Jason Aldean’s ‘Rearview Town’ Recalls His Earliest Hits [Listen]

Jason Aldean's new single "Rearview Town" is a throwback. The guitar-laced rock ballad feels like the kind of country that defined him nearly a decade ago.

Aldean has leaned more toward country's edges on recent albums, be it with sultry R&B and hip-hop licks, or traditional country sounds. For a five-year stretch from 2007 to 2012, he was a pure country-rocker who often led with the chip on his shoulder. Fond and not so fond remembrances of small town life were his signature until the Old Boots, New Dirt album. Rearview Town is a much more dynamic album that strives to do it all, offering this breakup story to his longtime fans.

The performance asks fans to remember him for how he was. Aldean in 2019 is a long ways away from living "Rearview Town," and while the lyrics are true to his catalog (and perhaps even his raising), they're not true to his story today. How much that matters will decide where this radio single — his fourth from Rearview Town — fits among his best songs.

Did You Know?: Aldean is nominated for two ACM Awards, including Entertainer of the Year. He's also back working on his next studio album.

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Jason Aldean's "Rearview Town" Lyrics:

Wipe the footprints off my dash / Tore up those sun-faded photographs / Threw 'em in the wind, y’all can have it back / I'm outta here / I stuck my middle finger up in the sky / Flipped off that y’all come back sign / Looked in the mirror one last time / And watched it disappear.

Chorus:
It ain't nothin' but a rearview town / Broken hearts and rusted plows / Roots ripped right up out of the ground / Never thought I'd ever leave it / It ain't nothin' what it used to be / Population minus me / On the other side of that dust cloud / Ain't nothin' but a rearview town.

I could tough it out, but what's the use / A place that small, it's hard to do / Too much of her to run into / And so much road to somewhere new.

It ain't nothin' but yesterday / One less truck rollin' down Main / Ain't nothin' left to say.

It ain't nothin' what it used to be / Population minus me / On the other side of that dust cloud / Ain't nothin' but a rearview town / Ain't nothin' but a rearview town.