His seminal 2013 Madison Square Garden show sold out in 10 minutes. The same year, fans in New England, gobbled up 70,000 tickets for two Fenway Park concerts, making it clear to all that Jason Aldean’s star power shined far beyond the “traditional” country fan base.

With their 19 buses and trailers, those shows were a far cry from the first ones Keith Hoagland lit for Aldean when the future AMC and CMA Award winner, was opening for Tim McCraw in the summer of 2008. Those were basically “two truck” productions, where creative options were determined by weekly budgets.

Not long after he began working Aldean’s shows, Hoagland took a few year hiatus, before he rejoined the team in 2013, as the singer/songwriter’s career was kicking into high gear. Neither he, nor his celebrated client, have looked back since.

As Aldean’s popularity has grown ever-greater, his stage productions have become more complex, pushing Hoagland to expand his own creative and collaborative skills. This has been a rewarding part of their relationship for the Nashville-based lighting designer, so too has the challenge of giving new looks to the standard hits have become part of every Aldean tour.

Taking a break from his work on Aldean’s Rock N’ Roll Cowboy tour, Hoagland spoke to us about his incredible journey with one of this generation’s most successful country stars.

Jason Aldean’s career has skyrocketed since you first started working for him almost 15 years ago. What’s that been like for you?
“It’s a great feeling to see Jason become an A level star doing sold out venues across the country. For me it’s not only a great honor but a nice challenge, since the production has to be innovative and eye catching to hold the audience’s attention year after year for his shows. There are many fans who turn out for Jason’s show season after season, so everyone involved wants to keep looks interesting and not repetitive or predictable for them.”

Speaking of those loyal fans, Jason has a strong rapport with the crowd at his shows. How does this influence your lighting design?
“It is important to be able to light up the audience on specific songs as he engages them. This year, we have that covered and then some for the Rock N’ Roll Cowboy tour with a stunning set featuring blow-through video wall and AI. Kudos to Matthieu Larivée and Lüz studio for the production design!”

What are the most important things you learned being with and working for Jason?
“Be ready for anything. He is so focused on getting the audience into having a good time, and keeping them there. So he can be unpredictable at times, and then again he is a creature of habit at other times.”

Does Jason ever get involved in lightshows? Does he ever give you feedback on your design?
“He gets into the initial way the show concept looks, but as far a programming and all the in between – he leaves that up to me. He does have some ideas here and there and I always love trying them out. Some work and some don’t, and that is what is fun about it. He is good about saying something to me when the tour starts.”

If you had to sum up your experience being part of Jason’s team in one word. What would it be?
“Family.”

What was your best road experience working with Jason?
“Hard to pick one. Every year we tour for the most part, so for me is every year trying to be more creative than the year before. There are years that it is really hard and some years it is very easy.”

Sort of a related question, of all the shows you’ve done with Jason which ones stand out the most?
“That is hard to pick as well, but I would say it was getting to design Jason’s segment for American Music Award 2021.”

How has your appreciation of Jason’s music changed over the years?
Growing up in Oklahoma, I have always enjoyed country music. So, as his albums have evolved, I go with it. But I still listen to my ‘80s and ’90s country music with classic rock.

Jason has always been on the cutting edge as evidenced by the Rock N’ Roll Cowboy tour we just discussed. Is it a challenge keeping up with him?
“The challenge is to fit all these cool new ideas into our budget as well as the timeframe we are given to do full production rehearsals. Previz is huge is making this time frame work.

“There’s also another kind of challenge, which we also touched on earlier, and that is to take the same songs we do every year and make them look and feel different without doing anything to change to music or the feeling behind it. When you have all the number ones that Jason’s had, there are songs that fans expect to hear. So it’s up to us support them with fresh, new looks each tour. That’s a challenge any designer would welcome!”