Jason Aldean Guarantees Ronnie Milsap Won’t Be Forgotten ‘Anytime Soon’ With New Song: ‘I Knew Immediately That We Were Going to Cut It’
Categoria: Musica
Billboard looks at the writing and recording behind Jason Aldean's "Anytime Soon."
Por Billboard | 04/09/2026
When Jason Aldean performed at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Frisco, Texas, on May 16, 2024, his acoustic version of “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” paid homage to the late Toby Keith. But while he was there, Aldean got an additional opportunity to celebrate another country legend. He received a fresh demo of a new song written by two band members, bassist Tully Kennedy and guitarist Kurt Allison, and he quickly recognized the sound that Allison had created with a Fender Rhodes electric piano. “It was a tip of the hat to Ronnie Milsap,” Aldean remembers. “I knew immediately – one listen – that we were going to cut it, and it was going to make the record.” “Anytime Soon,” released by Broken Bow to country radio on Aug. 2 via PlayMPE, uses a keyboard tone akin to Milsap’s “Stranger in My House,” blended with classic rock sounds that embody Tom Petty and Journey. It was created with Aldean’s musical tastes in mind, as well as his penchant for stories about guys trying to pick themselves up. “There are two things that never go out of style, man: falling in love and relationships falling apart,” Aldean says. “For whatever reason, I’ve always leaned into the latter.” Kennedy and Allison were writing with John Edwards (“How Far Does a Goodbye Go,” “Whiskey Drink”) a few weeks before the ACMs at BMG Music on Nashville’s Music Row when they found the musical thread that became “Anytime Soon.” They’d already written another song and thought they were done for the day, but Kennedy and Edwards started a rough-edged chord progression in a minor key. It felt substantial, so Allison, who was already packing up to leave, began unpacking. They didn’t quite know where the song was headed. “We didn’t have a hook,” Kennedy recalls. “With each line we wrote of the chorus, I was getting more nervous. I’m like, ‘I don’t know what we’re writing to,’ which never happens. You just don’t do that because you don’t know where to land. “ The song developed a drinking theme fairly quickly, with the protagonist downing a couple shots at a time, hoping to erase a woman from his memory. In the last half of the chorus – with the writers still uncertain what lie ahead – the guy’s internal war became clearer, as he tries to “fight off” “a battle that I’m bound to lose.” “That’s Aldean 101,” Allison says. “He’s never like, ‘Hey, I’m a super-awesome guy.’ It’s always like, ‘Hey, I got some faults, and I’ve got some struggles, but that’s on me.’” The hook finally showed itself after that, as they recognized the guy’s enemy is well-supplied: “They ain’t runnin’ out of whiskey anytime soon.” It was then that they contemplated a title. “Running Out of Whiskey” sounds decent, but it’s the opposite of the song’s meaning. “That’s not cool,” Kennedy says. Plus, they’d previously written “Whiskey Drink,” and Aldean had had a hit with “Drowns the Whiskey.” “Anytime Soon” seemed the better option. “That,” Kenn