they were in a movie. Whether or not I'm any good at it, I don't know.

Country music artists are staying true to their roots, keeping it country but throwing a little bit of rock flair in there which I think is a good thing.

There's a lot of people I'd love to work with at some point, but I think the song has to be the right thing. It has to be the right fit.

I try to record music that people can relate to.

Obviously when you're making music, you want it to get out to as many people as possible. You want to reach as many people as you can.

If the right thing comes along and you get an opportunity to be a part of something you believe in, and you think it's cool and want to put your name on it, then you should.

Traveling all over the country and all over the world, I think you've got a lot of pop acts and a lot of rock acts that are making a point of traveling to different places and making people aware of their music and their shows and the whole deal and I think country music has always sort of stayed, for the most part, in the states.

My dad started teaching me how to play guitar when I was 13 years old. When he'd go to work, he'd map out guitar cords on a piece of notebook paper. I'd sit down and look at it every day and practice while he was gone.

My dad encouraged anything I wanted to do, especially music. Actually he drove me around to places where I could play.

Now one thing I think is really lame, is if you're an artist and you go to a karaoke bar and sing your own song. I like to get up there and sing stuff that I would never sing on stage anywhere else. Like Neil Diamond.

I'm very particular about the kind of music that I record and sing, and it would be the same way about the kind of movies that I would do.

I've been wearing Wrangler jeans for more than a decade now, all the way back to when I first started playing clubs in my teens in Georgia.

There are a lot of people out there that really aren't that different than me, I consider myself a pretty average guy, so hopefully they understand me and know where I am coming from. I kinda feel like I am a voice for them.

It feels good when your hometown supports you, and Macon's always done that with us. Every time we come here, it's an event - which is nice.

It's the only time that I'm ever nervous on stage, is when we're doing live TV. Especially an awards show, because I know you can't fix it.

Macon has such a rich musical history - and the state of Georgia, as well.

If it takes you a year to cut a record, I don't know, you need to find something else to do. It really shouldn't take that long.

'She's Country' obviously changed a lot of things for us and pretty much, I think, doubled our crowd size in just a few months time.

Alabama - they were the masters of that. They could come out with 'Mountain Music' or 'Tennessee River' and then turn around and come out with 'Feels So Right.' Go out and have fun and be those guys that like to party, then turn around and make every woman in America want Randy Owen.

For every album, I look at where I'm at in my career and think of a title that kind of represents that. And for me, 'Night Train' was kind of a metaphor for where things have gone, from being on one bus with 12 other guys, pulling a trailer my first few years on the road, to now. We're out here with six or seven buses and eight or nine semis.

I don't really think that audiences are that much different. I think that a fan is the same whether you are from here or from Japan - you come to a show because you like the music. I don't really see much of a difference anywhere.

I don't know if Nashville will ever be ousted as the Music City. But I also think that here, over the last few years, Georgia has definitely kind of risen to the top as far as the crop of young artists coming out of this area that are kind of making waves, you know?

I'm a country boy. I'm from Georgia.

I would say, 'Go ask any couple that's been married for 30, 40, 50 years... It hasn't always been roses.'

As a new artist, you come out, and there are so many other new artists. It seems like there's a whole wave of new artists that come along every year. In '05, I was part of the crop. It was a lot harder trying to set myself apart from the rest of the pack.

I think from an artist standpoint, you have to put out music that you feel like represents you and things you feel like your crowd wants to hear. And if that drives them to go and download the album or the single, that's what we want.

My mom was a single mom, and she had enough on her plate. I knew when I was doing something I wasn't supposed to, and I tried to keep her from finding out about it. I did a pretty good job of that.

People see you onstage and the glamorous side, but they don't see you traveling 600 miles a night, eating truck stop food and spending by yourself staring at walls.

After my first No. 1 song back in 2006, I worried I may never have another one.

I think great songs can come from anywhere and you constantly have to be able to look out for those. I think a lot of the times people will try too hard to write everything themselves and therefor miss out on great songs that way.

I have a love of baseball and a love of music.

I love fried okra. The fact that it's okra makes me feel like it's good for you - I forget the fact that it's fried.

I love playing music. And that's what it's all about.

I didn't get into music to become famous and I didn't get into music to become rich either - I got into because I liked it.

I think every artist wants to have that 'Grammy award winner' tag in front of their name.

If you can go out with your live show and turn people on to that, where you have that fan base that's religious and they're going to come see you when you're in that town, once your radio success is gone and you're not a mainstream guy anymore you can still go out and play your shows.

If you say, 'I'm going to cut this song because I know the teenagers are going to love it,' well, then you're going to alienate everybody else. When I cut my record, I'm just going to cut the things that I like, and whoever likes it, likes it. That's too much work to try to figure out the demographic. That's too much like a business.

Hearing people clapping draws you in pretty quick. It's like bungee cord jumping - it's a rush; you just want to do it again.

You don't want to get too ahead of yourself and go out thinking you can play stadiums every night, and they end up being about half-full.

Capricorn was one of the homes of the Southern rock movement with the Allman Brothers and Charlie Daniels and the Marshall Tucker Band. I don't think you can come from that area and not be influenced by that stuff a little bit, no matter what generation you grew up in.

Country music in the mid-'90s was a big influence on my career, and I played all the songs that are referenced in '94' back in my club days. Joe Diffie was rocking a sick mullet, and he was hotter than ever... just putting out monster hit after monster hit. It totally takes me back to those days, and it makes me smile every time I hear it.

I grew up in an age where I loved going and buying a physical record. Things that were digital and all that stuff, it wasn't around. So I loved going and buying an album and looking through the inserts and reading stuff and seeing pictures.

There's nothing cooler than a good fitting, worn-in pair of Wrangler jeans, so it's great that with the new Retro line, my fans can go out and rock the same styles that I love.

I didn't want my records to sound like anybody else, and when I've got my guys in the studio, I have a language with those guys because we work together every day. A lot of times, you bring in outside guys, studio players, whatever, and they're great musicians. It's just that they don't necessarily play the way I want it to be played.

I think it's important for artists to work together. It's great for fans to see, like, Ludacris came out to our show in Atlanta and kinda made a surprise appearance there, it shows a mutual respect for what each other does.

Typing in the name of a song and downloading the song you really have no connection with the artist at that point. So I think it is still important to have physical CDs and stuff like that.

To me, a critic is someone who gets paid for their opinion, and they're entitled to that opinion but I don't really put a lot of stock into their opinion. I'm going to cut the kind of records and the kind of songs that I like, and the kind of things that I enjoy doing. If critics dig it, that's fine, if they don't, that's fine.

Records are one thing, and obviously, without hit songs, you don't have the opportunity to do your shows. But my live show has always been my selling tool.

The 'Night Train' has already been a crazy ride for me. We flew around making TV appearances and stadium announcements all over the country, fueled by little more than coffee and adrenaline... so many fans jumped on board with us, and I couldn't be more thankful.

You're not going to hear me singing songs about Wall Street because I don't know anything about that.

I grew up listening to all kinds of music, everything from country to rock, pop, R&B and even rap, so for me, music is music and a great song is a great song.

Gimme some of that you and me, Some of that way back when, A little bit of wild and free I wanna feel that again

There are people out there who are into traditional country music and for those people you have artists like Brad Paisley and Josh Turner and Alan Jackson. Then you have artists with a progressive style of country music, like myself and Eric Church and Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert.

The worst gig story I have is from a club in Alabama that I think is still up and running, so I won't name the name of the club. We got hired in there to play, and the owner was pretty annoying. He kept coming up to me during the show and asking me to play 'Purple Rain.'

I think country music is obviously a great form of music. I think it's cool and has mass appeal.

She gets on you under your skin like a tattoo she'll always be there!

Playing a stadium is a big adrenaline boost for me and I dig it. It keeps me on my toes and makes me revamp everything I'm doing and not get stagnant with how I approach every show, which is something I like.

My golf score is really bad. I don't know. I'm definitely not a good golfer. Off the tee box, I can drive it about 275, and I'm in the fairway about 99% of the time. It's my next shot that needs work.

You come to a country music show and it's like a rock show, it's so different, it's just not what people think it is, it's really cool and I think that if people just give it a chance they'd see that it's really cool and I think that's what people are finally starting to see.

Yeah I'm chillin' on a dirt road, laid back swervin' like I'm George Jones.

My goal is that when the last song is over, and you're walking back to the parking lot, you're already on your phone searching to find the next show.

You have record companies that sign acts that they think are great, and then they never do anything. Acts that they don't think are really going to do much end up having a career. I don't think anyone really knows what it is that drives somebody to get on their computer and want to download a song.

I only took about five guitar lessons in my life from an actual teacher. I learned fast that that wasn't for me. I didn't have the attention span to learn that way. So I learned the basics from my dad, then just from playing on stage, and watching other guitar players.

I don't think I really have any wisdom. Stay out of trouble. Good luck. Stay away from women because they will burn you, haha.

I got a hat deal with Resistol, where I have my own line of cowboy hats.

I grew up listening to everything. And rock and roll has always been a big, big part of it - as big a part of what I do as any other type of music.

I think when you wear the brand anyway, why not go out and try to promote it and make it as cool as you can? The fact that I can continue to do what I've always done and kind of become the face of that brand is to me, kind of just makes sense. It doesn't make sense not to do it I guess.

I had an opportunity to play baseball in college, but I just didn't want to go to school. I started focusing on my music and it was game over!

I had no idea 'Big Green Tractor' was going to be as big a hit as it was. You just can't predict those things.

I haven't figured out why people like what they like. I don't know. I wish I did. I could sell that to everybody, man, and be a millionaire.

No matter what you do, you're going to have people who have something to say about something you do. You can't please anybody.

I know I'm not gonna please everybody when I make a record. I don't let that affect any of my decisions.

I think it's important to do things that you're interested in. I think it's important to have other outlets away from the music industry.

I had a friend, Melissa, who was 28 years old. She was my best friend's wife, and she was my wife's best friend. She died of breast cancer. When she passed away back in 2004 was the last time I cried.

The only person that anybody's ever said I resemble is a young Elvis. It used to happen a lot more when I was younger, and more when I don't wear a hat.

I got off stage and this guy walked up to me. He's like this ball of energy. His name was Lawrence Mathis, a manager. He said. 'I like what you're doing, and I'd like to talk to you. What are your plans? What are you doing?' I said, 'You caught me at a bad time, because I'm probably moving home in a couple of months.' But I met with him that next Monday and told him what was going on. He said, 'Give me a year to work with you.' I said, 'l don't have a year. I've got six months, at best.' He said, 'All right. Six months.' Five weeks later we got offered a deal from Broken Bow.

But for me, I thought you made a record, you got on a bus, went out and played your shows and made a lot of money. That was the way it was supposed to go down. But there's a lot more to it than that. There are a lot of early mornings, late nights, a lot of traveling, a lot of being away from home, being away from your family.

I went and took it to the label, and they loved it, so we put it on the record.

Our first No. 1 was 'Why' and we waited two years to have another one. It felt like forever, and now I feel like I'm celebrating one every few months, which I love.

My producer, Michael Knox, he's kind of my eyes and ears on Music Row. While I'm out on the road, he's looking for songs, and then he and I will get together and go over songs.

My main lucky number is 9. That was my baseball number in high school. My other lucky number is 3, because that's the one I wore before I got to high school and had to pick a different one.

I think he's just a great songwriter, and obviously, artist-wise, that speaks for itself.

We call them impact songs, and people buy impact songs. But you just never know what those songs are going to be. One of those songs that really went through the roof for us was 'Big Green Tractor,' which I thought was kind of a fun little ditty song that I never in a million years thought would be as big as it was. But it was.

Why are you always on the verge of goodbye, before I'll show you how I really feel inside.

Entertainer of the Year, to me, there's never been any question that that's one on my bucket list that I want. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you. If there's one that I ever could get - I would trade all the rest of them in for that one.

There's many an artist that comes to Nashville in hopes of doing the same thing I'm doing right now,

That's kind of fuse for the show - those first 10-15 seconds you're onstage. The curtain drops and you see the crowd for the first time and they see you for the first time. The response and the energy that's going on right there - to me, that sets the tone for the rest of the night.

It's one of those things where if I do a movie, I don't even know if I'm any good. So, I may do one and it sucks and I'm a horrible actor, and I'll never do another one.

'Tattoos' reminds me of where I'm from, and some of the stuff I did when I was growing up. That was one of the things that was appealing about the song when I heard it the first time.

It'll be my luck that the worst candidate will pick up 'Fly Over States' as his election song. Then I'll be forever linked to that guy, whoever he is!

I love fried okra. The fact that it's okra makes me feel like it's good for you - I forget the fact that it's fried.

I'm trying to get an acting gig on 'CSI' or something like that, so we'll see how that works out. I'm a singer, definitely not an actor, so I just follow directions.

I remember being 4 or 5 years old, sitting in front of a record player with headphones listening to my dad's albums,

In the music business, especially the country music business, every 10 years or so you're going to have this changing of the guard, this wave of new artists that comes in.

I can picture guys sitting out in their yard, working in their yard, bending over to plant some trees or something, and half their crack shows, ... I mean, that's kind of one of the things that drew me into the song. The song talks about things that I grew up experiencing.

I can definitely relate to a few things in the song. Going mudding on a dirt road, going to football games, I did a few of those things.

I do believe that if it's meant to be, it will be. Luckily for me, things worked out.

The DVR thing has rocked my world. Being on the road, I used to not keep up with any shows. Now I got a DVR, so I'm watching everything: 'CSI: Miami,' my favorites 'Criminal Minds' and 'The Mentalist.' I like some of the HBO stuff, 'Entourage' and 'Eastbound & Down.' My wife got me into the 'Grey's Anatomy' deal, so I'm watching that.