Aldean at Mangy; Waldman/Wisdom take Trap Bar

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

By Aaron Davis

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Nashville’s country music star Jason Aldean may be unfamiliar to those not keen to the pop-country avenues of Country Music Television or carefully packaged country radio, but he’s currently a big name in the genre. His undeniable commercial success as a recording artist has been a long time coming and his momentum continues to build.

His self-titled debut, released in 2005, went gold only 12 weeks after its release and soon reached platinum status. Aldean’s first single off that disc, “Hicktown,” taps into rural, blue-collar life “propelled by a spanking beat and a girls-gone-hillbilly-wild video,” according to his website. The song was recently selected by Wal-Mart for their Soundcheck DVD series, which also features Maroon 5, Rihanna and Fall Out Boy.
In 2006, Aldean was named the Academy of Country Music’s Top Male New Vocalist of the year.

The road to success came through years of writing, recording and shopping around and, most importantly, persistence.

“We were playing lots of shows in Nashville, taking songs to labels and got turned down a couple of times,” Aldean said, from a tour stop in Kansas. “But we ended up signing with a smaller label and said, ‘this has got to work.’ I cut the songs I wanted to record and it just goes to show you that you don’t have to be with the biggest label in town to make things happen.”

Aldean’s 2007 release “Relentless,” contains a few tunes penned by John Rich of Big and Rich and others written by songwriters Brett James, Jim Collins and Tom Shapiro. “Laughed Until We Cried,” a nostalgic tune that begins with lyrics about his senior high school trip to Panama City, was made into a video. There’s also a duet, “Grown Woman,” with rising star Miranda Lambert. Though the album has that Nashville sound, the edgy rock side comes through, too.

“I was writing songs for a publishing company with John Rich for 10 years,” Aldean said, speaking of the songs that made it onto the new album. “We had those songs for a couple of years, then Big and Rich hit, and then I hit.”

   Aldean was invited to perform with his band at the 41st Annual Country Music Awards back in October. There, he was nominated for the Horizon Award. The backing band that’s traveling with him has a “southern rock setup,” he said, with two guitarists, drums, bass, and then Aldean on acoustic guitar.

“We’ve put a whole new show together for this tour,” Aldean said. “Our first show was last night, so we’re still working through some of the new songs. I hated going to shows when I was a kid and they would change the song that I wanted to hear. So we try to play the songs as they are on the record.”

Aldean and his band will perform at 10 p.m. on Thursday at the Mangy Moose in Teton Village. Tickets are $35 in advance or $37 day of show. For tickets, visit www.mangymoose.net or call 733-9779. For those of you in Idaho Falls, he’ll perform at Idaho Falls Auditorium tonight. Call 208-542-6796 for those tickets.

 “I don’t know why we’re playing the coldest places in the country during the middle of winter, but we’re looking forward to it,” Aldean said.

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Constantly probing the free jazz spectrum with his lightning rod trumpeting, Willie Waldman IS improvisation.  Co-led with stage painter Norton Wisdom, the Waldman/Wisdom Project has a new lineup for their upcoming Trap Bar shows.

The current funk crew foundation is represented by guitarist Cameron Morgan, drummer Maxwell Vision, and Jackson’s own bassist Andy Calder, who also holds down the groove for Soul Impressions, One Ton Pig and Fat Albert.

You wouldn’t think that a free-form jazz kat like Waldman would be a big player in the rap world, but Waldman has recorded with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, Nate Dogg, Perry Ferrell, and Banyan (his band with Jane’s Addiction drummer, Stephen Perkins).

Catch the Waldman/Wisdom Project at 4 p.m. this Friday and Saturday in the Trap Bar at Grand Targhee Resort. There is no cover for these shows. Check out Waldman’s sound at www.williewaldman.com.

Courtesy photo
Rising country star Jason Aldean will play at the Mangy Moose Thursday.

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Aldean at Mangy; Waldman/Wisdom take Trap Bar | Planet JH News Article: Music Box

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