Aaron Lewis On His Country Music Career: "A Part of Me Was Drifting Away With Every Staind Album"

Lewis doesn't usually have much to say during a Staind concert. But during his solo show this weekend, his onstage demeanor couldn't have been more different. He even says there are times he hears someone from the crowd shout, "Shut Up and Sing!" Not having his powerful band to back him, he feels that more of his personality comes through in a solo show.

"It's kinda nice to be in an environment where it is perfectly ok to go on a tangent for three or four minutes and not feel like I have to go right to the next song. That's kinda refreshing and kinda cool."

Lewis recently released a music video for his feel-good latest single "Endless Summer," the lead single for his album coming out later this year, The Road. "It's definitely proof that I can write a happy song," he says. He lives in Massachusetts and has a beach cottage in Rhode  Island, where he shares his life with his daughter. "It was a straight forward and easy story to tell."

The rest of the album will be "outlaw country" inspired. Just because he did write a happy song, Lewis adds, "It wasn't like I was writing a song for today's country radio. I wasn't limiting  myself." The whole album was written while bouncing from state to state with Staind. "If a song came out, it would come out and go on the record." Every song that will be on The Road is directly connected to what was going on while on tour.

Lewis is currently on tour with Staind till the end of the month. He will be going on a full band country tour starting at the end of June through July. He then will be on tour with Staind for the Uproar Tour sharing the stage with Papa Roach, Godsmack and Shinedown. In December, Lewis will be able to stop the "balancing act" and focus 100% on his solo act. But Staind fans don't worry, once he is done with his solo project, Staind will release another record in the coming future.