Aaron Lewis Delivers Country Gold In Buffalo

Make no mistake about it. Aaron Lewis IS country. Thursday night at Club Infinity, Aaron brought his roots and music to a sold out crowd. I am not sure exactly what the crowd expected prior to the show and honestly I was not exactly sure what to expect.

Aaron is best known for being the lead singer for the band Staind. Which is far from being a grass roots country act. However, after seeing Aaron on stage, I would put him up against any of today's top stars.

I had a chance to speak to Aaron prior to the show about his career and the state of country music. I have to agree with one thing that he said. "They have taken the country out of country." Based on the diluted music that we are being spoon fed from Nashville these days, I have to agree. Aaron came out and did a bunch of Honky Tonk type ballads that sadly we don't hear on commercial radio.  He also covered Jamey Johnson's "Keepin Up With The Joneses" and Rhett Akins, "Grand Daddy's Gun," and the fans sang each one back to him word for word.

I don't know his name, but Aaron has one of the best steel guitar players I have ever had the pleasure of listening to at a live show. Combined with a solid band and incredible vocals that were a perfect mix of Jamey Johnson, Hank Jr and George Jones, Aaron Lewis put on one of the most traditional sounding country concerts I have seen in a long time.

People have remarked that Aaron is just trying to jump on a bandwagon that is the hot music of the day. I totally disagree with that. First, his style of country music is true to tradition. You can't say that about 99% of what is deemed country music these days. Second, I believe that Aaron has taken an opposite approach that many of these pop/rock turned country acts have taken. Aaron succeeded in the rock genre at a time that the grungy, raspy singers were hot. However, after speaking with him and witnessing his show, this guy is a true blue traditional country music star at heart. You can't jump on a bandwagon when it's been your passion all along.

We also had Aaron sign his name on Toby's Jeans!!