Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party turns 16 today, with two tracks that began outside his own catalog. Both “My Kinda Party” and “Dirt Road Anthem” appeared on Brantley Gilbert recordings before Aldean released his versions.
Meanwhile, Aldean’s label announced the album’s six-times-platinum RIAA certification in August 2026. Released on November 2, 2010, the 15-song collection also includes his Kelly Clarkson duet, “Don’t You Wanna Stay.”
However, Gilbert’s role went beyond lending Aldean songs he had sung. He wrote the title track alone and shared writing credit on “Dirt Road Anthem” with Colt Ford.
Brantley Gilbert based My Kinda Party on real field parties
Before Aldean made it an album title, Gilbert included “My Kinda Party” on his 2009 debut, Modern Day Prodigal Son. Its setting came from nights spent with friends in Georgia.
Looking back, Gilbert told The Boot, “We’d always go in and close the gate, and it was really just a field party.”
He also recalled gatherings with friends in nearby Banks County.
Although the details sound simple, that memory gave Aldean a ready fit for his country-rock style. His recording reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Dirt Road Anthem had a life before Jason Aldean’s version
Elsewhere, “Dirt Road Anthem” followed a longer path between its writers and its best-known singer. Ford first released it on his 2008 album, Ride Through the Country, with Gilbert singing the chorus.
Later, Gilbert included a revisited recording on Halfway to Heaven, released in 2010. Aldean then brought the song’s spoken verses and sung chorus to a wider audience.
By July 2011, his version had topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart despite Aldean resisting the idea that its rap influence changed his identity.
Speaking to The Boot before the album arrived, he stated, “I am definitely not a rapper.”
Instead, he placed the track within his country sound.
