Jake Owen

The past 12 months of Jake Owen‘s career have been quite impressive for the 30-year-old singer. Owen just experienced his first chart-topping single, ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night,’ and has his latest hit, ‘Alone With You,’ well on its way to becoming the next in line. In 2012, things will only get better, as he will hit the road with Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney on their Brothers of the Sun Tour — something that Owen still feels the need to pinch himself about on an hourly basis.

“There are just a lot of things that are happening right now that are really blowing my mind,” Owen tells Taste of Country. “The first concert that I ever really saw outside of county fairs or some really small theater [was] Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw at the Coral Sky Amphitheater in Florida. I was in high school … about 16 or 17-years-old. I went with my girlfriend at the time. She and I went with a few of our friends, and I’ll never forget it. I can tell you exactly what that tour was like. I remember it like it was yesterday.”

“That is what I think about when I heard about this tour,” he continues. “It just blew my mind because I was a kid at this amphitheater on the lawn, not even knowing this is what I would be doing at that time. I was just a fan of music and a fan of them. I still am. Just to think that I’m going to be out there — still as that person, but doing my thing — I wish there was an easy way to explain what I feel like, but I really can’t. You can just see the smile on my face every night when I’m out there. It’s going to be amazing.”

As for his own live performance, Owen says, “I just do what I do. I go out there and try to entertain people as much as I can. I’ve heard Kenny talk about before how he goes up to the highest point in the stadium and looks down and wonders how he can connect with that person sitting there. I’ll think of that as well from the stage. Whether it’s the person in the pit down there or the person way up high in the stadium … they already know a lot about Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw. They know what they’re getting when they come for that. I still have that little bit of wonder with people, like, ‘Who is this guy?’ I want to make them leave feeling how I left when I left that Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw thing at Coral Sky Amphitheater, which was ‘Those guys are amazing!’”

The new tour won’t be the first time Owen has shared the stage with the likes of Chesney. Back in 2006, Owen and Dierks Bentley opened the superstar’s Flip Flops Summer Tour, and the two struck up a “really cool relationship” with Chesney.

“I got to know Kenny then, and we’re on the same management company,” notes Owen. “He’s always been really cool to me.”

Owen looks forward to building a relationship with McGraw, too, especially after meeting the star at the 2011 CMA Awards last month.

“I’ve never had a personal relationship with [Tim] where I would expect him to know me, really, but he came up to me on the CMA red carpet, looked me right in the eye and shook my hand,” Owen says with a smile. “He said he was excited to have me out there. He said, ‘Man, I love your music and what you’ve been doing. I can’t wait to see you live.’ That meant a lot to me. I’m excited. It should be a fun time.”

The Brothers of the Sun Tour will kick off on June 2, 2012 in Tampa, Fla. Click here for a complete list of dates where the tour will be stopping.