MOOREVILLE, Miss.–Aaron Vance is a Rebel, a “Dawg”, a songwriter, a preacher’s son, a hard worker, a country singer with heart, and he’s black. That makes him different in the world of country music, but he says that never mattered to him. He’s just a Mississippian, working his way to the top.
Vance said that when people first hear him, then they see him, it can be a bit of a surprise.
“I guess you have to look at it this way,” he said in a Q&A after his Thursday performance at the Canton Rotary Club. “If you think this far, further than your nose, then you’re never gonna make it anywhere. Don’t dwell on it. You’ve got to look further than that.”
Actually Vance said he has never met an audience he didn’t like and not one that didn’t like him, either. He’s gotten a lot of yesses in Nashville, and a big yes from CBS. They’ll feature his new single, “My Dawgs and My Rebels” on “The Best of College Football”, the Friday after Thanksgiving, along with an eight-minute interview segment. It’s national exposure for the Mooreville native, who has moved to Nashville to make records and get a major-label deal.
That hasn’t happened yet, but he’s plugging away, doing a series of TV and radio appearances in his home state this week and selling CDs at local gigs.
“I’m on a record label now. It’s an independent. We’re there, but there’s bigger fish in the pond.”
Vance said the kind of music he likes to play isn’t necessarily what’s popular in the country music capital right now. His music is more akin to the likes of Johnny Cash, George Strait, Merle Haggard and Conway Twitty.
“The country music in my family, it’s always been there. People ask me, ‘How’d you get into country music’, well I’ve been into it since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.”
Vance took part of his inspiration from his country roots and part of it from growing up going to Mississippi State games, then attending Ole Miss to co-write “My Dawgs and My Rebels”. It’s definitely a tune that’s on the fense.
He co-wrote the tune with friend Daniel Johnson, who had the idea for the title. Vance said he already lived being on the fence for both teams, so it just came natural.
You can find his music at www.aaronvance.us.
