Alan Jackson
Good Time (Arista Nashville)
ESSENTIAL "If You Want to Make Me Happy"
An
old maxim has it that as delightful as it is to travel, it's always
satisfying to come back home, and with his new album, that's exactly
what Alan Jackson has done. After excursions into gospel and then to a
softer, intimate pop sound with his two 2006 releases, Jackson has
returned - to longtime producer Keith Stegall and the same general cast
of Nashville studio cats, and also to his honed version of traditional
country. "Good Time" is Jackson back on his home turf, relaxed,
rejuvenated, and stretching out within its confines. Belying the
album's title, the songs touch on good times and bad, love won and
lost, life well-lived ("Small Town Southern Man") and death too young
("Sissy's Song"), and classic barroom lament ("If You Want to Make Me
Happy"). This is another Alan Jackson record that will stand the test
of time. [Stuart Munro]
rising
falling 