Jason Aldean makes albums the old-fashioned way -- the way they did back in 1994, just after the great Garth explosion. Aldean romanticizes "1994," in fact, sending up a jumping salute to the nearly forgotten neo-traditionalist Joe Diffie -- whose name bafflingly provides the chorus chant on "1994" -- and more importantly crafting his fifth album, Night Train, like they did in the '90s: it's bigger and bolder, impressed with its own ballast and weight. Aldean rocks the country, not with rhythm but with volume, ensuring that his pulsating party anthems and power ballads are delivered with a dogged force, with any subtleties or ambiguities flattened by his sheer sinewy determination. And that relentless, grim persistence defines Night Train, an album with plenty of songs about partying, open roads, endless tours, and strippers, with not a one sounding like much fun. Much of this is due to Aldean's reliance on minor keys and slow, steady marches -- neither attribute delivers much sense of excitement -- but his affectless singing doesn't help either, as he seems as nonplussed by the good times as he is by the sweet sentiments in the love songs. He's the steady inscrutable center on the slightly overblown Night Train, an album where every cut is louder than the next and, at 15 tracks, there are lots of tunes, reminiscent of nothing more than a packed-to-the-gills superstar CD from back in 1994. Certainly, Night Train is huge, but its size feels derived by divine proclamation: it is big simply because it was intended to be big but at its core it feels weary, a little hollow, and not at all fun. Jason Aldean makes albums the old-fashioned way -- the way they did back in 1994, just after the great Garth explosion. Aldean romanticizes "1994," in fact, sending up a jumping salute to the nearly forgotten neo-traditionalist Joe Diffie -- whose name bafflingly provides the chorus chant on "1994" -- and more importantly crafting his fifth album, Night Train, like they did in the '90s: it's bigger and bolder, impressed with its own ballast and weight. Aldean rocks the country, not with rhythm but with volume, ensuring that his pulsating party anthems and power ballads are delivered with a dogged force, with any subtleties or ambiguities flattened by his sheer sinewy determination. And that relentless, grim persistence defines Night Train, an album with plenty of songs about partying, open roads, endless tours, and strippers, with not a one sounding like much fun. Much of this is due to Aldean's reliance on minor keys and slow, steady marches -- neither attribute delivers much sense of excitement -- but his affectless singing doesn't help either, as he seems as nonplussed by the good times as he is by the sweet sentiments in the love songs. He's the steady inscrutable center on the slightly overblown Night Train, an album where every cut is louder than the next and, at 15 tracks, there are lots of tunes, reminiscent of nothing more than a packed-to-the-gills superstar CD from back in 1994. Certainly, Night Train is huge, but its size feels derived by divine proclamation: it is big simply because it was intended to be big but at its core it feels weary, a little hollow, and not at all fun. false 2022-09-24 12:26:45 7 2012 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 54 Country;Country Rock;Rock;Contemporary Country 111934 2166093 0cb498dc-8809-41f4-8343-a7c05a638df8 f24df11a-7e35-4979-a4db-a3b2a170ce27 5f45cca4-cda2-4c1f-80de-82c9c2e41580 /media/data/media2/Music/Jason Aldean/Night Train (2012)/folder.jpg Jason Aldean AlbumArtist /config/metadata/People/J/Jason Aldean/folder.jpg Jason Aldean Artist /config/metadata/People/J/Jason Aldean/folder.jpg Jason Aldean Jason Aldean 1 03:11 2 02:51 3 03:21 4 04:40 5 03:49 6 03:13 7 03:07 8 03:24 9 03:52 10 04:02 11 03:14 12 03:06 13 04:16 14 03:37 15 03:43 Jason Aldine Williams (born February 28, 1977), known professionally as Jason Aldean, is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released eleven albums and 40 singles. His 2010 album, My Kinda Party, is certified quadruple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His 2012 album Night Train is certified double-platinum, while his 2005 self-titled debut, 2007 album Relentless, 2009 album Wide Open, and 2014 album Old Boots, New Dirt are all certified platinum. Aldean has received five Grammy Award nominations throughout his career, twice for Best Country Album. 27 of Aldean's 38 singles have reached #1 on either the Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts with "Why", "She's Country", "Big Green Tractor", "The Truth", "Don't You Wanna Stay" (a duet with Kelly Clarkson), "Dirt Road Anthem", "Fly Over States", "Take a Little Ride", "The Only Way I Know" (a collaboration with Luke Bryan and Eric Church), "Night Train", "When She Says Baby", "Burnin' It Down", "Just Gettin' Started", "Tonight Looks Good on You", "Lights Come On", "A Little More Summertime", "Any Ol' Barstool", "You Make It Easy", "Drowns the Whiskey" (a duet with Miranda Lambert), "Girl Like You", "Rearview Town", "Got What I Got", "Blame It on You", "If I Didn't Love You" (a duet with Carrie Underwood), and "Trouble with a Heartbreak". In 2023, he released "Try That in a Small Town", which was the subject of widespread media attention following the release of its music video, whilst becoming Aldean's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100.