Jason Aldean Previews Night Train

Jason Aldean’s fifth CD, “Night Train” is available on October 16th. It features 15 new songs, including the #1 hit “Take a Little Ride.” Jason spoke with us about making the album, and what it means for his career:

The album seems reflective. Why? I think me being the age I am, a lot of people my age, we talk about high school and teenagers and things we did then. I’m 35, and it’s just my age. When you’re my age you’re drawn to songs like that, and that’s why you see the nostalgic feel throughout the record.

Talk about a song called “The Only Way I Know,” featuring Luke Bryan and Eric Church: I’m just trying to cash in off their success. No I’m kidding. Luke & I talked a lot about working together, he & I are close, Eric was out with me last year, and they’re having monster years. Originally I thought it would be cool for Luke & me to do, and then the more I listened to it, the more I thought we could bring someone else in on it, and Eric fit the bill. I think to have the three of us on a song would be a stand-out for the album. It’s something you don’t get on an album every day: Three guys who are kinda at the top of their game.

This new album has big shoes to fill: I think obviously My Kinda Party was huge and career changing for me, I couldn’t ask that album to do more than it did, at the same time this is a completely different record, we didn’t go in the studio to record My Kinda Party 2. It’s time to shut the door on that one, and move on to the next thing, and I think we got a great album. There’s a lot of high expectations on this record because of the success we had before, and I think this album can stand up to that.

Talk about the song “1994,” which mentions Joe Diffie: Obviously anyone who’s been around country music, especially the 90s, knows Joe Diffie is one of the best singers in country music. This song was odd and different, unlike things I typically record, which is why I was drawn to it. Being a teenager of the 90s, I grew up playing John Deere Green, Third Rock From The Sun, I played all those songs, and the fact that it name-checks Joe Diffie seems kinda random, which is what I loved about the song, it added something to the record we didn’t have, and it’s been a big hit so far. My favorite Joe Diffie song is Home, which is his first song.

Has Joe heard it? He has. I haven’t talked to him about it, but others have, and he seems to like the song, and glad we cut it, so that took the pressure off, I’m glad he likes it.

Talk about “Black Tears:” I think I’m drawn to songs that are different. There’s the thing we’re known for, but I’m also drawn on songs that take you in a different direction. Not many country artists that tackle the subject of a stripper. I also think it’s one of the best written songs on the record. I feel this is one of the coolest tracks we’ve ever cut. Some people tend to shy away from it, but it’s a great song, and that’s why I wanted to cut it.

The album has 15 songs, so how many did you cut? We cut 19 songs. This is the first album I’ve ever over-cut. We cut the record and felt we had the complete album, and then we got some songs that were better than what we had, which included “1994,” “Talk,” “Starin’ At The Sun,” and “When She Says Baby.” Those came in late, and we had to record them, because they made the record better. So we took four other songs off.

Why Night Train as the title. The reason I chose it for the title, for me I stand backstage and see all the chaos, and it wasn’t that long ago when it was just me & my boys in a van. Now we have eight tractor trailers rolling down the road and it looks like a train. We have so much stuff, I don’t what we have. So that’s why we named it Night Train. It just sounds bad ass too.

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