Aaron Lewis
Aaron Lewis' confessional lyrics and introspective personality are at the heart of Staind's loud, angst-ridden music, and they continue to be the centerpiece of his country-oriented solo career. While other post-grunge bands were successful in mining the dark caverns once explored by Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, Lewis allows his sensitivity to pour freely from his words and often pensive vocals, enabling Staind to strike a balance between heavy metal bombast and thoughtful, melodic rock. After the group went on hiatus in 2011, Lewis embarked on a solo career with the EP Town Line. He continued to blaze his own rootsy path on Billboard-charting full-length efforts like The Road (2012), Sinner (2016), and State I'm In (2019). In 2021, he landed his first number one country single with "Am I the Only One," which appeared on 2022's Frayed at Both Ends, and he continued in a reflective direction on 2024's The Hill.
Born in Springfield, Vermont, Lewis listened to folk music as a child. The son of divorced parents, he chronicled the emotional turmoil in his childhood with Staind, namely on tracks like "Epiphany" and "For You," from Break the Cycle. Like the late Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, Lewis cast an unpretentious, no-frills image, exhibiting a brooding disposition and emotional vulnerability that troubled youths could relate to.
Lewis recorded his first album with Staind, Tormented, in 1996. The band remained on the fringes of mainstream acceptance until "Outside," a live collaboration between Lewis and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst during the 1999 Family Values Tour, blew up on alternative and mainstream rock stations a year later. With only his acoustic guitar as his musical backing, Lewis delivered a raw, anguished performance of a song that Staind would later record in the studio for Break the Cycle. The track carved the path for Staind's subsequent commercial breakthrough.
The group sustained a decade of popularity before Lewis broke free with a solo career in 2011, refashioning himself as a conservative country singer on his 2011 EP Town Line. He had some success with the set, but before he could capitalize on his country career, he reunited with Staind for an eponymous album in 2011. In 2012, he prepped his full-length country debut, The Road, which appeared toward the end of the year. Thanks to the minor hits "Endless Summer," "Country Boy," and "Forever," the album went to seven on Billboard's country chart, and he followed it with another country long-player, Sinner, in the fall of 2016. The record debuted at number one on Billboard's country chart and at four on the Top 200.
Lewis released the non-LP single "Folded Flag" in 2017, but it took him another two years to deliver State I'm In, his third solo album. Produced by Buddy Cannon, who also helmed Sinner, State I'm In arrived in April 2019, preceded by the singles "The Bottom," "State I'm In," and "It Keeps on Workin'." In 2021, Lewis issued the fiery, right wing-leaning single "Am I the Only One," which soared to number one on the country charts. Two more rootsy singles, "Goodbye Town" and "Pull Me Under," arrived later that year. All three tracks appeared on Lewis' fourth full-length effort, 2022's Frayed at Both Ends, which peaked at 39 on Billboard's Top 200.
Lewis shifted into a quieter gear on The Hill, the record he delivered in early 2024. Preceded by three singles, including "Let's Go Fishing" and "Made in China," the album debuted at 175 on the Billboard charts.
© Michael Sutton /TiVo
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Discography
39 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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The Hill
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 29 Mar 2024
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Frayed At Both Ends (Deluxe)
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 28 Jan 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Sinner
Country - Released by Big Machine on 16 Sep 2016
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Frayed At Both Ends
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 28 Jan 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Am I The Only One
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 2 Jul 2021
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
The Hill
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 29 Mar 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Frayed At Both Ends (Deluxe)
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 28 Jan 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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State I'm In
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 12 Apr 2019
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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Sinner
Country - Released by Big Machine on 16 Sep 2016
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Frayed At Both Ends
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 28 Jan 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Let’s Go Fishing
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 12 Jan 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Made In China
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 23 Feb 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Over The Hill
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 15 Mar 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Am I The Only One
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 2 Jul 2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Folded Flag
Country - Released by Big Machine Records, LLC on 16 Jun 2017
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Sounds of Mount Desert Island
Ambient - Released by Agile Productions on 1 Jan 2005
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
State I'm In (Big Machine Radio Release Special)
Country - Released by The Valory Music Co. on 12 Apr 2019
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Romance
Classical - Released by Manning-Lewis Studios on 15 Jan 2013
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Ballad Of The Broken
Pop - Released by Aaron Lewis on 20 Jan 2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo