Tip (NSD/Grand Prize Records, 1982) (#GP-5203) (7")
A: "Lettin' A Good Love Die" (c: Aaron Tippin & Ricky Scruggs)
B: "Next Exit Out Of Love" (c: Aaron Tippin & Ricky Scruggs)
(Produced by Pee Wee Melton)
Tippin was one of those big-name country artists whose career started at a slow roll many years before they were able to catch the brass ring. This single came out nearly a full decade before he broke through as a 1990's honkytonker... It's probably for the best, though, that he didn't keep his abbreviated nickname, "Tip." Both of these early singles feature songs co-written with Richard Scruggs; this disc's B-side, "Next Exit Out Of Love," was also recorded as a single by a fella called Rod Rishard in 1983.
Aaron Tippin (Dart Records, 1984) (#DT 101) (7")
A: "I Taught Her Everything She Knows" (c: Aaron Tippin)
B: "Daddy's Ballad" (c: Aaron Tippin & Richard Scruggs)
(Produced by Pee Wee Melton)
Aaron Tippin "You've Got To Stand For Something" (BMG, 1990)
(Produced by Emory Gordy, Jr.)
This was Tippin's major-label debut, an album propelled by the Gulf War-era success of its title track and lead single, "You've Got To Stand For Something," which was adopted by many as an unofficial anthem for the American forces. The song was a Top Ten hit and the album sold well, though the followup singles were only modestly successful.
Aaron Tippin "Read Between The Lines" (RCA, 1992)
(Produced by Emory Gordy, Jr.)
His first Number One hit came off this album, "There Ain't Nothin' Wrong With The Radio," one of his own compositions which spent several weeks at the top of the charts, and cemented his reputation as a 1990s country stalwart with a working-class orientation.
Aaron Tippin "Call Of The Wild" (RCA, 1993)
(Produced by Scott Hendricks)
Not since David Allan Coe first hit the scene has there been a country roughneck so heavily invested in chest-thumping, over-the-top, Hey-Look-At-Me, I'm-So-Darn-Country theatrics. (Songs include "Honky-Tonk Superman," "Working Man's PhD," "When Country Took The Throne," etc...) Still, I find it hard to take these jest-plain-folks, redneck-y, working class macho proclamations seriously, especially when they come from a guy who looks like he used to wear the hat and chaps in the Village People. He lays it on pretty thick with the rock-tinged guitars as well, and his voice isn't the greatest -- it sounds thin and nervous at times, and oddly quite a bit like Grandpa Jones -- but still, Tippin's alright, I guess. At least here, on his debut album, he's going through the motions of keepin' it country, and amid the glossy pop of modern Nashville, that's gotta count for something... Tippin sends all the right signals, and though it doesn't always translate into anything believable or engaging, his routine is still rugged enough to work well enough to fool the rubes. It'd be a lot better if he'd quit telling us how super-duper, ultra-country he is and just play the dang music, but at least he's not Garth-effing-Brooks or anything...
Aaron Tippin "Lookin' Back At Myself" (BMG, 1994)
(Produced by Steve Gibson)
This disc opens on a really vigorous, fun (and funny) note, with several mildly raunchy tunes about his woman's good, good lovin' (including the jovial "Lovin' Me Into An Early Grave," which kinda sums up what's best about Tippin's cheerfully low-brow approach). He starts to lose me, though, midway through the album on the dopey "Country Boy's Tool Box," which takes the sexual innuendo gimmick and bluntly pounds it to death. Then the disc sort of loses momentum and focus, with weak tunes like "Bayou Baby," and "You Are The Woman," which are thankfully somewhat balanced by slightly better material such as the moody title track and the name-droppy "Mission From Hank." It's a bummer, though that the whole album isn't as good and as much fun as the first three songs. Oh well. Overall, this is a pretty decent record; it's certainly much better than some of his later efforts.
Aaron Tippin "Tool Box" (RCA, 1995)
(Produced by Steve Gibson & Alan Schulman)
Aaron Tippin "What This Country Needs" (Lyric Street Records, 1998)
(Produced by Mike Bradley, Bart Pursley & Mark Capps)
...Is a bunch more Aaron Tippin albums on the retail shelves! You tell 'em, big fella!
Aaron Tippin "A December To Remember" (Lyric Street Records, 2001)
(Produced by Mike Bradley, Aaron Tippin & Biff Watson)
Aaron Tippin "Stars And Stripes" (Lyric Street Records, 2002)
(Produced by Mike Bradley, Aaron Tippin & Biff Watson)
In the wake of the September 11th bombings, Tippin predictably landed a slot in the charts with the patriotic anthem, "Where The Stars And Stripes And The Eagle Fly..." But he also has plenty of his patented working-man hard-country ditties. I suppose, with his embrace of old-fashioned instruments like fiddles and pedal steel that I should be more appreciative of his pseudo-roughhewn style... But all the posturing seems so forced and predictable that it's hard to take any of this seriously. Everything he does is so baldly calculated and overly-obvious that it's kind of hard to enjoy. Nice voice, though.
Aaron Tippin "Now & Then" (Rust Records, 2006)
(Produced by Aaron Tippin)
The gruff-voiced Aaron Tippin, now a Nashville old-timer, walks through through his back catalog, re-recording about a dozen of his big hits, along with three brash, thumping new anthems, the best of which, "He Believed," is a half-gospel homage to his father. All the old songs are now introduced by a hardly-humble Tippin... The spoken intros -- floating monologues that are anchored onto the ends of all the preceding tracks -- make this disc iTunes unfriendly, but Tippin's fans will still probably enjoy hearing him talk about the songs (even if the intros are a bit insider-ish and showbizzy, talking about songwriting partners, old TNN videos and such...) Given Tippin's tireless post-9/11 politicking, it's a little surprising that none of the new songs are patriotically themed, or for that matter, that he didn't redo his big flagwaving hit, "Where The Stars And Stripes And Eagle Fly." Oh, well. This seems like a for-fans record, and while the remakes don't add much to the original versions, it's still a robust, solid offering, one that lets folks know old Aaron is still alive and kicking.
Aaron Tippin "He Believed" (Cracker Barrel, 2008)
Tippin, a Top Ten hitmaker of the 1990s, was the latest in a series of Nashville stars who've signed exclusive sweetheart deals with the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain, recording (and in some cases re-recording) a full album that would only be marketed through the sponsor's outlets. Tippin's fans'll want to scoot down and get some chicken-fried steak along with this new CD -- it's packed with his patented formula of anthemic, more-working-class-than-thou, backbeat-heavy, rock-tinged, hyper-twangy country. It's mostly a best-of set, though threre are three new recordings on here: "Bad Latitude," "Country Boy's Toolbox" and "Trim Yourself To Fit The World." Tippin is an unabashed dumber-down of his own music, he postures and self-mythologizes with the best of 'em, but with a roughnecked sincerity that sets him apart from the then-current crop of young'uns (Montgomery Gentry, et. al.) who seemed to do the working man schtick solely out of contractual obligation. Tippin, on the other hand, was a true believer, and that's what makes his goofy tunes so much fun. Here he's going light on the patriotic chest-thumping, though definitely sticking up for the rednecky everyman -- indeed, he sounds more like Merle Haggard than ever before, and this disc will be a crowd pleaser, for sure. And can we get some homefries with that...?
Aaron Tippin "In Overdrive" (Country Crossing, 2009)
(Produced by Aaron Tippin & Tim Grogan)
A good, old-fashioned album full of trucker songs... Red Simpson would be proud! [Note: the Country Crossing label was a short-lived project undertaken by Nashville super-producer James Stroud, who apparently wanted to start his own label. In 2009 it released a handful of records, including two albums by Lorrie Morgan and one from John Anderson, as well as this one, of course.]
Aaron Tippin/Joe Diffie/Sammy Kershaw "All In The Same Boat" (Big Hit Records, 2013)
(Produced by Sammy Kershaw)
Aaron Tippin "25" (Nippit Records, 2015)
A self-released double album on Tippin's private label... Disc One is labeled "The Hits," while Disc Two is optimistically dubbed "The New Hits." The album title presumably refers to twenty-five years of his hit-making career, dating back to his 1990 major-label debut: guess he didn't want to count those early singles from the 'Eighties?
Aaron Tippin was one of those big-name country artists whose career started at a slow roll many years before they were able to catch the brass ring. Tippin was born in Florida but grew up in South Carolina and played in local bars as far back as the late 1970s, all while holding down a series of day jobs, most colorfully as an airplane pilot. In the late Eighties he decided to move to Nashville and try his luck as a full-time musician, landing a job as a staff songwriter for Acuff-Rose, where some of his songs were picked up by a few stars of the era. Tippin was very much a 1990s neo-trad guy, with his first Top Ten hit released at the beginning of 1990. Tippin's career successes proved to be relatively modest: he scored three Number One hits, but mostly his singles hovered in various strata of the Top Forty, with several songs breaking through into the Top Ten... just enough to keep him viable inside the decade's neo-trad boom, but not quite on the same level as the superstars of the era such as Garth Brooks or Tim McGraw. Like Joe Diffie and other working-class-guy neotradders, Tippin embraced his novelty song reputation, and made some pretty amiable, upbeat material, all the more appealing because he didn't take himself too seriously during an era when Nashville became hyper-professionalized and even slicker than before. Here's a quick look at his work...
