Jason Aldean has four children – Keeley and Kendyl from his first marriage, and Memphis and Navy from his marriage to Brittany Aldean. Aldean’s oldest children grew up as their father’s career took off, which gave him a lot of perspective with his younger two. With artists like Brett Young, Kane Brown, Maren Morris and more all experiencing parenthood for the first time, Aldean’s biggest piece of advice to them would be to spend more time at home with their families.
“Luckily for a lot of those guys, the early parts of their career are over, and they’re more established now,” Aldean shared with PopCulture.com and other media. “The biggest advice I could give is try to juggle it and make sure that you spend time at home. Just balance it out is the best thing I could say. Make sure you’re at home and you’re not missing all those things with them.
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“But also, make sure you’re out still doing what you need to do for your career,” he continued. “Because you start working for different reasons at that point. Now all of a sudden, you’ve got these people to take care of and you’re doing this to take care of them. I think that’s part of it.”
Aldean’s self-titled debut album was released in 2005, when Keeley was just a 2-year-old, and Kendyl wasn’t yet born. With Aldean just getting started, the Georgia native admits he wasn’t home as much as he would have liked, which is why he prioritizes time with Memphis and Navy more than ever.
“For me, early on, I was in the middle of getting my career up and running,” Aldean reflected. “When my older two were little, I was gone all the time. It was a little tougher, and that’s why now with the younger ones it’s like trying to make it a point to make sure I’m there a little bit more and I don’t miss all the little things that go on a daily basis.
“I think that’s the thing is just trying to find that happy medium of balance, because managers and publicists and everybody that works with you, they’ll run you ragged if you don’t at some point put your foot down and say, ‘Not today,’” he continued. “And I think it’s okay to say no to things. It took me a while to figure that out, but sometimes you have to do that. And especially for all those [new parents], they’re all through that early stage of their career where they’re a little more settled in and they can do that and still pull it off. So that would be my advice to all of them.”
Aldean will enjoy some time at home with his family before he launches his We Back Tour in January. Find dates at JasonAldean.com.
Photo Credit: Getty / Terry Wyatt
