| ALAN JACKSON Biography:
Superstar Alan Jackson’s amazing chart success has been
chronicled in the release of 34 Number Ones, a career-spanning,
double-disc collection featuring all of Jackson’s #1 hits to date. Even
before its release, the album title has already been eclipsed by Number
One #35, with the chart-topping success of the current single, “As She’s
Walking Away,” with Zac Brown Band featuring Alan.
With 37 songs in all, the project includes all 34 of Jackson’s
previous #1 singles, together with “As She’s Walking Away” and two
additional tracks: the beautiful “Look at Me” (previously available on
the 2008 soundtrack to Billy: The Early Years) and Jackson’s
never-before-released take on the classic Johnny Cash hit, “Ring of
Fire.”
Alongside Alan’s first chart-topper, 1990’s “Here in the Real World,”
are such enduring favorites as “Gone Country” (1995); Jackson’s
poignant, GRAMMY-winning “Where Were You (When the World Stopped
Turning)” (2001); the Jimmy Buffett duet “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere”
(2003); the recent “Country Boy,” and many more.
Over the course of those 34 number one hits, Alan’s sold more than 50
million albums. As superstars go, he’s one of only a handful of artists
who’ve been around for two decades who still regularly top the country
chart. And unlike the other consistent smashmakers who can make that
claim, he’s the only one who is a true singer/songwriter, penning most
of his own material.
In fact, over the course of his career, Alan has become one of the
most successful and respected songwriter/performers in music - which
has, no doubt, been a contributing factor in him being 16-time award
winner at both the CMA and ACM Awards and a GRAMMY-honored songwriter,
as well.
Based on sheer artistic craftsmanship, it’s easy to consider the
superstar alongside his truest forebears - easy for anyone but Alan: “I
wouldn’t want to compare myself to anybody,” Jackson says. “But if I was
going to say somebody I wanted to be like, of course, the two
singer/songwriters in country music that stick out to me are Hank
Williams Sr. and Merle Haggard. I don’t know that there are two any
better. I just don’t put myself in that category.”
Others might beg to differ, since Jackson’s considerable catalog of
number one singles clearly positions him as a successor to these greats.
He’s celebrated the common man in “Little Bitty,” “Where I Come From”
and “Small Town Southern Man.” He’s spoken to the passing of generations
in “Drive (For Daddy Gene).” He’s treated with deep respect the dream
that country music itself represents in “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow.” He
has had hits with songs as heartrendingly meaningful as “Remember When”
and carefree and fun as “It‘s Five O‘Clock Somewhere.” He’s spoken for a
nation in “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),” and spoken
for the nearest barroom in “Don’t Rock the Jukebox.” Alan’s music
doesn’t just document his life - his music documents the live of every
man.
Just taken on its own, 34 Number Ones is a fitting showcase
for many of the songs that are best identified with one of country
music’s true contemporary superstars. But 34 Number Ones also
underscores why Alan Jackson is a revered member of today’s music scene:
the collection chronicles the deep impact that Alan and his music
continue to have on country music.
website:
www.AlanJackson.com |
