Highway Desperado Explained

Highway Desperado
Type:	studio
Artist:	Jason Aldean
Cover:	Jason Aldean - Highway Desperado.png
Genre:	Country rock
Length:	46:33
Label:	Broken Bow
Producer:	Michael Knox
Prev Title:	Macon, Georgia
Prev Year:	2021/2022

Highway Desperado is the eleventh studio album by American country music singer Jason Aldean, released on November 3, 2023 via Broken Bow Records. It was preceded by the lead single "Try That in a Small Town", which was released in May 2023 and has topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, as well as the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, becoming Aldean's first chart-topper on the latter chart. Three other songs, "Tough Crowd", "Let Your Boys Be Country", and "Whiskey Drink" were also released ahead of the album. "Let Your Boys Be Country" was released as the second single from the album.^[1]

Aldean co-wrote three of the album's fourteen tracks, making it his first album since 2009's Wide Open to contain tracks that he has written or co-written.^[2]

Personnel

Musicians

• Jason Aldean – vocals
• Tully Kennedy – bass (all tracks), programming (tracks 1, 3–7, 9, 11–14)
• Rich Redmond – drums
• Kurt Allison – electric guitar (all tracks), programming (1, 3–7, 9, 11–14), keyboards (1, 5–7, 14), twelve-string guitar (7)
• Adam Shoenfeld – electric guitar (all tracks), slide guitar (8)
• Michael Knox – programming
• Mike Johnson – pedal steel guitar (1–10)
• Danny Rader – acoustic guitar (1, 2, 5–7, 11–13), bouzouki (2, 11–13)
• Blake Bollinger – programming (1, 3–14)
• Tony Harrell – Hammond B3 organ (1–3, 5–7, 10–13), synthesizer (4, 8, 9), piano (11), keyboards (14)
• Neil Thrasher – background vocals (1, 4, 5, 9)
• Perry Coleman – background vocals (2, 3, 6, 7, 10–14)
• Micah Wilshire – background vocals (2, 7, 8, 11–14), programming (2, 8, 10), electric guitar (2, 8); piano, synth bass (8)
• John Willis – acoustic guitar (3, 4, 8–11)
• Russ Pahl – pedal steel guitar (11–14)

Technical

• Michael Knox – production
• Adam Ayan – mastering
• Jeff Braun – mixing
• Brandon Epps – engineering, editing (all tracks); vocal engineering (3, 4)
• Peter Coleman – engineering
• Mickey Jack Cones – vocal engineering
• Micah Wilshire – vocal engineering (2–4, 6–14)

Charts

Chart (2023)! scope="col"

Peak position
Australian Country Albums (ARIA)^[3]	14

Notes and References

1. Web site: Jason Aldean announces 2024 headlining tour dates, new single 'Let Your Boys Be Country' . 2023-12-07 . The Tennessean . en-US.
2. Web site: Jason Aldean Announces 'HIGHWAY DESPERADO' Album and Shares New Song, 'Let Your Boys Be Country'. Black. Lauren Jo. August 25, 2023. September 21, 2023. Country Now.
3. Web site: ARIA Top 40 Country Albums Chart. Australian Recording Industry Association. November 13, 2023. November 11, 2023.