hypersongs

Alan Jackson

A Georgia-born neotraditional country singer and songwriter, Arista's first signing in 1989, who wrote "Midnight in Montgomery", "Chattahoochee" and "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" and entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017.

Newnan to Nashville

Alan Eugene Jackson was born in Newnan, Georgia on October 17, 1958. After Newnan High School he played in a band called Dixie Steel, worked in construction and as a forklift operator, began writing songs in 1983, and moved to Nashville in the mid-1980s, working in a mailroom and as a demo singer. The producer Keith Stegall, who went on to make 19 of his albums, noticed him after he sang George Jones's "He Stopped Loving Her Today" on TNN's You Can Be a Star in 1986. A demo, New Traditional, recorded in 1987 at Doc's Place in Hendersonville, was released only in Japan. In 1989 he became the first artist signed to Arista Nashville.

Here in the Real World (1990) and Don't Rock the Jukebox (1991) established him, and he joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1991. "Chattahoochee" won the CMA single and song of the year awards in 1993 and 1994, and he was the CMA entertainer of the year in 1995, the year of the Fruit of the Loom Comfort Tour, about a hundred dates from January 20 in New Orleans. After the attacks of September 11, 2001 he wrote "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)", which won the 2002 Grammy for best country song, and he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame on October 22, 2001.

Albums, honors and the farewell

His albums include A Lot About Livin' (1992), Who I Am (1994), Everything I Love (1996), High Mileage (1998), Under the Influence (1999, covers), Drive (2002), Precious Memories (2006, gospel), Like Red on a Rose (2006, produced by Alison Krauss), Good Time (2008), Freight Train (2010), Thirty Miles West (2012), The Bluegrass Album (2013), Angels and Alcohol (2015) and Where Have You Gone (2021). In 2011 he moved to EMI Nashville through a venture with his own Alan's Country Records. Wikipedia counts 66 songs on Hot Country Songs, 35 of them number one, and over 75 million records worldwide; the Country Music Hall of Fame gives different figures, 26 number ones and over 60 million albums.

He received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, a Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit and artist residency in 2014, the 25th anniversary Keepin' It Country tour in 2015, and induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017, introduced by Loretta Lynn, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018. A five-mile stretch of I-85 near Newnan was named Alan Jackson Highway in 2004. A farewell tour, One More for the Road, was announced in March 2022, and his final concert, Last Call: One More for the Road, was at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on June 27, 2026, with George Strait guesting; it was recorded for NBC and Peacock and a live album. The Hall of Fame sums up his approach as keep it country.

Albums

  • Don't Rock the Jukebox 1991 · Arista

    His second album: ten songs, with four number one singles and a George Jones duet.

Songs

  • Midnight in Montgomery Don't Rock the Jukebox · 1992

    A ghost story and tribute to Hank Williams, the fourth single from Don't Rock the Jukebox, which won the CMA's video of the year.

Sources

  1. Alan Jackson, Wikipedia
  2. Alan Jackson, Country Music Hall of Fame
  3. Alan Jackson, alanjackson.com
  4. List of tributes to Hank Williams, Wikipedia