Friday, August 6, 2004

The hits keep coming for popular Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson can't get too much of a good thing.

His track record as a country-music hitmaker is legend, resulting in album sales of more than 43 million. There's no stopping the Nashville superstar, who won last year's CMA entertainer of the year and male vocalist of the year awards and scored his 21st chart-topping single as a songwriter and artist earlier this year, with the nostalgic "Remember When."

And just like clockwork, Jackson is back on the charts with another big hit, "Too Much of a Good Thing," from his upcoming album, "What I Do," the follow-up to his last studio album, "Drive." It arrives in stores Sept. 7.

The former forklift driver from Newnan, Ga., has an easygoing charm that serves him well as an interpreter of others' songs, as well as his own. But Jackson is often caught between his love of traditionalism and his role as a Nashville hitmaker. He rarely takes chances with his music. But perhaps his new album will offer some surprises.

Jackson's show features "Too Much of a Good Thing" and possibly a couple of other songs from "What I Do," as well as old favorites "Little Bitty," "Don't Rock the Jukebox," "Gone Country," "Midnight in Montgomery," "Right on the Money," "Chattahoochee" and "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," his ode to Sept. 11.

Jackson performs tonight at KeyArena. Opening at 7:30 p.m. is Martina McBride, the 2003 CMA female vocalist of the year known for such hits as "Wild Angels" and "This One's for the Girls."

Tickets are $55 to $65 at Ticketmaster.

-- Gene Stout

More headlines and info from Belltown, Queen Anne.