Canadian country star Aaron Lines is looking forward to help kick off Whoop-up Days, Aug. 24 in Pioneer Park.
Lines is the most played country artist in Canada thanks to a string of Top 10 hits including “Cheaper To Keep Her,” “Moments That Matter
,” “Somebody’s Son,” Let’s Get Drunk and Fight,” Waitin’ On The Wonderful, “It Takes a Man,” Turn it Up — I Like the Sound of That” and the latest single“ The Trouble With California” off his most recent CD “Sunday Afternoon.”
His success as come as somewhat of a surprise.
“It‘s been very surprising, but it’s been a slow process. I didn‘t expect the award for most played musician. When I started I just thought I’d get one, maybe two songs on the radio. But I’ve met a lot of good people along the way who have really helped me,” he said adding he didn’t expect to become a top selling country musician.
“When you decide to be a musician, There’s no real career plan. I went to university and I thought I was going to be a medical doctor. But music has always been a big part of my life. I’ve always tried to treat people right,” he said adding he never anticipated this level of success when he was 16 and writing songs in his bedroom.
“When I was growing up, I was always a shy kid. Playing was always my passion, but performing, I never wanted to do it because I was shy but people kept asking me to. I’ve grown to enjoy it,” he said adding the live show includes selections from all of his albums and a lot of music from his new CD, for which he wrote all of the songs for or co-wrote with friends.
“I have 16 or 17 top 10s so I play a lot of songs people recognize. I keep it uptempo and fun. I usually try to get people to sing along and have fun,” he said.
“It’s been three or four years since I’ve played Lethbridge. It’s hard to forget that name — Whoop-Up Days. I remember having fun there and my keyboard player Brian Burn is from Lethbridge, so we have a lot of friends there,” he continued adding his success has also allowed the Fort McMurray born, Edmonton raised musician the luxury of moving back home to Alberta to renovate his house in Calgary and spend time with his wife and brand new daughter.
“Summer is always my busiest time, but right now I’m taking a few weeks to relax. I get to be with people I love and have some fun,” he said adding his songwriting changed to the Nashville style when he was living down south, but, since moving home, he writes like he did when he was just starting.
“ In Nashville, I learned a lot of songwriting concepts. You learn what works and what doesn’t. In Nashville they write as a committee, at a specific time of the day. I learned — don’t work very well that way. I found the songs I wrote that way came out sounding contrived. Now I write songs for myself, when I want to write them. If I feel like writing a song, then I write a song. Now it feels less like a job and more like when I was young and writing songs in my room,” he said agreeing a lot of his songs like “Somebody’s Son” tend to be deeper than your average country song.
“I’ve always written fairly deep songs, but I’ve had to temper that a little because when you’re performing , a lot of people don’t want think too much songs. They like songs like “Cheaper To Keep Her,” and “Let’s Get Drunk and Fight,” he observed.
“I’d rather write about something more substantial. There are a lot of love songs out there and I’d rather write something other than just another love song. I’d rather write something just a little deeper,” he said adding he is pleased with his new single.
““The single is going good. It’s the third one from the album,” he said.
