Aaron Lewis doesn’t mince words about his beliefs, his past and the path he’s on. Whether he’s fronting the rock band Staind or standing on stage with a guitar, a cigarette and a glass of whiskey (with a splash of water) while performing country music, Lewis reveals exactly who he is and where he’s coming from. It’s a complex life that Lewis admits is largely driven by obsession and rooted in a childhood full of turmoil yet rich with lessons that guide him today.
“I grew up poor, rural and country as hell,” Lewis said with a good dose of seriousness.
Lewis spent his childhood moving between Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Parental conflict made home life difficult, but he found solace while spending summers in Vermont with his grandfather, Corky, a World War II veteran who taught him how to hunt and fish.
“My grandfather, my dad, great uncles, cousins; the whole family was very steeped in hunting, fishing and the outdoors,” Lewis said.
Childhood was also the time when Lewis was exposed to country music, which played in the background at home all day long. Although he didn’t have a choice in the music selection, the genre grew on Lewis anyway.
Lewis pulled no punches when he said, “When I was a kid, you listened to whatever was getting played by the adults. ‘Children were to be seen and not heard,’ so I came from some old-fashioned shit and it f*&%ed me up a little bit. I’m not going to lie.”
The phrase has haunted Lewis his entire life because, like the outdoors, music was significant to him. For that reason, he needed to be heard.
Today, with millions of fans listening to both the rock and country versions of Aaron Lewis, being heard serves as a form of sweet retribution for the suppressed voice of his childhood. However, music is just one facet that drives Lewis. There is another side he cherishes, one that nourishes his obsessive nature.
Aaron Lewis Afield
While touring nearly year-round in support of his country music career or with Staind makes life feel like a blur at times, Lewis admits there is one thing he’d prefer to do rather than sit on the tour bus traveling across the country. Lewis is a hunter first and foremost, approaching the sport with a philosophical mindset and respect for tradition.
The Aaron Lewis everyone knows on stage is far removed from the one who stalks the grasslands in search of coveys of quail or sets up at night to call coyotes. However, there is a common theme. For as committed as Lewis is to his music, he’s just as compulsive in his approach to hunting.
In fact, Lewis is a purist, right down to the pre-World War II English side-by-side .410 he carries for quail.
“Upland bird hunting has a beautiful culture and I give it the respect it deserves,” he said. “I’m very purist about the whole tradition part of it and the fine shotguns. It’s like everything else I do, I’m a little bit excessive and take things to the extreme.”
Sometimes, it takes an extreme approach to fit as many days as possible of hunting and fishing into a schedule largely consumed by touring. However, over the years, Lewis has managed to balance both worlds — music and the outdoors — so that his career thrives and his time in the woods or on the water isn’t neglected.
Lewis focuses on quail hunting through the winter into spring, then switches over to bass fishing and chasing coyotes at night before coming back to quail in October. He also adds a bit of archery hunting for deer into the mix, but often finds himself in his treestand enjoying nature more than killing a big buck.
“It’s not trophy hunting, it’s about being really particular about which animal I’m going to kill in order to end the amazingness of the hunt that’s happening,” he said.
For someone who practically lives on a tour bus or in the recording studio, enjoying the hunt also serves as a way to maintain his sanity.
“Being outdoors is one of the few places, aside from inside the walls of my house, that I can just be,” Lewis said. “I can just be. I’m just a human being in that moment, lucky enough to be doing what I’m doing.
“This is my life, really. I have to play shows four nights a week, and I hunt and I fish. This is my life, and it’s not that bad.”
Kid Rock Rekindles A Memory
Lewis is genuinely enjoying his current career as a country music artist. Although he grew up surrounded by the genre, it was the success of Staind with hits like “It’s Been Awhile” on his mind, and a ride on Kid Rock’s tour bus in 1999 eventually guided Lewis into the genre.
During a tour with Staind and Kid Rock that year, Lewis spent plenty of time on the latter’s bus, and the only thing on the stereo was old country music—Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash, among others. They were all artists whose music filled the background of Lewis’s childhood, and the memories flooded in.
It’s not as if Lewis walked off Kid Rock’s bus and immediately started writing country songs. However, his interest had been sparked. Years passed, and Lewis finally dove into country music, choosing the outlaw side of things when he released “Country Boy” in 2010.
“It’s not like I rode Bob’s (Kid Rock’s) bus and it all began right then, but that’s where the reintroduction to that music happened and it just festered until I actually wrote ‘Country Boy,’” Lewis recalled.
The Possum and Charlie by His Side
“Country Boy” was one of seven tracks featured on Lewis’ first foray into country music, the Town Line EP. By that point in his career, he was well-established on the rock scene with Staind, so he was treading into uncharted waters by venturing into Nashville.
Fortunately, he had two legends willing to stand alongside him as George Jones sang a few lines and Charlie Daniels sawed his fiddle on “Country Boy.”
“That was about the ultimate blessing I could’ve gotten to be accepted into something I had not been a part of my entire career,” Lewis said.
But was it sufficient for the Nashville kingmakers to accept Lewis into their ranks?
Not really, as it turned out.
Lewis has carved out a successful country music career, however, earning a following by tapping into his rural roots and strong conservative beliefs, which make his lyrics authentic.
Songs like “Am I the Only One,” “Made in China” and “Let’s Go Fishing” allowed Lewis to express his frustration with the political climate at the time, providing his fans an outlet to share their angst as well.
Yet Lewis’ willingness to express himself through his lyrics likely led the country music establishment to give him the cold shoulder. His songs aren’t played on mainstream country radio, and Lewis says he doesn’t receive any support from the “system” that pushes country music.
And he’s not bothered by it in the least. “I think Nashville scratches their collective head with me,” he said. “And I get that, but I’m in an interesting situation where I’m not dependent on the system and I’m responsible for my own success or failures, and I kind of like it like that.”
Spoken like a true country music outlaw. Check out Aaron Lewi's website For tour dates, merchandise, and more.
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