With Brooks & Dunn having announced their retirement and Alan Jackson fading faster than his stone-washed jeans, country music is looking for some new male big-time headliners.

The leading candidates at the moment appear to be Dierks Bentley, Zac Brown and Jason Aldean. After his performance in front of a strikingly huge crowd of 11,227 Friday at the State Fair grandstand, Aldean seems like the strongest contender. Although he wasn't as hyperkinetic as Bentley last year at the fair, he had more memorable if cliched material and more guitar oomph than Bentley and Brown combined.

In fact, Aldean, who has this week's No. 1 country song ("Big Green Tractor"), sounded like a collision between classic rock and contemporary country. His music had a big beat, loud guitars and aggressive vocals but small-town, big sky sensibilities. His four sidemen looked like spikey-haired rockers (who burned incense onstage) while the boss man wore a straw cowboy hat, earrings and a vintage Willie Nelson T-shirt.

While Aldean sang about John Deere and Johnny Cash, he also covered Tom Petty ("I Won't Back Down") and Bryan Adams ("Heaven" and "Summer of 69," which he sang with Adams on cable's "CMT Crossroads" and performed Friday wearing a Vikings jersey with Jared Allen's number 69). Even when the 32-year-old Georgian did his own country songs, there were echoes of classic rock: Bon Jovi on "Relentless," Tom Petty on "Wide Open" and AC/DC on "She's Country."

Aldean was bland on ballads but had the right kind of redneck rock muscle on "Crazy Town," "Hicktown," "She's Country" and "Johnny Cash," the highlight of his shortish 70-minute set. At this point, though, it's hard to tell if he'll end up being a one-man Montgomery Gentry or the next Kenny Chesney with a little less testosterone and no trips to the islands.

Opening the concert was the Eli Young Band, probably one of the most mediocre acts in the 100-year history of the grandstand. The overly chatty, TMI lead singer Mike Eli looked like one of the guys from Air Supply, James Young played harmonica like Billy Joel and their lyrics were less than banal ("if I was famous, you'd know my name"). They even butchered a Beatles song ("Come Together"), ripped off Wallflowers guitar licks for their lone country hit ("Always a Love Song") and mined cliches on everything from "Small Town Kid" to "Enough Is Enough." Some acts on the fair's free stages on Friday, such as the cleverly twangy Joey & Rory or the alt-bluegrass Pert Near Sandstone, would have made for a more entertaining and rewarding opener.

For the Aldean set list, go to www.startribune.com/poplife

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719