Jason Aldean was in for quite the surprise last night with the appearance of his longtime friend and country music star, Blake Shelton, taking the stage in honor of Aldean’s 30+ Number 1 hits.
The Country Radio Seminar FOMO has been real since its kickoff on Wednesday, as Nashville is bustling with events and performances featuring some of the genre’s biggest and rising artists. As part of the three-day event taking place from March 18th to the 20th, last night was a mega Aldean celebration following the momentous career high of his single “Whiskey Drink,” marking his 30th number one chart topper this past June 2025. Impressively, this February, he surpassed that accomplishment, adding another one to his tally with “How Far Does A Goodbye Go.”
During the night, Shelton paid homage to his fellow hit maker with his own rendition of Aldean’s 2012 banger, “When She Says Baby,” which later charted on the Country Billboard charts in 2013/2014 after being released as the fifth and final single from his albumNight Train. Grinning ear to ear, Shelton seemed to have a pretty great time taking the reins on this cover. Co-written by Ben Hayslip and Rhett Atkins, who was also behind Shelton’s hits “Boys Round Here,” “All About Tonight,” and “Honey Bee,” this track lends itself well to the Oklahoma singer’s voice.
During the night, Shelton also took the time to whip out poetry skills, or lack thereof. Nonetheless, the “heartfelt” poem titled “Jason Aldean, That’s What I Mean – By Blake Shelton” fueled one of the most hilarious out-of-pocket moments of the night. The 4-minute-long drunken sonnet covers everything from their first wild CRS meeting with Shelton, even admitting, “though we’ve crossed paths many, many times, to this day we still really aren’t friends,” to discussing Aldean’s “hell of a career” that was fueled by songs Blake jokingly said he’s passed on.
Through his rhyming words, Shelton also poked fun at Aldean’s “gravelly and porous” voice. As well as calling out Maren Morris, teasing Aldean for the two’s political head-butting in the past, and ruthlessly singling out Dustin Lynch, teasing the fellow BMG label singer, saying, “I wish they’d stop working with Dustin Lynch, seriously, what the f*** is that sound.”
Ending his proclamation with encouraging everyone to raise a beer in honor of Aldean, he made one last laughter-inducing quip, adding, “Congratulations on one hell of a feat, and I pray that Luke Bryan ain’t here.” While luckily for Shelton, his frenemy Bryan did not show up throughout the night, other stars performed, such as one of Aldean’s personal career influences, Alabama, along with Travis Tritt, and notably, both Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard joined their Florida Georgia Line forces after a four-year hiatus.