Everything We Know About Jason Aldean’s New Album, ‘Rearview Town’
Jason Aldean fans will have new music from the country superstar in 2018. Aldean's eighth studio album, Rearview Town, is due out this spring.
Aldean's shared a first single from his new album, and announced a summer tour in support of the project. Read on to learn more -- everything we know so far -- about Rearview Town.
The Title
Aldean's new, and eighth, studio album will be called Rearview Town. Of its title track, Aldean says, "It’s about putting things behind you ... things that have held you down ... and looking ahead."
"When you look at my career and the personal experiences I’ve gone through, it really seemed like a fitting title for this record, and it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever recorded," he adds. "It was important to me to pick songs that have substance to them; I’m more conscious of that these days.”
The Release Date
Rearview Town is due out on April 13; it is available for pre-order now, via various outlets. The record is Aldean's first since the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting, during which he was onstage, and the singer says he's dedicated the disc to the tragedy's victims and survivors.
The Album Cover
Aldean's Rearview Town album cover is a distressed-looking photo of the country star. He's seated somewhere, with his guitar resting in his lap. Aldean's name and the album's title appear on the upper right of the album cover.
The Record Label
Aldean will release Rearview Town via his longtime label home, Broken Bow Records. He has been signed with the label since the early 2000s; all seven of his prior albums were released on BBR.
The Producer
Rearview Town was produced by Michael Knox. Aldean has worked with Knox for all of his previous albums.
The Single
Aldean revealed Rearview Town's first single, "You Make It Easy," on Jan. 26; its music video, a three-part mini-movie, debuted on Feb. 12. The blues-tinged love song has Aldean professing how that special someone -- in this case, no doubt, his wife, Brittany Kerr -- is "my sunshine in the darkest days / My better half, my saving grace."
Florida Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley wrote "You Make It Easy" with Morgan Wallen and Jordan Schmidt.
The Songs
In a press release, Aldean says that the varied musical styles to which he was exposed while growing up in Macon, Ga., influenced Rearview Town: "I had a chance to learn about so many different styles of music,” Aldean says of his childhood. “Looking back on first playing in bands as a teenager, I was just soaking everything up. A lot of that comes out on this record ... where I've been, and who I am now.”
The same release explains that Rearview Town's track listing is full of songs that "catapult between traditional country grooves, stadium-sized rock riffs and rap-style boom-thwacks." Don't expect to hear a Route 91-inspired song, however: "Ninety-five percent of this record was recorded before [the shooting] happened," the country star says.
"As far as going back to put an exclamation mark on the record for what happened in Vegas, I didn't feel the need to do that," Aldean adds. "The album was cool before that happened, and I still think it's cool afterwards."
All but four of Rearview Town's songs, in fact, were recorded prior to the Route 91 shooting; during his media event, Aldean specifically mentioned that "Ride All Night" and "I'll Wait for You" were among those final songs, recorded in December. Although that session took place two months after the tragedy, Aldean and his team had already more or less mapped out what those final songs would sound like before it happened.
"I didn't feel the need to go back in and record a "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"-type of moment for the record," Aldean notes.
Shortly after announcing his new album, Aldean told syndicated radio morning show Ty, Kelly & Chuck that his new disc will feature a duet with a woman; he didn't reveal who the singer was at the time, but he did say it wasn't his wife nor his 2018 tour opening act Lauren Alaina. As it turns out, he collaboration partner is none other than Miranda Lambert, on a song called "Drowns the Whiskey" (though Aldean admits he originally pitched her on a different song).
Jason Aldean, Rearview Town Track Listing:
1. "Dirt to Dust" (Jaron Boyer, Ben Stennis, Michael Tyler)
2. "Set It Off" (Brandon Kinney, Jody Stevens, Josh Thompson)
3. "Girl Like You" (Jaron Boyer, Josh Mirenda, Michael Tyler)
4. "You Make It Easy" (Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley, Jordan Schmidt, Morgan Wallen)
5. "Gettin’ Warmed Up" (Jaron Boyer, Josh Mirenda, Cole Taylor)
6. "Blacktop Gone" (Brett Beavers, Derric Ruttan, Josh Thompson)
7. "Drowns the Whiskey" (feat. Miranda Lambert) (Brandon Kinney, Jeff Middleton, Josh Thompson)
8. "Rearview Town" (Kelley Lovelace, Bobby Pinson, Neil Thrasher)
9. "Love Me or Don’t" (Tyler Hubbard, Jordan Schmidt, Morgan Wallen)
10. "Like You Were Mine" (Kurt Allison, Jonathan Edwards, Tully Kennedy, Brian White)
11. "Better at Being Who I Am" (Casey Beathard, Wendall Mobley, Neil Thrasher)
12. "I’ll Wait for You" (Nick Brophy, Michael Delaney, Jennifer Hanson, Neil Thrasher)
13. "Ride All Night" (Dallas Davidson, Kyle Fishman, Houston Phillips)
14. "Up in Smoke" (Jessi Alexander, David Lee Murphy, Chris Stevens)
15. "High Noon Neon" (Tony Martin, Lee Miller, Neil Thrasher)
The Tour
This summer, Aldean will be on the road for his 2018 High Noon Neon Tour, which takes its name from Rearview Town's final song. It will make 34 stops throughout North America, beginning with a show in Kansas City, Mo. on May 10. Luke Combs and Lauren Alaina will be Aldean's special guests on the tour.
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