Hi, I'm Aaron Tippin. First I want to thank you for becoming a part of my team. For someone like you to take the time to find out more about my music and myself really makes me feel special, so that makes you very special to me.
I'm not sure how long it will be before I get the chance to actually meet you, but until we do, let me tell you a little about myself. In case you haven't guessed by now, I'm just as much a country music fan as you are. I fell in love with this wonderful heartfelt music many years ago thanks to Hank Sr. and Jimmie Rodgers, and I've been hooked on it ever since. Now don't get to thinkin' that I'm ninety years old, I just really love some of the things about that old music.
I grew up just like any other hillbilly young'un in the Carolinas. My family owned a 120 acre farm. We raised soybeans, corn, hay, cattle and hogs. This may sound funny, but I used to show hogs at the county and state fairs and I'm pretty proud of the fact that I raised a couple of real champions. Along about this time, I was bailing hay, running combines and plowing the back forty. That's what got me started singing. I guess after you figure out how to turn around at the end of the rows and keep it straight down the middle, you start looking for ways to entertain yourself. Well, I started singing. Most folks think that I'm a pretty strong vocalist and I guess that's where it somes from. If you want to hear yourself over the engine of a tractor, you've got to sing pretty loud!
I went to a small country high school with a student population of about 400. I played football and ran track. I wasn't a very big guy back in those days, but believe it or not, I played center. Finally, I wised up and realized that I never was gonna be a pro football player. I was starting to spend a lot of time at the airport that my dad flew out of. Learning how to fly and working on airplanes -- I pretty well had it set in my mind to be a professional pilot.
I became a Multi-Engine Instrument Commercial Pilot and I flew as a free lance and corporate pilot trying to become an airline pilot. When I was building flight time and studying for my Airline Transport Rating, the fuel shortage hit and the major carriers started furloughing pilots and I knew my chances weren't very good anymore '-- so I said, "What the hay. If I gotta live this life 'till I'm dead, I might as well be happy." That's when I began to pursue the music business. Boy have I got some stories about those days. If I get started on that, I'll end up writing a novel.
I believe the most important thing about my honky-tonkin' is that when I first started playing during the Urban Cowboy Days, it was easy to find a gig paying country msuic, but the fad passed and everybody went back to playing top forty. Well...everybody except a few of us. I respect everybody for the type of music they do, but I love country music and I just couldn't stop playing it. There were some hard times for us because we wouldn't give in, but I'd like to think that that's one of the reasons I've been successful. I stayed loyal to something I love.
I moved to Nashville in 1986 trying to get a record deal. I didn't have much luck at first, so I got into songwriting pretty heavy. I really was enjoying the life of being a songwriter when one day my publisher sent some of my songs to RCA. They were songs that I had written trying to get them cut by a major artist. Well guess what? They not only liked my songs -- they like my singing too, and now we're in the record business together!
As far as my personal life goes, I live in Nashville and I'm always wishing I lived in the country again. But, this city dwelling has its advantages. One of my hobbies is body building, so the gym is not too far. Body building is a sport I got into about seven years ago. After my divorce, I was taking all of my personal belongings back to my Mom's house and I dug my weights out of the closet, took them to Mom's and set up my equipment and started training again. Before long I outgrew all of the weights I had. I then started training down at the local gym. I really got crazy about it and the next thing I knew, two years later I was in my first body building contest. I didn't do too bad for the first time. I placed third in my weight class and came in second overall. With all the traveling, interviews and concerts, I don't get the chance to compete anymore. I do still love to train and I do a six day routine, always trying to get bigger. When we arrive in town, the first thing we hunt for is a gym. The truth is, I have better training days on the road than I do at home, that's why I want to get out there and go!
The best part about the road is, one of these days I'm gonna do a show somewhere close to you. I'll get the chance to meet you and thank you, because without you...nothing I do counts.
I'll see you soon.
With love, Aaron Tippin.
March 07, 2001