With over 20 years in the industry and many years playing in small bars before that, country music icon Jason Aldean has some pretty simple advice for all of the new kids in town: it’s okay to say no.
After spending years working his way up from stuffy Georgia dive bars to massive stadium shows, when it came time for the jump to the big leagues, Aldean said he was a bit hesitant at first— but luckily it ended up paying off in the long run. The “Too Fast” singer recently shared on the latest Try That In A Small Town Podcast episode that when he was offered the opportunity to do his own headlining show, he instead decided to pump the brakes a little and join Brooks & Dunn for another opening act gig.
He says, “I even put it off a little longer just to be like, you know, give us time to get another song out and kind of let that heat that was starting to happen, just let it bubble a little.” Adding that the decision was a perfect example for other artists who need to recognize that it’s okay to be able to say, “nah, I dont think that’s right for me.”
Aldean then brings up the very true statement that, “everybody wants to be a headliner” (and rightfully so!) I mean, who wouldn’t want to be commanding a stage with thousands of fans paying money every night to see you solely?
Unfortunately, that kind of accomplishment doesn’t hit the same when you don’t have years of experience and hits under your belt as Aldean did. “The problem is a lot of them only have one or two songs and think they can go out and carry an hour and a half or two hours of a show, and it’s like, dude, you got two songs people really care about that they want to hear; what are you going to do for the other 80 minutes?”
Unfortunately, as Aldean mentions, these acts end up learning the hard way that the seats don’t fill themselves: “they’re having to like give tickets away to make it look full, and that’s little tricks that everybody does.” He notes that a lot of these newer artists are making the jump way too early instead of going through the motions of being an opening act and, “building their catalogue a little bit.”
Likewise, as long-time co-writer and bandmate Kurt Allison brings up, streaming numbers aren’t an accurate measure of success. Time and time again, the conversation comes up that in today’s music industry, artists can find overnight success through social media, rack up millions of Spotify streams, and suddenly believe they’re ready to headline shows. But streaming numbers alone don’t mean an artist has the catalog or experience to carry a full set.
The guys all agree that “a lot of times a stream is background noise…people have Spotify or whatever just playing some playlist,” so unfortunately sometimes the song isn’t necessarily building a dedicated fan base like the streams may imply. So for any artists hoping to catapult their careers overnight, take a look at Aldean’s current 2026 Songs About Us Setlist, which is built off of 21 years of fan-favorite hits.
He’ll return to the road alongside the Try That In A Small Town podcast hosts this Thursday, July 30, in Ridgefield, WA, with several summer tour dates ahead of him before wrapping things up on September 26 in Gilford, NH.
Tour Dates:
- Thu July 30 – Ridgefield, WA – Cascades Amphitheater^
- Fri July 31 – Nampa, ID – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater^
- Fri Aug 14 – Wheatland, CA – Toyota Amphitheatre^
- Sat Aug 15 – Fresno, CA – Save Mart Center at Fresno State^
- Sat Aug 22 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center#%
- Thu Aug 27 – Bossier City, LA – Brookshire Grocery Arena^
- Fri Aug 28 – Brandon, MS – Brandon Amphitheater^
- Sat Aug 29 – Orange Beach, AL – The Wharf Amphitheater^
- Thu Sep 10 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach^
- Fri Sep 11 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater^
- Sat Sep 12 – Hartford, CT – The Meadows Music Theatre^
- Thu Sep 17 – Hamilton, ON – TD Coliseum^
- Fri Sep 18 – Syracuse, NY – Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview^
- Sat Sep 19 – Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion^
- Fri Sep 25 – Gilford, NH – BankNH Pavilion^
- Sat Sep 26 – Gilford, NH – BankNH Pavilion^