HotStar: Jake Owen

Rising country music star Jake Owen has a lot to be thankful for already but, on Thanksgiving Day, he and his wife, Lacey, welcomed their first child into the world.

Four days later, he’d learn that his single “The One That Got Away” hit No. 1 on country radio and records charts.  As if those weren’t epic enough reasons to give thanks, his headlining slot on CMT’s “The Summer Never Ends” tour continues to rack up sellout after sellout.

“Every show but two on this tour has sold out. He had a baby last week. And today he has a No. 1 single,” TMG s Louis Messina said, sounding for all the world like a proud papa himself. “I’m so happy for him; he’s worked so hard.”

Messina has become an extension of the team at Dale Morris & Associates guiding Owen’s career which, after several years and three successful albums’ worth of steady building, now appears poised to launch into the stratosphere.

Messina knows it when he sees it. His only other such clients – Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift and George Strait – are among the few artists of any genre who can be counted on to fill arenas, if not stadiums, year after year. He says Owen is next in line.

“I’ve watched Jake grow up and when I first saw him I said, ‘Holy cow, that’s the real deal here,’ Messina told Pollstar. “It’s proven. He’s next. He’s going to be where [Jason] Aldean is, where Luke Bryan got. It’s Jake Owen’s turn up to bat. It just is.”

He’ll come out of the on-deck circle in the new year behind Aldean in one last high-profile support slot before making the leap to headlining arenas in 2014, according to Messina.

And Owen, along with his management team of Dale Morris, Chris Higham and Messina, is determined to build a career that will sell out arenas 10 years from now, let alone 10 months.

“Jake’s a superstar. He gets it,” Messina said. “Jake’s in good company with George Strait, Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift. That’s where I set my goals for him. It’s like I told him, I can’t wait to get to the arenas with him.”