Aldean, Jason << al DEEN >> (1977-…), is a popular American country music singer. He has had a number of hit songs and albums. Aldean has won several awards for his music.
Jason Aldine Williams was born on Feb. 28, 1977, in Macon, Georgia. He began singing and playing guitar as a child. He began performing as a singer when he was 14 years old. Soon afterward, he started performing with a band in Macon. After high school, he continued playing with the band in college towns along the southeastern coast of the United States. Around this time he began using the stage name Jason Aldean. He signed a songwriting contract in 1998 and moved to Nashville later that year.
Aldean’s self-titled debut album was released in 2005. The song “Why” from the album became Aldean’s first number-one country hit on Billboard magazine’s “Hot Country Songs” chart. The album also featured the country hits “Amarillo Sky” and “Hicktown.”
Aldean’s fourth studio album, My Kinda Party (2010), became one of the best-selling albums in the United States in 2011. It featured the hit “Dirt Road Anthem.” A notable remix of the song featuring the American rap performer Ludacris was released in 2011. The album also featured the hits “Fly Over States” and “Don’t You Wanna Stay,” a duet with the American singer Kelly Clarkson.
Aldean’s other hits include “Johnny Cash” and “Laughed Until We Cried” (both 2007), ”Relentless” and “She’s Country” (both 2008), “Big Green Tractor” and “The Truth” (both 2009), “Take a Little Ride” and “The Only Way I Know” (both 2012), and “1994” (2013). In 2013, Aldean made his first motion-picture appearance in the Western Sweet Vengeance.
On Oct. 1, 2017, a gunman shot hundreds of people who were attending Aldean’s performance at the Route 91 Harvest Festival at the Mandalay Bay casino hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fifty-eight people were killed and hundreds of others were wounded. It was the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. See Las Vegas concert shooting of 2017.
In 2023, Aldean released the controversial hit “Try That in a Small Town.” Some critics said the song promoted vigilante activity and gun violence.
