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| Photo courtesy Arista
Nashville |
| Alan Jackson
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Once upon a time a
greatest hits album meant that a recording artist's career was over.
Country star Alan Jackson, however, released his second greatest
hits collection last year. With 31 No. 1 songs and 43 top ten tunes
to his credit, Jackson continues firing hits into the country
charts.
The singer's recent duet with Jimmy Buffett, "It's Five O'Clock
Somewhere," hit No. 1, too, as did its follow-up, the heartfelt
"Remember When." The difference between the two songs illustrates
Jackson's versatility. He can fill a honky-tonk dance floor and then
just as effectively sing a moving ballad.
A 6-foot-4-inch Georgia native, the guitar-strumming Jackson has
sold 40 million albums since his 1990 debut. Along the way, he
picked up 65 music industry awards and 9 million people attended his
concerts.
Behind the hit records and awards, Jackson's a gifted songwriter
and personable performer. An Everyman star, his songs seize moments
in time, crystallizing images and emotions in a way that allows
listeners to identify with them. There's the poignant ballad "I'll
Go On Loving You," dance-floor friendly ode to classic country
"Don't Rock The Jukebox," nostalgia and social commentary of "Little
Man," and a song that's among the most moving and insightful of
9/11-inspired songs, "Where Were You (When The World Stopped
Turning)."
ALAN JACKSON/MARTINA MCBRIDE
7:30
p.m., March 27
Pete Maravich Assembly
Center
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Jackson
wasn't afraid of making a statement either, even though his lyrics
risked the alienation of the Nashville establishment in which he'd
thrived. In a stinging duet with George Jones, "Murder on Music
Row," the tradition-loving Jackson knocked Nashville's rigid
commercial formula.
Jackson comes by his Everyman stance honestly. The son of an auto
mechanic, he came up in a big blue-collar family in Newman, Ga., and
married his high-school sweetheart. Before stardom, the singer
toiled as a mechanic, car salesman and forklift operator by day
while playing his music in barrooms by night. No wonder his first
album is called Here In The Real World.
Already a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Jackson's
already a classic.