Josh Thompson has been making a name for himself in Nashville as one of country music's hottest rising stars. As an artist, Thompson has scored himself two big hits, including his recent single, 'Won't Be Lonely Long,' which is getting ready to enter the Top 20 in a matter of weeks. But when Thompson first moved to Nashville, he spent much of his time writing songs, one of which was recorded by country-rocker Jason Aldean on his latest album, 'My Kinda Party.'

'Church Pew or Bar Stool,' written by Thompson, Adam Craig and Michael Howard, was one of the first 10 songs the singer wrote when he first got to town.

"After we wrote it and demoed it, the publishing company said that nobody’s ever going to record a four-minute and 20-second song about churches and bars," Thompson tells Taste of Country. "We just kind of forgot about it, but I always loved that song. I played it live all the time for years. It just kind of sat on the shelf for five years, and then all of a sudden in the span of like a month, Aldean heard it and recorded it."

The song is a slice of simpler times, as Aldean sings in the lyrics of the opening verse: "Not a whole lot going on, a small town Friday night / Revving up at a red light, on your mark get set go / Past a mom and pop restaurant / Same four trucks parked out front / I guess you gotta make your own fun / When you're stuck in a place this slow / There's only two means of salvation around here that seem to work / Whiskey or the Bible / A shot glass or revival."

"I hear a lot of people tell me they just love that song," Thompson says, referring especially to the content of the lyrics. "That song is so America. It’s so small-town everywhere. There are two bars and a church [laughs], and some other stuff. That’s how most of the small towns in America go. I feel like a lot of people can relate to it … every word in it."

"When you don't seem to run on either side of the fence / People act like you don't make sense / These big town dreams that I've been chasin' / Will never come true if I wind up staying / And I don't want to fall in, the same rut / That everybody here seems to be stuck in now / Why do I hang around? / In this church pew or bar stool kind of town," Aldean sings in the song's chorus.

"That’s one of my favorite songs, and he really does a great job with it," Thompson praises. "It’s actually my ringtone. I kind of battled with the fact that my ringtone is my song, but at the end of the day, it’s not me singing it. I think that could possibly be the tackiest thing anybody could do: have a ringtone of a song they’re singing, so that’s how I justified it [laughs]! ‘That’s Jason Aldean; that’s not me!’ [laughs]."

Hear Jason Aldean's 'Church Pew or Bar Stool'

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