Nobody's going to confuse Kenny Chesney and, say, Black Flag, but Chesney is country music's bona fide DIY star. Somehow, he beat the Nashville machine mentality by playing honkytonks and selling his self-recorded demo at his shows. Eventually the major labels couldn't ignore him any more; he got a contract writing songs for other people, and then got signed himself, building a bigger following with each album. Time has mellowed him considerably, and it's a shame he's left most of his writing to other people in the last few years. But things are looking up -- he made a Guy Clark song (Hemingway's Whiskey) the title track of his most recent album, for one thing, and the album itself is his best in a decade.
How country is Jason Aldean? He once said Alabama are his Beatles. I mean, that's country. But even though he's now one of Nashville's new generation of superstars, the country music capitol almost chewed him up and spit him out his first few years there. The Georgia-born singer and guitarist was dropped by two labels in two years when he arrived, and finally got to the point where he gave himself a six-month make-or-break deadline. Within five weeks, he had another record contract, and with his debut, self-titled album in 2005, he had three hit singles, including the #1 "Why." This month, "Dirt Road Anthem," off his album My Kinda Party, became his sixth number one song, despite the fact that his short rap unfortunately proved he ain't got no flow (Ludacris' guest rhymes were pretty sweet, though). Clay Waker and Thompson Square open. - Steve Palopoli sanjose.com
Nobody's going to confuse Kenny Chesney and, say, Black Flag, but Chesney is country music's bona fide DIY star. Somehow, he beat the Nashville machine mentality by playing honkytonks and selling his self-recorded demo at his shows. Eventually the major labels couldn't ignore him any more; he got a contract writing songs for other people, and then got signed himself, building a bigger following with each album. Time has mellowed him considerably, and it's a shame he's left most of his writing to other people in the last few years. But things are looking up -- he made a Guy Clark song (Hemingway's Whiskey) the title track of his most recent album, for one thing, and the album itself is his best in a decade.
How country is Jason Aldean? He once said Alabama are his Beatles. I mean, that's country. But even though he's now one of Nashville's new generation of superstars, the country music capitol almost chewed him up and spit him out his first few years there. The Georgia-born singer and guitarist was dropped by two labels in two years when he arrived, and finally got to the point where he gave himself a six-month make-or-break deadline. Within five weeks, he had another record contract, and with his debut, self-titled album in 2005, he had three hit singles, including the #1 "Why." This month, "Dirt Road Anthem," off his album My Kinda Party, became his sixth number one song, despite the fact that his short rap unfortunately proved he ain't got no flow (Ludacris' guest rhymes were pretty sweet, though). Clay Waker and Thompson Square open. - Steve Palopoli sanjose.com
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