Aaron Tippin Speaks on his Twenty-Five year career

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Aaron Tippin Speaks on his Twenty-Five year career - Interview

Interview conducted by "Big Dog" Benny Henderson Jr., Doghouse Boxing (July 27, 2015)

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Aaron Tippin

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Please note, this interview is not boxing related. The year was 1990, a gallon of gas was $1.34, Home Alone was the blockbuster on the silver screen, the Gulf War was raging on, and then, little known country music artist Aaron Tippin was embarking on his music career. Twenty-five years later, eleven studio albums, six compilation albums, one holiday album, a handful or two of hits, with countless loyal fans, it is safe to say, Aaron Tippin is a house hold name when it comes to country music.

His brand of blue collar signature songs have captivated the hard working country music fan, his patriotic pride has had him entertaining the American troops, and his go get it attitude has kept him relevant today.

In this exclusive interview, Aaron speaks out on his twenty-five year career in the country music business, we touch on his latest CD, Aaron Tippin 25 Years, his future and more, enjoy.

Benny Henderson Jr. Twenty-five years, how does it feel?

Aaron Tippin Boy, I am still glad to be here after twenty-five years. I can hardly believe it, it is incredible that I have made it this far. You’ve got to Stand for something that was the song that kicked my career off twenty-five years ago. And guess the first thing I did in country music? I climbed on a C141 with Bob Hope and fly to Saudi Arabia and entertain our troops in the Gulf. I was on the Bob Hope Show Christmas 1990.

BH It had to be such a great feeling to open up your career with touring with Bob Hope as well as playing for our troops.

AT It was great. Linda Hope was producing Bob’s show at the time and heard you’ve got to stand for something on the radio, she liked it, and she thought it would be a great song to play for our troops. My manager got a call and twenty-four hours later I was on an airplane. You are talking about a whirl wind for a hillbilly. Now we have this twenty-five year album out, I am so thankful, it is a double disk, it has twenty-five songs on it for twenty-five years, and it is for twenty-five bucks. It has some great songs on it; it is a twenty-five year journey of Aaron Tippin making country music. You can really read my life with this album. The new single is, “God’s not through with me yet.” It is just another good example of living long enough to know that you ain’t in charge at all. The good Lord is who keeps you walking on this planet. The album spans twenty-five years with ten new songs, ten new songs. Even some new songs you never thought I would sing, you have ole Aaron Tippin singing some Frank Sinatra what you think about that? I do some gospel as well and some southern rock. The last song I am so proud of, it is an old Al Green tune, Al was my dating music when I was in high school. His song “Let’s stay together.” I am singing it with my youngest son Tom who is singing the second verse.

BH It is funny that you speak of how this new album is a twenty-five year journey of Aaron Tippin. I feel like I have grown up to your music. I was fifteen when your first album came out, I am not forty. Get this, I actually broke up with a girl because we were at her house one day and your video, “That’s as close as I’ll get to loving you” came on and she changed it to MTV. We did not last long after that. (We both start laughing)

AT I know what it was; you wanted to see that hot chick that was on there.

BH That is a good thing, because about a year after that I met my wife and at our wedding and I sang your song, “You can have everything I own.” I used to sing “Mission from Hank” to my niece Sommer. With that being said, I have all of my favorites, but what about the other fans. After all these years, what are the fans still asking for you to play?

AT Oh man, “You’ve got to stand for something,” “My blue Angel,” “Working Man’s PHD,” “Ain’t nothing wrong with the radio.” “The Stars and Stripes,” “Kiss this.” I am lucky, I have had a bunch of hit songs, and even more lucky that I wrote most of my hits. I am the luckiest guy alive. My music has been to space, when I was with Bob Hope in Christmas 1990; there was a young Marine in the crowd who became an Aaron Tippin fan. After the Marine Corps he went to NASA and became a mission commander on a space shuttle. He was allowed two pieces of music in space. He took one of my CD’s to outer space. And I have a picture of my CD in space floating in front of him with the Earth in the windshield. It is the most incredible thing.

BH Did you ever fathom that you would still be doing this in twenty-five years?

AT Are you kidding buddy, I never thought I would be doing this. I am a professional aviator that was what I grew up to be. All this music thing was a gift from God.

BH How would you sum up these past twenty-five years?

AT First off I would say, the first ten to fifteen years I did not enjoy it as much. I was too busy trying to be Elvis; I was too busy trying to climb that ladder instead of enjoying the moments. I am going to stop and smell the roses. And the next twenty-five is going to go a lot slower; I am going to enjoy it. I am just thankful to be out here doing this.

BH A lot of things have changed in twenty-five years, music being one. I am not a big fan of the new country music. Country music has seemed to evolve into something I do not like. When you turn on the radio and listen to today’s music, what do you hear?

AT It is obviously very different from what I did and do, I know a lot of my colleges don’t care much for it and I get it. But I have a story; I was on a flight to Midland, Texas to do some flight training. This particular flight had a ton of young song writers boarding the plane. I was sitting there and saying high how you doing to them as they passed by my seat, they would look down and keep walking. Finally the old guy beside me leaned over and said, I guess they don’t know who you are? I said, well you know what, I reckon they don’t know who I am and I am not sure that is even important, but I do know this, this is their day to shine so let them shine. I think we should not worry where it is now or where it is going. You might be pretty shocked that it might swing back to traditional country. Somewhere out there, there might be another Randy Travis that turns the world over.

BH How has touring changed for you in twenty-five years?

AT Well, we don’t get as rowdy as we used too. (He laughs)

BH Anyting in closing?

AT I just want to say thank you for everything, thank you all for supporting me for all these years. You can get my new album at www.aarontippin.com. And if you make it out to one of my shows, I want to your hand and say thank you for supporting me all these years.

Email Benny at: bigdogmedia7@aol.com
Check out Facebook: www.facebook.com/benny hendersonjr
And Twitter: www.twitter.com/bennyhenderson

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