Carrying on his legacy…
Jason Aldean has been around the country music scene for quite awhile now, with his self-titled debut album coming back in 2005.
Obviously country music has changed a lot in that time – and Jason’s music is the perfect example of that.
Listen back to Jason’s early stuff, with songs like “Why,” “Amarillo Sky” and “The Truth” and then compare it to his more recent releases like “Got What I Got,” “We Back,” or heaven forbid, “Burnin’ It Down,” and you’ll see that his music has pretty much spanned the entire spectrum of country music during his career, from the good to the bad and of course… the downright ugly.
He’s definitely trended heavy towards the pop and rock side of country in the more recent years of his career, even if he does still have some good, more traditional country sounding songs like “Any Ol’ Barstool” or his 2016 duet with Miranda Lambert, “Drowns the Whiskey.”
Jason recently talked with The Tennessean to reflect on his career, and he talked about how he believes he’s changed the sound of country music:
“I was a new artist trying to make my little mark in Nashville after moving here in November of 1998. Changing the genre’s sound a little bit while doing that was kinda cool.”
I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that…
But Jason also believes there are artists who are carrying on his style, specifically naming Morgan Wallen…and Sam Hunt?
Now, Morgan Wallen I definitely get. Their sound and style is undeniably similar, though I’d argue that Morgan’s songwriting is miles and miles above Jason’s for the most part.
But Sam Hunt? I mean, they’re both pop country. But Jason’s music has always had a more rock-leaning, in-your-face sound while Sam’s is generally more R&B. Maybe Jason’s talking about the whole talking/singing thing that Sam does and Jason popularized on “Dirt Road Anthem?”
Not to mention, Sam Hunt really isn’t even making music, is he? He’s released two albums in 8 years, and after dropping his latest album Southside in 2020 he just kind of…disappeared from the music scene.
He’s not really carrying… anything?
Kind of a weird thing for Jason to say…but it seems like he’s accepted his spot in the pop country lane, and he’s hoping others keep it going after he’s gone.
