LOS ANGELES , California ( CNN ) -- Male singers regularly photographed wearing a hat are usually covering up a receding hairline . Jason Aldean has had six Top 10 country singles . His new album , `` Wide Open , '' is just out . But not Jason Aldean . He has a full head of hair , and wears a cowboy hat to signify his commitment to country music . The same is true for his well-fitting jeans and cowboy boots . It 's a formula that seems to be working . The 32-year-old rising star has just notched his sixth Top 10 country single with `` She 's Country , '' the lead track off his third CD , `` Wide Open '' ( Broken Bow ) . We caught up with the Georgia native in his dressing room before a recent sold-out show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles , California . The following is an edited version of the interview . Jason Aldean : Definitely a cowboy hat in L.A. makes you stand out a little bit . CNN : It 's a fashion statement in L.A. Aldean : It is ! You 've got to wear it with confidence , too . Watch Aldean talk about his new album » . CNN : Are you nervous about your new album ? Aldean : I would n't say I 'm nervous . If you have an album that you 're kind of on the fence about , then yeah , you would be kind of a little nervous . CNN : Have you ever had one of those -- or if you had , would you admit it ? Aldean : When we went in to record the second album ( 2007 's `` Relentless , '' which went gold ) , I think it was a good album , but I felt like I was under a lot of pressure recording that album -- more than the other two . You hear people talking about the sophomore slump and all that stuff , and so I think all that stuff sort of got to me after a while . Combined with being on the road 200 to 250 days [ a year ] , I just did n't have that much fun recording it . I was exhausted . And so going into this third album , I just feel like mentally , I was back in the right place . CNN : As an artist , do you ever really think you got it right ? Aldean : If at any point you 're recording an album and you think it 's the greatest thing that you 've ever done , and you 'll never be able to top it , then you should probably quit . Michael Jackson -- he made `` Thriller , '' so I can see why he might have said , `` I 'm done . '' But even he kept making records . CNN : Were you a Michael Jackson fan growing up ? Did you moonwalk as a kid ? Aldean : Of course ! I had my glove and everything . Used to wet my hair so it looked like a Jheri curl . ( Cracks up ) CNN : Who else did you listen to as a kid ? Aldean : Guns N ' Roses -- the '80s rock stuff . Then I was into John Mellencamp , and Bob Seger and a lot of the Southern rock stuff -- the Allman Brothers , Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Marshall Tucker Band . I listened to a lot of different kinds of music . CNN : Are you finding that the economy has affected ticket sales ? Is it harder to sell out shows these days ? Aldean : I think everybody has kind of seen a little bit of a hit . We 're no different . We 've tried to make it more affordable for people to come to a show with lower ticket prices [ most of the time in the $ 20-40 range ] . Maybe go in and play a show for less money than we would normally go in to play a show for , just so people can afford to come out and buy a ticket . I mean , you 're looking at 200 bucks if you 've got a wife and two kids -- and then by the time you come there and buy a couple of T-shirts , or some drinks or whatever , you 're spending three , four hundred dollars , and right now , people are a little hesitant to do that . CNN : What do you consider an expensive ticket ? Aldean : If Elvis was still around , I do n't know if I 'd pay 80 bucks to go see him . I surely would not pay 80 bucks to go see me ! CNN : From a financial standpoint , touring is more important to an artist than selling records these days . Aldean : The music industry is so different now than it was even when I hit the scene in 2005 . If you go to Wal-Mart and you want a song , you 've got to buy the whole album for ten bucks -- or you can go to iTunes , and if you want a song , you can pay a dollar to get it . So in return , the record label is going to make less money , which is us making less money to pay them back . The way it works is the record label basically fronts the money for us to record an album . As the money comes back in off of that , they take that and repay the debt that we owe them . So if they 're not making enough to repay that debt , they 're not going to keep us employed on the label for very long . CNN : As an artist , do you worry about that ? Aldean : Oh , absolutely . I think every artist worries about that . As a consumer , I think iTunes is a great thing . As an entertainer , not so much . I would much rather have somebody buy an album as a whole . Bad thing about purchasing singles -- if you have an artist you like and you keep doing that , there 's not going to be music enough for you to go and get , because they 're not going to have a deal anymore . But who knows ? Record labels may one day be out all together , and people may be making their own music and selling it on their Web sites . CNN : That seems to benefit established artists more than up-and-coming ones . Aldean : Radio 's really accepted us , and proven that they 're really going to play my stuff as long as I give them something good to play . Fans are coming out to the show , so I mean what more could I ask for ? My original plan when I got started in this deal was just to be able to make a good living for my family and play music . I 've been able to do that , which is all I 've ever wanted .
Jason Aldean riding high with new hit , `` She 's Country '' Georgia native conscious of ticket prices , giving value . Aldean : `` [ I ] would not pay 80 bucks to go see me ! ''