Associated Press

Jason Aldean performs at the Country Music Association Music Festival at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn., last spring. He will play at the Salem Civic Center this week.

When Jason Aldean was a teenager, he loved to sit in the living room at his father's house and listen to the men who would gather there to play music.

To the 14-year-old, what was going on in that room was "the coolest thing ever."

"I wanted to learn how to play guitar and kind of be a part of what they were doing," Aldean said.

Ultimately, he got much more. Aldean, 32, is riding a wave of success that began to crest last year with a platinum-selling, country music chart-topping album, "Wide Open" (Broken Bow) and two platinum-selling singles -- "She's Country" and "Big Green Tractor."

"Little did I know that that was going to lead to this," he said of those days hanging out at his dad's jam sessions. "That was definitely where I learned how to play and [about] a lot of things that kind of got me to this point, I guess."

Aldean hits the Salem Civic Center on Thursday, with his buddy and fellow Georgia native Luke Bryan opening the show. It's quite a time to see both artists.

Aldean's latest single, "The Truth," was No. 1 on last week's country music singles chart. "Wide Open" remained high on the country albums chart, at No. 5. In December, Bryan scored his first No. 1 hit, "Do I."

Homefront help

To allay later confusion, let's start with a piece of Aldean trivia: His full name is Jason Aldine Williams. But when he moved to Nashville, Tenn., a few years back, the name Jason Williams was taken -- by pianist/singer and Jerry Lee Lewis-tribute guy Jason D. Williams. So the new guy tweaked his middle name and made it his last name.

Back when he was still Jason Williams, from Macon, Ga., he wanted to do more than just pick at home with father, Barry Williams, and his pals. He wanted bigger audiences.

His father and his mother, Debbie Williams, were glad to help out.

"They were definitely supportive in the early days and helped when I was 14 to 15 years old," Aldean said in a Jan. 22 phone call from a tour stop in Greenville, S.C. "They were having to go in and talk to some of these club owners and stuff and convince 'em that I knew what I was doing, to let me get up and play."

Aldean put together a band and played nightclubs across the South before heading for Nashville. He struggled there at first, but landed with the independent Broken Bow label, where he began releasing records in 2005.

Once Aldean was on the radio, success came almost immediately. His first two albums featured hits such as "Hicktown," "Why," "Johnny Cash," and "Laughed Until We Cried."

When it was time to promote "Wide Open" and its first single, "She's Country," Aldean found himself in an enviable position. He got to debut the song on last year's Country Music Association Awards show.

"A couple days later, we played our first show [after the CMAs], and when we went into that song, people went crazy," he said. "And that's when I realized that ... we might have something pretty special.

"There's very few slots on those award shows. So to get a performance slot on one of those shows is pretty tough. To be able to debut a song is really special. It gives you an opportunity to debut something on a major scale. And I think that was something that really ... ultimately helped it to become the most-played [country radio] song of 2009."

Hunting buddy

The opening act, singer-songwriter Bryan, is about a year older than Aldean. Both men came up playing the Southeast nightclub circuit, but they didn't meet until a couple of years ago, Aldean said. Since then, they've become fast friends, even going to Texas together recently for a hunting trip.

"I'm a fan of what he does," Aldean said. "I like his music, and I like him. He's a very cool, laid-back guy, very humble dude."

He added: "People that come to see my show I think will dig what he does, and hopefully vice versa. I think it's a great fit. Luke just came off his first No. 1, so I think he's getting ready to have a big year, and I'm glad he's out here with us."