AARON LEWIS: 'This Country Was Founded On The Beliefs And The Moral Compass That The Bible Provides'

During an appearance on a recent episode of "Pickin' It Out With Andrew Pope", the podcast hosted by singer/songwriter Andrew Pope, STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis, who has transitioned into a successful solo country music career, discussed his belief that the very fabric of society seems to be unravelling, with the shared values, trust and institutions that hold a community together slowly eroding. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've seen firsthand the true downfall of a civilization. Nobody wants to work for anything anymore. Everybody wants everything instantaneously. There is this belief now that swearing to someone for the rest of your life is now situational and it's no big deal to get a divorce. You swore yourself to that person for the rest of your life — period. And that's just one little itty-bitty facet. They've stripped God and religion out of everything. They have stripped the merit-based system out of everything."

Reflecting on how things were when he was growing up, Aaron continued: "You treated people the way you wanted to be treated. You judged people by the content of their character, and never, ever by the color of their skin. That's something you're born with. You have no control over that. When I was a kid, this country was about as far away from racism as it had ever been. And now how is it back to such an extent if it's not purposely and malicious just to divide us? United we stand, divided we fall. And we are one nation under God indivisible. That means we can't be divided because we are all one nation of the same beliefs. And that is very important and very key to everything.

"This country was founded on the beliefs and the moral compass that the Bible provides — period, the end," Aaron added. "It wouldn't have worked the way that it did. It wouldn't have created the immense wealth and success and human evolution and the shit that we have come up with in the last 120 years — from a car to everything. Go back a little bit further, fucking electricity. That's all American ingenuity and know-how set free by a set of morals and standards that were held by everyone. We need to get back to that."

After Pope noted that he wishes "more people would take all of that seriously", Aaron touched upon how he believes the advent of smartphones and social media has brought widespread negative impacts, most notably mental health struggles and behavioral addiction. He said: "Our kids and our grandkids are certainly gonna wish we had [taken all of that more seriously]. And what's sad to me is they have no idea what this country was like before those — it's a electronic syringe that you carry around in your hand all day. They have no idea what it was like before that and how much freer and carefree and enjoyable life was before any of this shit. It's made us impatient. Everything is based on instant gratification. It's allowed us to create a life that doesn't even exist on a platform that is... Everybody on [social media] is just — it's their fantasy life. It's the fantasy person. It's the person that they wanna put forth as who they are, and all reality and all life and all realism is completely stripped away from everything. And you can get on that thing and you can say the most damaging, destructive things about humanity and get a whole bunch of people to believe you."

Lewis released his sixth solo country album, "Give My Country Back", on July 17 via Big Machine Label Group. Produced by Sol Philcox-Littlefield, the LP blends roughhewn honky-tonk roots with modern country muscle, creating a project that feels both deeply personal and defiantly bold.

Lewis co-wrote five songs on the record alongside longtime collaborators including Jeffrey Steele and Bobby Pinson, while additional contributions from Casey Bethard, Travis Meadows and others helped shape the album's reflective yet fiery spirit.

Since launching his solo country career, Lewis has earned two No. 1 Billboard Country Album debuts with "Town Line" and "Sinner", released the platinum-certified collaboration "Country Boy" featuring George Jones and Charlie Daniels, and scored a gold-certified No. 1 hit with 2021's "Am I The Only One". His catalog has now surpassed 5.7 billion career streams worldwide.

Lewis is currently on the road on his "2026 American Tour", featuring his band THE STATELINERS.

Lewis grew up in Springfield, Vermont, listening to his grandparents' country 8-tracks. Those roots inspired the multi-platinum STAIND founder to return to his origins for the No. 1 Billboard Country album debuts "Town Line" and "Sinner", as well as Billboard's No. 1 Hot Country song debut "Am I The Only One", only the ninth time since 1958. Having recorded with George Jones, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Alison Krauss and Vince Gill, Lewis put a traditionalist brand on his outlier country.

In 2024, Lewis was awarded Pandora's Billionaires Plaque, recognizing over one billion streams on the platform.