- 6 months ago
Jason Aldean opens up about his latest number one, talks about his duet with his wife, and details the piglet and puppy friendship happing inside his house. It's all during this week's 'Superstar Power Hour' interview with Katie Neal, powered by Spirit Airlines.
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00:00Well, how have you guys been? I know that you like lots going on. So you had a magical Christmas, a piggy and a piglet and a puppy from Santa, I think. Right.
00:09Yeah. Big, big year at our house. And so, yeah, we got the bulldog. He's he's rocking. He's fun. But the pig, it's so cold outside.
00:18She's a little piglet that we haven't put her outside yet. So she's been living in the house in a pen, which is really driving me nuts right now.
00:27So, yeah, I'm sure when you're picking up that piglet, you were like, this will be an outside thing, right?
00:32Oh, 100 percent. I mean, it's it's got a it's got a pen outside. It's ready to go. But my wife's like, it's too cold. We can't put her out there right now. She's too little.
00:41So I'm like, all right, well, we'll we'll we'll reevaluate here in about a month or so. But so, yeah, I'm ready for the pig to go outside. But other than that, it's been good.
00:51I don't know that pig's ever going outside now. You might be right. You might be right.
00:55I've been dying at Brit's content of like the piglet and the puppy in the same pen. And I'm like, how are they doing this?
01:01They're best friends. The pig and the puppy are best friends. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen.
01:05They don't sleep in the bed together and they'll play. And I think the pig actually thinks she's a dog because we have her.
01:11We got the pig and then we have three dogs. So I think she just thinks she's part of the dog squad.
01:17There's a movie for this. It's called Babe. Remember that?
01:20Yes, absolutely.
01:21Oh, my God. That's so funny. Well, speaking of Brit, you guys just put out your first collab together on Easier Gone.
01:28Talk about this a little bit, because I know you guys have kind of talked like in the past, like maybe someday we'll do this.
01:32Why did now feel like the right time? Why this song?
01:35Well, I mean, for me, I mean, whenever it comes to a duet or doing anything like that, I think it's you know,
01:41I've always kind of said the song will dictate what you know what we do with that.
01:44So Charles Kelly had sent me the song for Lady Antebellum.
01:50He had pitched me the song and I just thought it was really cool.
01:54And so the more I kind of listened to it for a while and and I just talked to Brit, I said, hey, I got I got something that I think you would sound really good on.
02:02I don't know if you like the song or whatever, but this could be like something cool.
02:06And so I played it for her and she loved it. So, you know, it was one of those things.
02:12She's never really been in the studio. So we took her in.
02:16And I think the first day was probably a little overwhelming where she kind of had never done it.
02:20So she didn't really know what to expect. And so I think the first day was a little bit feeling it out.
02:24And then the second day she went in and kind of knew what to expect, a little more confidence and and trust it.
02:30So it's been fun. I mean, it's something we've wanted to do something together for a while.
02:33Wow. But like I said, I mean, to me, it's like you got to wait for the right thing to come along.
02:39And I felt like this was something that really fit her well.
02:42And I think people probably thought if we ever did something, it would be this big, sappy love song.
02:48But it's actually the opposite of that, which I love.
02:51I'm more of a heartache, heartbreak song kind of guy than I am a love song guy.
02:55So but yeah, I love it. I love the way it turned out.
02:59And I think she sounds amazing on it. And I think people have, you know, a lot of our fans and stuff have,
03:03have wanted to hear that for a while. So it's cool to give it to me.
03:06That's awesome. Did you was it easier or harder, like giving creative feedback to your wife in the studio?
03:12I think it's easier. I mean, I think she, you know, she trusts me and she she knows that whatever I'm telling her is coming from a good place.
03:19Right. And, you know, like I told her when we started the process, like I know you can sing,
03:24but I want to set this up for success. Right.
03:27Like if you're doing something or if it doesn't sound good or like whatever, you know, I'm going to be honest with you.
03:33And she knows that about me. I mean, when it comes to especially music and me making records,
03:38it's like I'm brutally honest, whether it be with her or songwriters or whoever else.
03:42And so but I think she was really receptive to that and knew that, you know,
03:47it was coming from a good place and wanted it to be good.
03:49And so, you know, any criticism or anything like that that I would give her, I think she she understood where I was coming from.
03:57And and ultimately, you know, went in and did what we asked her to do.
04:00And it was amazing. Yeah, that's so awesome.
04:03I think it's so fun. And, you know, Brie and the kids travel with you a lot when you're on tour.
04:07So does this mean is she going to come out during live shows and start doing this with you?
04:10You never know, Katie. You never know.
04:13Well, I'm happy to hear that it's like maybe on the table because I remember when Kane and Caitlin did this at first, he's like, she'll never go out there.
04:19And I was like, well, she sounds so good. And now they do it all the time.
04:21And it's great. And it's such a fun moment in the show. And so I feel like I know you guys are close with them.
04:24So I'm sure there was probably like some discussion about that.
04:27Oh, yeah. I mean, I think at some point, yes.
04:31I mean, the answer to your question is yes, I think she will.
04:35It's it's we're in that situation right now where like our kids are in school.
04:39So while I've been on the road, we kind of started touring early this year.
04:43So while I've been out there, she's been at home getting them back and forth to school and all the stuff.
04:47So probably when the summer comes around and they start coming out a little bit more, we'll probably dive into that a little bit as the album comes out and everything else.
04:54But I definitely think that's something people are probably going to want to see.
04:58Yeah, I definitely see that happening in the future when I don't know.
05:03But but this year at some point, for sure.
05:05Definitely. Well, let's talk about your latest single headed to the top of the charts.
05:08Number one, number thirty one is what this will be.
05:11How far does the goodbye go? Talk about what you loved about this song and why you picked it to be a single.
05:15Well, well, to be honest, I mean, this song, we.
05:20The songs about us album, we had all the songs picked for that, so we were you know, we had all our songs.
05:26We were going in to finish the record. We'd already cut a lot of them.
05:28And I don't know, right before we went in to cut the last session, my bandmates sent me a song and said, hey, you know, we just wrote this.
05:39But, you know, this could be good for the next album.
05:41They were already writing stuff for the album after this.
05:43Oh, my gosh. And so as soon as I heard it, I just called him.
05:46I said, no way. We're sitting on this thing for two years.
05:49Not a chance. So we ended up, I think, bumping a song off the record that we were going to cut and and put that in there.
05:58And before we even cut it, I was like, that's going to be our lead single.
06:01It was just one of those songs to me, you know, lyrically, it was great.
06:04I just I feel like it was a little bit of getting back to like our old school sound a little bit and back to basics a little bit.
06:12Those kind of songs to me are like in the wheelhouse.
06:15So, you know, I love doing those kind of things.
06:18And it was just a well-written song and something that I felt like we hadn't put out in a while, anything like that.
06:24So it was kind of a no brainer to me to, you know, that that was going to be our lead single and no way I was going to sit on it for two years and save it to the next album.
06:33So I think they might have known that that was going to happen when they sent me the song, maybe.
06:38But we'll let him do that.
06:41It was too good to leave on there.
06:43And obviously the reaction we've gotten from it's been amazing.
06:45So I'm glad we we went that route.
06:47That's new. Awesome.
06:48The new album songs about us coming this spring.
06:50You've got Luke Bryan on the title track.
06:53Talk about, you know, this song and why you wanted Luke to be on it.
06:57Well, to me, you know, songs about us is just like, you know, it kind of just talks about songs you grow up listening to things that, you know,
07:07these songs that are kind of the soundtracks to your lives.
07:10And I feel like, you know, there's probably a lot of people out there that I feel like Luke and I came up same part of the world,
07:17listening to the same music, having the same influences.
07:20So I thought it was cool for that.
07:22And I also kind of got to take it, man.
07:24Like since we hit the scene, I bet there's a lot of people out there that Luke and I have probably been the soundtracks for their lives as well, you know.
07:31And so to have Luke on it, it's, you know, he was the one that to me kind of made sense.
07:37And he and I are always kind of looking for something to do together anyway, without it being like too much and too weird where we're a duo, you know.
07:48But, you know, we love working together and love doing stuff.
07:50And so this was one of those that I was excited about.
07:54And, you know, we had just done the Shenandoah thing together to Sunny in the South.
07:59And so this kind of came on the heels of that.
08:02And it's always fun to work with him.
08:04And, you know, the song I just felt like was something that he was the only person I really wanted to ask to do that.
08:11Do you remember like the first time you met Luke?
08:13Like you guys have spent your whole careers like side by side.
08:15But I don't know if I've ever asked you that.
08:16Like when you guys first met.
08:18I met him the first time I ever headlined.
08:21There's a DVD.
08:22Our first DVD thing that we ever made back in the day was Wide Open Live and More, I think was the name of the DVD.
08:30It was a live concert that we did in Knoxville, Tennessee.
08:35And so that day I went over to the radio station there in Knoxville to do an interview.
08:40And as I'm walking in, Luke's walking out.
08:43He was playing the after party at some bar that night.
08:46After my show, he was doing an after party for the radio station at a bar.
08:50So he was promoting his show.
08:51I was there promoting my show.
08:53And we had heard about each other.
08:54I mean, we used to play the same clubs and we joke about it all the time.
08:58It's like go into a bar somewhere and rip his poster down and put my poster on the wall.
09:02And he would do the same thing.
09:04So we were aware of each other and who each other was, but we had never met.
09:08And I met him that day in the radio station, talked to him, sat there in the lobby and talked to him for 10 minutes.
09:15And that was the first time I met him.
09:17And then I went on a deer hunting trip.
09:20We had some mutual friends and we ended up in the same deer camp together.
09:23And that was really where we kind of hit it off, became friends.
09:26And I invited him to come out and open shows for me the next year.
09:29And he was he actually toured with me two out of the next three years after that.
09:33And so that was when we kind of got to be friends.
09:35And as my career was exploding and then a couple of years later, his was exploding while he was on the road with me.
09:41And so we kind of got to be there for each other and witness that.
09:44And, you know, he watched it happen for me.
09:46And a couple of years later, I watched it happen for him.
09:48And, you know, I've always said like that friendship that he and I have is is pretty cool because there's not a lot of people that have been through a lot of the same stuff that we have.
09:58Yeah. On the level that we have.
10:00And so he's always been somebody that I can pick up the phone and call that I know he's been there.
10:06He's been there, done that like I have.
10:08And like we can kind of lean on each other for advice or different things like that.
10:12And so it's been it's been a really cool friendship over the years.
10:14That's awesome.
10:15And then you are headed out.
10:17You're out right now on the Full Throttle Extended Dates tour.
10:19You're going to be doing some shows overseas, tons of fairs and festivals this summer.
10:23Like, what are you most excited about seeing people out on the road for 2026?
10:26I'm excited about the new album coming out, you know, and, you know, getting a chance to put some of those songs, the new songs into the show.
10:32You know, that's always cool.
10:33And so excited about that.
10:36I'm excited to go over to New Zealand and Australia and do that run again.
10:41It's been about 10 years since we were over there.
10:43So excited to go back over there and get to check that out.
10:46And those fans were incredible.
10:49The last time we went, it kind of blew my mind because I'd never been over there and and played.
10:53So going over there and you realize, oh, my God, people halfway around the world are jamming out to our music.
10:58We had no idea.
10:59So that's going to be a lot of fun, too.
11:02And just looking forward to a great summer amphitheater season, which is always fun when you're ready to get out and cut loose and have fun.
11:09So just the whole thing.
11:11Looking forward to it.
11:12Yeah.
11:12Busy schedule, as always.
11:14And we actually we have you on the show leading right up to Valentine's Day.
11:17So wanted to ask you some Valentine's Day themes questions.
11:20Like, or do you guys go all out in the house for Valentine's Day or are you like more low key couple?
11:25No, that's like one of the holidays that I don't think we we go all out for in the house.
11:31Like everything else, our house is decorated.
11:33It's crazy.
11:34And Valentine's Day for us is, you know, if we can sneak in a date night on Valentine's Day, that's like a that's like.
11:41Yeah, and my oldest daughter, her birthday's Valentine's Day.
11:45So, yeah, so she's always Valentine's Day is always kind of been her birthday.
11:49And Valentine's Day for us is usually like the day before the day after or something like that.
11:53But but yeah, Valentine's, if we can sneak away, do like a dinner and a date night or something that that's that's usually about the extent of our Valentine's Day.
12:04We were laughing because did you see Super Bowl next year falls on Valentine's Day?
12:09Oh, really?
12:09Yeah, well, I was like, fellas, start digging out that hole now.
12:13Somebody is somebody is going to get heartbroken on Valentine's Day.
12:16That's for sure.
12:18Well, listen, thank you for the time today.
12:20Congratulations on the success of how far does a goodbye go?
12:23And I'm sure we will see you out on the road real soon.
12:25Absolutely.
12:26Thanks, Katie.
12:26I appreciate it.
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