The title track from Jason Aldean’s Rearview Town (2018) tells the story of someone realizing there’s nothing left for them in the place they’re pulling out of; the future lies wherever they’re going next. It recalls Aldean’s own flight from his home state. “I basically had to leave everything I’d ever known in Georgia for the greener pastures of Nashville,” Aldean tells Apple Music about the track. “And it was tough, you know? It was tough when I moved there and I only knew two people in the whole town. I think sometimes looking back on those things and seeing now what that turned into, for me, it’s kinda therapeutic.” It makes sense Aldean was looking back. Rearview Town is the first album of his forties, and it’s notably less about causing a ruckus than previous records (although there is plenty of that, too). Sonically, he’s still trading in the punchy, guitar-forward production—care of longtime collaborator, producer Michael Knox—that made him a star. But the subject matter is more sensitive—“Girl Like You” sets lyrics about Aldean’s reverence for his lover to rock guitar; “You Make It Easy” renders sweet sentiments in classic soul; and “Drowns the Whiskey,” featuring Miranda Lambert, is all lushness and heartbreak. There’s also room for meditation on where he comes from and what he’s made of. On the contemplative break-up song “Better At Being Who I Am,” Aldean reminisces on who he is, concluding it doesn’t make sense to try to fit a square peg into a round hole. Digging deep paid off for Aldean with Rearview Town. The record became his fourth album in a row to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making him only the second country artist to do it. When he headed out on the road to promote Rearview Town, he named the tour after moody closer “High Noon Neon,” another nod to his past and the bars where he cut his teeth in Georgia.