Love and Theft opens for Jason Aldean Oct. 9 at the Civic Arena

Jason Aldean released his most popular album to date, “Wide Open,” earlier this year. Just months later, rising country trio Love and Theft released its debut album, “World Wide Open.” So it only seems fitting that the group and Aldean would tour together this fall.

Love and Theft formed in Nashville in 2006. The group is comprised of Brian Bandas, Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson. All three play guitar and sing lead vocals. Their singing style was inspired by a certain classic rock band from L.A.

“A lot of it came from our love of The Eagles,” Gunderson says. “We love the sound of the three-part harmonies, and certain verses and certain choruses work better with different people’s voices, so if you have three, you might as well use it.”

The group puts its distinct three-part harmonies to good use in “Runaway,” which peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The song is about a person leaving behind his life, his broken relationship and his crappy job for a fresh start. Liles says the song was inspired by the journeys of all three men in the band.

“We all picked up from our hometowns of Charlotte, Tampa and Austin, Texas, in pursuit of our dreams and moved to Nashville,” Liles explains. “So, for us, we’re all kind of runaways.”

Taylor Swift may have given the band one of its biggest breaks when she took Love and Theft on tour with her in 2008. The trio quickly turned heads at the shows, and soon Love and Theft was drawing comparisons to another notable country trio: Rascal Flatts. Though the comparisons are flattering, the guys from Love and Theft feel they are superficial.

“The songwriting, the whole presentation is just sort of a different style,” Bandas says.

The band will tour for another year before it heads back to the studio to record its sophomore album. And Gunderson, Liles and Bandas wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s like being out on the battleground, man. That’s where you’re rocking out with the fans,” Bandas says of the group’s live shows. “They’re in your face. You’re in theirs. That’s magic.”