‘Catch of the Day’ – Jason Aldean – “Lights Come On” [AUDIO]

Today we feature an artist who recently took home one of country music's biggest prizes, only two years after a public uproar, when a family member was quoted as saying the artist was being purposely snubbed by the country music "establishment". An artist whose future in the music industry was mapped out by his booking agent/father from an early age.

Born and raised Jason Williams in Macon, GA, the son of a country music booking agent and producer, Jason Aldean's father Barry would leave daily chores for Jason before leaving for the office each day; chords for him learn on the guitar for them to practice when he came home from work. Despite his parent's divorce when Jason was 3, his mother Debbie was also very supportive of her son's music desires, as she would accompany her son to performances at local venues, many of which he wasn't old enough to be in.

Jason's first performance was at a VFW Hall in Macon; he was just 24 at the time. He played several country standards, including George Strait's "The Cowboy Rides Away". The Aldean would later say that he got a standing ovation from the audience after the performance, a grand total of 10 people, and that he was hooked on performing from that day. At 15 he was hired for the "house band" of a local club called Nashville South. At this point he would take his stage name, as there was a basketball player named Jason Williams, so he changed the spelling of his middle name (Aldine) and Jason Aldean was born.

After Jason graduated high school, his father began helping him with booking. He began song writing, playing around Georgia and traveling as far as Missouri for shows. In 1998 he played some of his original material at a showcase in Atlanta, where he came to the attention of Michael Knox of Warner-Chappell publishing.

After signing with the publishing company, Aldean was off to Nashville. Aldean was soon offered a recording contract, but by by the end of 2000, he had been dropped by not only that label, but a second label for repeatedly postponing recording sessions.

Various showcases in Nashville failed to bare fruit, including one at the Wildhorse Saloon. But, the showcases at the Wildhorse did land Aldean a manager, but frustration began to set in for the singer. Finally, after giving himself 6 months to land a deal or go home, Aldean landed a deal from Broken Bow Records; the deal came 5 weeks after he issued himself the deadline.

6 albums later, Jason landed has gone from being the outsider fighting to find his way, to one of the top acts in country music. His six albums have all been certified platinum and they have given way to 24 top-10 singles and 14 #1 hits. Just 2 years after his father had referred to the CMA Awards as a "joke and a farce" for his deemed "snubbing" of Jason at their 2014 Awards show, Jason walked away from the recent ACM Awards with their coveted Entertainer of the Year Award. Not bad for a kid that was just months away from walking away from it all and heading back to Macon.

Jason has been hard at work preparing his forthcoming, as yet untitled seventh studio album. The first single from that project, which he debut at the ACM Awards is in our spotlight today. Jason Aldean and "Lights Come On" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.