Welcome to the GO! Visitors Center, Jason Aldean and John Anderson. Since you guys are performing together just days apart here in Bloomington, we thought we'd take this time for some impromptu introductions.

John, we'd like you to meet Jason. Jason, meet John.

(Pause for courtesies).

Excuse us, say what? You've already met? You've already performed together at the Grand Ole Opry (which - sound the trivia bell - John helped roof in his roofing days)?

You were performing with him just last Saturday night?

Jason is one of John's biggest fans? John is one of Jason's biggest fans? You may be writing a song together one of these days soon?

So much for the best laid plans of mice and GO!

When the concept for this week's cover story was hatched, the idea was to contrast Old School Country with New School Country by interviewing the two representatives of each passing through on each other's heels: seasoned vet John Anderson, headlining the McLean County Fair grandstand Friday night, and young turk Jason Aldean, headlining his own show a week to the night later (Aug. 8) at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

Aldean's and Anderson's interviews were literally scheduled back-to-back so the discussion could move seamlessly from one representative to the other.

The fact that the two men are past the introductory phase, with several collaborations behind them, didn't deter either from speaking frankly about the then-and-now of country music.

"Yeah, I just did a show with him last week," reveals Aldean, 31, whose hit-making tenure is barely three years old (six Top 10 singles in three years, including the No. 1 "Why"). "I'm a huge John Anderson fan. He was always one of my favorite singers - he's one of the biggest influences I've had on my career."

In fact, recalls Aldean, he was "Swingin'" to Anderson before he even hit the age of 5.

Blame his dad's record collection and Aldean's penchant for cranking up the volume .

"When I was around 4, I'd put those records on the player and with there with my headphones on," the latter commissioned by his parents to earn back some of their peace and quietude.

And, there, with hits like "Wild & Blue," "Swingin'," and "I've Got a Feeling' (Somebody's Been Stealin')" reverberating through his cranium, little Jason fell head over heels for the music of Anderson and others of his generation.

OK, John, your turn.

"Yes, that's right, we did play together last Saturday night," begins Anderson in that instantly recognizable voice with some wonderfully rugged mileage on it. "You might say he's one of MY favorite singers, too," in response to Aldean's assertion.

In the beginning, Anderson, who is 22 years' Aldean's senior (53), was impressed with his fan's choice of songs, among them some of Anderson's own.

In fact, as the legend goes, Aldean's first big public coming-out performance occurred at the age of 14, after watching a country music awards show on TV.

Demanding to perform on stage, his mom set up a gig at the VFW hall in Macon, Ga. His two songs: Tracy Lawrence's "Sticks and Stones" and Anderson's "Seminole Wind."

Despite the fact only around 10 people were in the audience, they clapped real loud, instilling added confidence in young Jason, which left his mother having to "drag me off stage."

"Well, that's very flattering being mentioned by guys like Jason having such success," says Anderson, no stranger to early success himself (his belt notches number around 40 in the realm of hit singles, with five of those having hit No. 1 between 1982 and the mid-'90s).

The pleasure is Jason's.

"Meeting guys like John have been some of the main highlights of my career," continues Aldean.

Though the Georgia native hit Nashville 10 years ago, there was more overnight disappointment than success awaiting him.

During his first seven years in town, the carrot of success was dangled before him twice, then yanked away each time.

In one case, he was offered a record deal from a label that went under before he could sign; in the other, he signed to a label whose regime changed hands before he could record a single note - and was dropped.

Even today, looking back, Aldean says "it kind of (upsets me). It was really frustrating because you work all this time to get to a point where you have a record contract to record an album, then before they even let you go into the studio, the decide they're gonna drop you."

The memory may still tick off Aldean, but he admits that perhaps it was for the better that he didn't have the runaway success at 22 or 23 that came around five years later with his two breakthrough albums on the indie Broken Bow Records label, 2005's "Jason Aldean" and 2007's No. 1-charting "Relentless."

"It was good for me, I think. At 23, I was right out of the clubs and didn't have a very sharp business mind as far as all that goes. Learning the lesson early on was something that laid the groundwork for what came later."

When Anderson left central Florida for Nashville in 1972, he was around the same age that Aldean was when he moved.

"But it was different then," Anderson recalls. "It was a time when you could still carry a guitar around up and down the streets and walk into the major record companies and get someone to listen to you. These days, that's not the way it happens. Now they put on these big (talent) showcases and you have to be invited to them."

Also different in the '70s, says Anderson, is that country music was far less youth-centric then it is now. "It was a time when there weren't many artists in country music younger than 35."

In fact, he adds, after he started making waves in his 20s, "when people met me in person after hearing me, they'd say, 'we thought you were a lot older!'" And Anderson would say, "Thank you."

Though Aldean is in the skyrocket phase of his career and Anderson is at a mellower level, there's no generation gap yawning before them.

"The sound is different now," admits Aldean. "As much as I love the sound of traditional music, like John's early stuff had, at the same time, I'm a big fan of southern rock, and we're seeing a lot more of that integrated into country music. Everything changes."

For his part, Anderson says he pays little attention to the winds of change. "I'm still doing my own thing, which is what I was doing 25 years ago. I very seldom listen to anything new these days because I'm so busy writing new songs myself."

Numbered among the select few who do catch his ear, he says, are songwriter guys "like Jason and Josh Turner - they're two of my favorite guys, and it's very flattering to me that they're taking note of the work we did in the past."

Turnabout is fair play:

"John has one of those unique styles to his voice that doesn't sound like any other artist," says Aldean. "It's been so much fun to get to know him over the last couple years, and now we've become friends."

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John Anderson

with openers Anjanel Folkens and Cattle Bandits

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday (opening acts at 6:45 and 7 p.m.)

Where: McLean County Fair grandstand at the Interstate Center, Bloomington

Cost: Free with gate admission (adults, $5, ages 6-12, $3; under 12, free)

Information: (309) 829-4516 Also at grandstand: McLean County Idol, 6 p.m. today (free); Nationwide Demo Derby, 7 p.m. Saturday ($15)

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Jason Aldean

with special guest Julianne Hough

When: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 8

Where: U.S. Cellular Coliseum, 101 S. Madison St., Bloomington

Cost: $30 Box office number: (866) 891-9992

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John 'n' Jason

Following are the comparative stats on old country pro John Anderson, playing the McLean County Fair Friday night, and young turk Jason Aldean, headlining a U.S. Cellular Coliseum show Aug. 8.

The old pro

• Name: John Anderson

• Birth date: Dec. 13, 1954

• Birth place: Apopka, Fla.

• Breakthrough year: 1976 (signs with Warner Bros. records)

• First hit single: 1977's "I've Got a Feelin' (Somebody's Been Stealin')"

• Biggest hit single: 1983's "Swingin'"

• Album track record: 22 studio albums, 10 compilation albums

• Singles track record: Five No. 1 hits, 23 Top 10 hits

• Awards: Two Country Music Association Awards, Academy of Country Music Lifetime Achievement Award

The new kid

• Name: Jason Aldean

• Birth date: Feb. 28, 1977

• Birth place: Macon, Ga.

• Breakthrough year: 2005 (release of first album, "Jason Aldean")

• First hit single: 2005's "Hicktown"

• Biggest hit single: 2005's "Why"

• Album track record: Two studio albums

• Singles track record: One No. 1 hit, six Top 10 hits

• Awards: Yet to come