Tyler Farr on Picking Jason Aldean as Producer: ‘I’ve Always Looked Up To Him’
"We’re just trying to get back to me," says Farr.
“A Guy Walks Into a Bar” hit maker Tyler Farr is eyeing a comeback with his first new album since 2015, and he’s enlisted his buddy Jason Aldean to help out. The country superstar is on board to produce Farr’s upcoming project, and Sounds Like Nashville caught up with both of them to chat about it.
Speaking ahead of and during the 2019 CMA Fest, both artists said they were excited about how the recording sessions were going – and about working together in general. The pair have been longtime friends outside of music and did team up for “Damn Good Friends” on Farr’s last album, Suffer in Peace, but this experience is different. Aldean is serving as more of a mentor this time, but Farr says he wasn’t worried about any fallout that might result from their new arrangement.
“There wasn’t any hesitation,” Farr explains. “I run my business as a family, and Jason is a family member as far as I’m concerned. He’s one of my best friends. I did a song with him called ‘Damn Good Friends’ and I meant every word I said when I sang it … and I look up to Jason. I’ve always looked up to him.”
For Aldean’s part, he says was happy to join Farr’s team and try something new – and that he’s pulling on personal experience for his first time in the producer’s role. He’s been making tough calls for his own records all along.
“I feel like I’m knowledgeable enough and have enough experience to go in with somebody like Tyler, who’s a good friend of mine, who I know really well,” Aldean says, during a recent celebration for his No.1 “Girl Like You.” “I feel like, number one, I would have fun with him in the studio. And number two, we’re gonna come out with a record that he’s gonna be proud of and something that he’s gonna be excited about, and just come out with some great music.”
Aldean also admits it’s been a process of trial and error so far, especially “switching gears” to pick songs for another artist. “That’s a little trickier, honestly, for me,” he says. But Farr is confident the end result will be a return to form.
“It’s gonna sound like me, just getting back to me and how we do things,” says the Missouri native. “Jason knows who I am, I’ve been on the road with him several years. He knows how messed up I am and how messed up I’m not – and how messed up he is – so we get along and he knows what I do and I don’t do. We’re just trying to get back to me.”
View this post on InstagramSo thankful @jasonaldean named his tour after me and my wife’s weekends🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
A post shared by Tyler Farr (@tylerfarr) on
Fans can expect to start hear Farr’s new, Aldean-produced music by the end of this summer. But after that, Aldean’s not sure if he’ll produce again. He says he’s using this project as a gauge to see how much he enjoys calling the shots for someone else … or how much he doesn’t.
“I liked sorta stepping out of the vocal booth and sorta being behind everything and directing traffic a little bit,” Aldean explains. “So I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes. Who knows, maybe way further down the line it’ll be something I wanna dive into a lot more when I’m off the road a lot at some point.”
