Aaron Tippin might not say it outright, but he knows country music has ways to keep a star humble.
Reflecting on “There Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong with the Radio” — the 1992 blockbuster that secured him a spot in the country pantheon — Tippin admits to both surprise at the response and appreciation for what it afforded him. But he still looks back and laughs.
“My only problem with that song is the Chipmunks had a bigger hit with it,” he said, chuckling.
On tour with a new album celebrating 25 years in the business, Tippin treats talk of chart topping songs and sold out arenas with a nonchalance suggesting the reason for success rests elsewhere.
“There were a ton of guys — I’m just one of the lucky ones,” he said. “Once you get the ticket punched, that’s when the work starts.”
A songwriter turned performer, Tippin broke through in 1990 with “You’ve Got To Stand For Something,” which seemed to capture part of the national mood and rose to number 6. He followed up with what he thought was an amusing piece about a broken down car with only one good working part. Instead, “There Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong with the Radio” shot to the top of the country charts.
“That blew me away,” Tippin said.
After another number 1 (“That’s as Close as I’ll Get to Loving You”), his songs began to slide. Yet Tippin continued to write songs and hit the road. The effort paid off when he again conquered the charts with “Kiss This.”
“It’s my shortest song title ever,” he pointed out with another laugh.
Tippin may shrug off the veneer of success with self-deprecating commentary, but he remains true to the core of it. He speaks of the number of songs one must draft before finding a combination of words and music that resonates. He recalls miles on the road, tours that brought him to the old Konocti Harbor on Clear Lake several times. There is in him a sense of pride in shouldering the workload.
Hard work counts with Tippin. His songs bore into the rural working class ethos, mining it for the ups and downs of daily life, as well as the attachment to shared values.
“That’s another reason there’s 25 years,” he explained. “It’s blue collar. If you stay around that you can be successful.”
His new album — “25” — includes ten remastered hits, five songs culled from genres other than the hard traditional country sound and ten new compositions. On stage during his nationwide tour, Tippin introduces his most recent pieces alongside well-loved tunes like “I Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way.”
But Tippin is excited about his swing through California for another reason.
“I’m kind of an amateur winemaker,” he reported. Tippin and his wife spent their honeymoon in Sonoma, enjoying some of the local product (“If I come home and don’t have a nice red, I’ll be shot,” he interjected, laughing again). Recently, the country icon even introduced his own label: Aaron Tippin’s Country Jam Blackberry Wine.
“It’s fantastic,” Tippin said, dismissing a reaction to fruit wines. “In Tennessee we make wine out of anything.”
For now, the road trip continues. Tippin and his band visit Coyote Valley Casino in Redwood Valley on Saturday night.
With 25 years under his belt and a new album to promote, Tippin remains committed to the work behind the music and the long rides before the stage.
“The road part, yeah,” he responded when asked if tours were difficult. “But it’s where I’m going that matters.”
