Filed under: Exclusive, Country News

While Jake Owen is crossing the country on Jason Aldean's Night Train tour, he's also busy plotting new music. The Florida native, who soared to the top of the charts with his 2011 album, Barefoot Blue Jean Night, is putting a lot of thought into his new set of tunes, which he hopes to release later this year.

"It will have more songs that I love and enjoy, and songs that I want to go onstage and sing," he tells The Boot. "But more importantly, the kind of songs that really relate to my life, and my brand and my identity of how people perceive my music. Songs that people want to tell their friends about. You can pick songs that sound like hits, but if it's not something that somebody wants to tell their friends, 'Hey man, have you heard this song?' then I don't think it's worth it. The only way to get your music out there, is for someone to tell their friends about it."