Jake Owen’s New Album Will Be Something to Talk About

While Jake Owen is crossing the country on Jason Aldean's Night Train tour, he's also busy plotting new music. The Florida native, who soared to the top of the charts with his 2011 album, Barefoot Blue Jean Night, is putting a lot of thought into his new set of tunes, which he hopes to release later this year.

"It will have more songs that I love and enjoy, and songs that I want to go onstage and sing," he tells The Boot. "But more importantly, the kind of songs that really relate to my life, and my brand and my identity of how people perceive my music. Songs that people want to tell their friends about. You can pick songs that sound like hits, but if it's not something that somebody wants to tell their friends, 'Hey man, have you heard this song?' then I don't think it's worth it. The only way to get your music out there, is for someone to tell their friends about it."

The 31-year-old scored his first platinum hit with the title track of his latest album, which was also the first song he released that he didn't co-write. The success of the single taught him a powerful lesson.

"I spent about six or seven years of my life, on the two records I put out [Startin' With Me and Easy Does It], I wrote everything," Jake explains. "I started putting down my own pen and spending some time searching for the best songs out there possible. It doesn't matter if I wrote them or not. Some artists will tell you that's all they want to do is write their own music, and that's great, but George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, they didn't write everything they recorded, and they've had major, major careers. I think it's all about the best song."

Jake will head to Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota with Jason later this week. See all of his upcoming concerts here.