Jason Aldean had a mountain of a task ahead of him for 2024's ACM Awards. Aldean had to perform Toby Keith's "Should've Been A Cowboy" at the show, attempting to give a legend his just due. In addition to those high standards, Aldean had been riding the controversy convertible with his decision to perform at the CMT Music Awards a month prior. Understandably, the pressure couldn't have been more suffocating.
Recently, Aldean went on The Bobby Bones Show to speak about the situation after remaining silent up to this point. Bones asked Aldean a great question regarding the star's mental space going into the performance.
"I think it was a little bit more of [putting on a great show]. [Aldean] felt like Toby deserved a great tribute for the career he had. I knew it was going to be a big night for his family. And people that were going to be there. To be honest, I just didn't want to mess it up. I wanted to go out and give him a send-off that he deserved," Aldean confessed.
"Especially with us kind of changing the song up, you just don't know how people are going to take that. You know what I mean? If they're going to like it, not like it, or whatever. So for us, it was trying to do something cool and different and something to honor him and his family. His wife texted me that night after the show which was really the icing on the cake for me. If [she] approved, I'm cool."
Jason Aldean Speaks Out On The Pressure Of Honoring Toby Keith's Legacy At ACM Awards
The consensus maintained Aldean did a phenomenal job honoring Keith. However, Aldean managed to tune out the surrounding noise and focused on doing his absolute best.
"I felt like we nailed it the way I wanted to do it. Now whether or not people were going to like the version? I don't know. But I felt like what we were trying to do, I accomplished that and felt really good about the version that we did."
It's one of the nicest "I don't care what people thought" responses I've ever heard, honestly!
