The tattoos crawl from the tips of his fingers to the tops of his shoulders, winding roadmaps of ink that shout "Aaron Lewis, rock star."
His shaved head completes the look he embraces when he is with his heavy metal band Staind.
But when he is on a country stage, those same tattoos are somehow muted against the broad body of his acoustic guitar, and the bald head shows enough stubble to qualify as substantial growth.
The biggest difference between Lewis the rocker and Lewis the country guy comes when he opens his mouth. His country songs come from a different part of his heart, one steeped in rural roads rutted from a complicated life.
"Country music was the first music I ever heard in my life," said the father of three girls who turns 41 on Saturday. "It's still a part of me. It still represents me as a person better than any other genre of music. I've always been a country kid ... I was always a hillbilly at heart, even all through Staind."
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Late last year, after touring on its 2011 eponymous album - the band's eighth since forming in 1995 - Staind took a hiatus so Lewis could record a country solo album and guitarist Mike Mushok could do a side project.
"We've never officially broken up and as soon as he's done with his record cycle and I'm done with my record cycle, we'll probably get back together and write the heaviest Staind record ever," Lewis was quick to clarify.
During a phone interview, Lewis talked about his country and rock music and how he fits both into his life.
There doesn't seem to be a big divide between Staind music and your country material.
"That's because of my influence. ... Songs that are written by Staind as a whole and not necessarily by me and then brought to Staind tend to come out a helluva lot heavier. ... Songs like 'Outside,' 'It's Been Awhile,' 'Far Away,' 'Everything Changes,' 'Epiphany,' 'Zoe Jane,' 'Tangled Up in You' - those are all songs I wrote on acoustic guitar and then brought to Staind. And if I hadn't brought those songs to Staind, Staind would still be known as the heavy band that we started out as."
Do you regret that?
"Obviously not, because they were some of the biggest songs we had. But I regret the confusion that it caused. From a radio listener's standpoint, it really created a false impression of what Staind was all about. You would hear us on the radio and then you would come and hear us live at a show and we play all the heavy songs."
Those songs played nicely as a segue to your country side.
"Which, if you take those songs and you color them country, they would probably fit pretty well into my collection of country hits."
Why country?
"Because it was the only thing that I could do that would change things up enough to not get compared to Staind in any way, shape or form and was still staying true to myself. I didn't want to put out a Staind acoustic record. I didn't want to put out Staind lite as my solo record. I wanted to do something that could stand on its own, and I really don't think that a John Mayer/Jason Mraz type of thing would have worked for me at all. Not that I couldn't have. But it wasn't being true to myself."
Your country has some pronounced neo-traditional twang.
"It is good, old-fashioned inspired from the timeframe of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash and George Jones and Willie Nelson. ... That's where my inspiration comes from. That's the country music that is buried in the back of my head somewhere."
What is the biggest difference you're discovering between your country and Staind audiences?
"There really isn't that much of a difference, to be quite honest with you. Music lovers are music lovers, regardless of what genre of music they choose to listen to."
What's the biggest difference between the rock versus the country arena?
"I'm starting all over. If anything, my 18 million records sold in the hard rock genre is hindering me in the country genre because the powers that be in the country genre look at is as I'm coming over ... to steal their record sales and placate and pilfer to the country audience.
"I put up no facades. I walk out on stage the same way that I got up in the morning and got dressed. This is what you get."
If your country career really started taking off, would you consider leaving heavy metal?
"I've definitely found my niche, but that doesn't mean I will be incapable of mustering up a bunch of hostile feelings to put on a Staind record."
If you go
• What: 20th annual Country Thunder festival.
• When: Today through Sunday. Today's first concert starts at 4 p.m. Concerts Friday through Sunday start at 1 p.m.
• Where: Canyon Moon Ranch, 20585 E. Price Road, off Arizona 79, in Florence.
• Tickets: $180 for the four-day pass in advance, $220 at the gate; $35 to $65 per day in advance; $70 to $100 at the gate. Get advance tickets at arizona.countrythunder.com
• Lineup in order of appearance:
Today: Chris Janson, Sweetwater Rain, Kip Moore and Brantley Gilbert.
Friday: Run Boy Run, Greg Bates, Jana Kramer, Love and Theft, Tracy Lawrence and Eric Church.
Saturday: Harry Luge, Morgan Frazier, Parmalee, Diamond Rio, Lee Brice, Toby Keith.
Sunday: Desert Dixie, High Valley, Aaron Lewis, Jerrod Niemann, Justin Moore and Lady Antebellum.
• Details: For a list of the festival's do's and don'ts, visit arizona.countrythunder.com
Be a part of the festival experience by joining StarNet's Country Thunder live blog, featuring tweets from Caliente reporter Cathalena E. Burch, at live.azstarnet.com. Tweet or Instagram #AZThunder to share your festival photos and comments.
