Jason Aldean Sings Praises of Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde and More

Jason Aldean might have just received the Artist of the Decade Award, but he is already seeing a lot of promise in rising stars who could someday take his place.

“I see guys like Luke Combs,” Aldean shared with PopCulture.com and other media. “I see Ashley McBryde, Maren Morris and Kane Brown. I see a lot of talent and a lot of future. It’s cool. It’s people that love country music and want to take it to the next step. The thing about country music is it’s gonna change. The way we do it now, this next generation is gonna do it a lot different than that. We do it a lot different that the guys that were before us.”

Aldean will soon hit the road on his Ride All Night Tour, with Brown and Carly Pearce serving as his opening acts. Choosing artists to open for him is as much about people he can invest in as in finding talented new singers.

“I love taking younger artists out on the road,” Aldean said. “The last couple of years I’ve had Luke Combs and Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina and people like that out, and it’s really cool. You know, I’m sitting there playing my show every night. I look over and there’s Luke or Kane, and they’re sitting there watching kind of everything that’s going on with our show, kind of being students and learning. And I think that’s really smart. That’s what I did.”

The Georgia native, who remembers learning from artists like Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney when he was the tour opener, is proud of how his opening acts try to learn from him.

“I think those guys are doing it right,” said Aldean. “I think there’s a bright future in country music, looks good, and hopefully they’ll let us keep being a part of it for a while. I love new acts. Every random new act has different influences and it just creates a whole different sound of music. And so it’s always cool to see what’s going to come out of that.”

Aldean ended his three-year run as Entertainer of the Year at the recent ACM Awards, when Keith Urban claimed the trophy instead. But with more than a dozen major awards filling his trophy case, Aldean is nothing but grateful for how far he has come.

“I feel like there was a time there where we were sort of the perennial nominee,” Aldean acknowledged. “There were years where I felt like we had a legitimate shot at it and it just kind of got to the point where I’m was like, “Man, maybe it’s just not going to happen for us.”

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Jason Kempin