Fresh off the release of the second part of his new double album, Macon Georgia, back in April, Jason Aldean sat down with Billboard, to talk the new album Georgia, touring, supporting Morgan Wallen, politics and more.
For Aldean, his career has always hinged on his live show. And when it comes to the live show, he’s proud of the support he’s selected along the way.
From Eric Church, to Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, and more, he’s seen his fair share of openers turn into major headliners themselves:
“We have a pretty good track record with that. There’s a chalk board in that room over there in my manager’s office. Every year we’ll have all the names on the chalk board, every artist on every label that is available, that we think is a possibility.
We spend a lot of time making sure we get the best options we can, someone we think is going to work with our crowd and take off in the next year. There are some that I got it right and they have gone on to be great, and some I almost missed the boat on.”
And one of those he almost missed? None other than Luke Combs.
When it came time to start planning Jason’s 2018 High Noon Neon Tour, he had a young gun named Luke Combs in mind as the opener. But Luke, fresh off his first hit single “Hurricane,” wanted the middle spot.
Jason wasn’t having it:
“I remember trying to get Luke Combs for the third opening slot on a tour and he wanted the middle slot. I remember telling Clarence (his manager), ‘He’s only got one hit.’
‘Well, they think he’s gonna have more,’ and I said, ‘Well, everybody thinks they’re gonna have more.’
So I kinda fought him a little bit but eventually gave in. That was one of the times I wasn’t sure, but then when he was on the road with us, you could see things just started to blow up for him.”
Ultimately, Jason made the right call and Luke, well… let’s just he’s the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year right now…oh, and he has like 13 straight number ones and is showing no signs of slowing down.
As for one name Jason has his eyes on?
“Parker McCollum’s the guy that I like right now, he’s amazing and one that I’ve kind of got my eye on.”
Good choice.
