Pop Quiz: What's on your iTunes? Jason Aldean, 31, Nashville

Published: Friday, May 09, 2008, 12:17 AM     Updated: Friday, May 09, 2008, 12:26 AM

You won't see Jason Aldean running down country roads or city streets with a tiny iPod shuffle clipped to his T-shirt. Nor will you see him sitting in an airport, juggling a suitcase full of the latest gizmos.

Jason Aldean will open for Tim McGraw on Thursday at the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Pelham. Also on the bill: Halfway to Hazard.
The rough-and-ready country singer admits to being a low-tech guy. Or as Aldean laughingly puts it: "I'm a computer idiot."

Well, not quite. Aldean -- who's climbed the charts with singles such as "Why," "Hicktown," "Johnny Cash" and "Laughed Until We Cried" -- isn't entirely analog. He actually owns two iPods ("a big one and a smaller one"), but rarely pushes the play buttons.

"Most of the time, on the road, I use my laptop," he says. "It's an old iBook. I bought it used about three years ago."

For some, that would be an outdated piece of equipment. But Aldean says the iBook continues to meet his needs. In fact, he says, most of his band members are attached to their computers.

Right before a show, Aldean says, he'll plug his laptop into the stereo on the tour bus and crank up a rowdy playlist. That gets him in the mood to perform, facing audiences who expect to hear hits from his two discs, "Jason Aldean" and "Relentless."

Alden also says his iBook has become a handy work tool.

"Right now, I'm in the process of trying to find songs for a new album," he says. "When my producer finds songs, he sends them to me as MP3s. I can listen to them right away and let him know what I think. I also use the laptop to keep stuff that we've recorded so far. With a program called GarageBand, I can write a song, record it on my computer and dump it into iTunes."

Choosing material that's right for him is an instinctive process, Aldean says.

"When the song kicks off, it's got to have something that grabs you musically, right off the bat," he says. "Then the lyrics have to be strong enough to keep up with the music. The subject matter has to be believable for me to sing about. And that's all it is. It's really not rocket science."


1. Alabama, "Mountain Music," 1982 -- "It's my favorite album ever, and one of the first albums I ever bought. It reminds me when I was a kid, growing up in Georgia. It was kind of a hotbed for Southern rock music. Alabama plays a mix of Southern rock and country, and that's kind of what I do. The guitar solos on that album are great."

2. Guns N' Roses, "Appetite for Destruction," 1987 -- "I remember when this album came out. My mom was kind of weird; she wouldn't let me buy the record because it had a big skull on it. So I recorded it from a friend who had one of those dual tape decks. 'Welcome to the Jungle' is a great song. Axl Rose has a unique vocal style that's definitely cool."

3. John Anderson, "2," 1981 -- "I'm a big John Anderson fan. Growing up, I used to go digging through my dad's old albums, and that's how I first heard him. This record came out a long time ago and is hard to find. I actually have this on vinyl, but don't have a record player. When I was looking for stuff on iTunes and saw it, I grabbed it. The sound of the record is really early¤'80s, a really traditional country record. He has a very distinctive vocal style."

4. 3 Doors Down, "Seventeen Days," 2005 -- "If I played rock music, that's what it would be. It's one of those albums I crank up before a show. I've bought every album of theirs and never heard a bad song. That's the ultimate compliment I can give. I'm a big fan. I became friends with the lead singer, and he's a really cool guy."

5. Tracy Lawrence, "Sticks and Stones," 1991 -- "I remember buying that album when it was on tape. I was hooked. From the first song, I was a Tracy Lawrence fan. It's pretty traditional country stuff from the early¤'90s. I'm attracted to people with a unique vocal style, and he definitely has that. There are some really cool old-school honky-tonk songs, like 'Dancin' to Sweet 17.' I bought the tape, bought the CD. It's definitely stood the test of time for me."

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