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Jason Aldean Never Thought the Party Would Last

ACM Winner Recalls Early Doubts About His Career

When Jason Aldean recently posted a throwback tweet to his first video for his debut song, “Hicktown,” I assumed he did so with pride.

But when I had the chance to ask him about it after his Academy of Country Music Awards performance rehearsal in Las Vegas, Aldean admitted he doesn’t always look back on that video so fondly.

He looks back on it instead with insecurities.

“I’m surprised they let us make another video,” he told me of the 11-year-old production. “'This could be the only video we ever shoot,' we thought. So when you look at it, when the video starts, the band is scattered around the stage like they should be. But by the end of the video, we were all crammed in the middle of the stage trying to get TV time.”

You can see what he’s talking about right around the time he sings, “Aw, we ain’t finished yet.”

He said he had fun making the video, but he was reluctant to get ahead of himself because he didn’t know how long the party would last.

“Looking back on that stuff is cool because it was a time when we honestly didn’t know how long it was gonna last. We’d all worked hard for it and all the sudden, it’s right there at your fingertips. And you’re ready to get started -- and you have no idea where it’s gonna go -- and here we are 11 years later sitting where we are,” he said.

And that was before he'd won the ACM Award for entertainer of the year.

“It’s crazy, because I never thought back in those days it would be like that,” Aldean said. “It’s been a pretty good ride.”

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