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by Shannon Wayne Turner
Shoes That Fit:
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1998,Eight Years and Eight
Albums Into His Career, Alan Jackson Steps Up to the Plate with
a New Album and Hits His Own Brand of Home Run . "You know that country
song, 'Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?' I don't know whether I can
fill 'em, but I'd sure like to try 'em on." -- Alan Jackson, liner notes
from Here in the Real World, 1990. In the eight years since Alan Jackson
mused his hopes and fears into the liner notes of his debut effort in
1990, few can deny that among today's country acts, he comes as close
as anybody to filling the shoes of his heroes George Jones, Merle Haggard
and Waylon Jennings. >> |
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Both pictures on
the right come from
Alan's "Miles High" CD.
With more than
25 million albums sold , over
20 Number One singles, countless awards
(including the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year),
and the fulfillment of virtually every professional dream he ever had,
Alan Jackson in 1998 is perhaps the premiere torch-bearer of traditional
country music, or, as he puts it,
"I hope I'm keeping a little bit of traditional country music alive
for the next generations so they'll know what it is." Alan Jackson has
made a habit of using his own music to tip his ever- present white hat
to his heroes. Sometimes it's been direct, as in 1991's nods to George
Jones in "Don't Rock the Jukebox" & "Just Playin' Possum", as well as
that same year's tribute to Hank Williams, Sr., "Midnight in Montgomery."
Other times it's been a little more subtle, as in recent years when
he took Tom T. Hall's "Little Bitty," Charly McClain's "Who's Cheatin'
Who," and the Roger Miller/George Jones composition, "Tall Tall Trees",
put his own trademark sound on them, and drove them all to the top of
the charts. He hasn't been afraid to stretch his musical wings beyond
the "safe" areas of modern country radio, either. In 1994 he took Eddie
Cochran's pop classic, << |
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| "Summertime Blues" straight
to the Number One slot, and now, with the success of the spoken-word
hit "I'll Go On Loving You," Alan is riding high atop the country charts
yet again. Tackling a spoken-word song was a risk, admits Arista Records,who
signed Alan in 1989 and has grown and guided his career since it's beginnings.
It was a risk worth taking according to Senior Vice President of Marketing
Fletcher Foster. "Obviously, it wasn't the most typical radio-friendly
song that was on the album. We knew that it was a very special single.
But we also knew that it was different,
>> |
Alan in an ad for the Ford Motor Co.
Alan at the CMA awards
In short, it's still country music
the way it's supposed to be - from the heart, where we live, what we
know about. Long ago when Alan tentatively wondered if there could be
a place for him in country music, if maybe he could attempt to fill
the shoes of the country greats before him, he was perhaps simply hanging
on to his dream of making the music he loved. Looking back on his impressive
achievements today, however, it's safe to say that as long as Jackson
continues to make straight-ahead music that keeps traditional country
a constant in the changing face of the 90's and the century beyond,
those shoes will likely just keep getting more and more comfortable.
>> |
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and that if it could catch on, it would be big. Obviously, it was."
"I'll Go On Loving You" is merely the tip of the iceberg of an album
that Alan's is most introspective and deeply personal to date. Much
of High Mileage was recorded while Alan was facing the most painful
personal crisis of his life, the near-collapse of his 18-year marriage
to wife Denise. "What was happening was, I couldn't be happy," he recently
told USA Today. "I kept trying to let everything else make me happy.
Maybe that's why I'm successful. I worked so hard to get all this stuff
to make me happy. Then that didn't do it. It actually got worse...I
isolated myself more. << |
| Alan and Denise separated
for five months and began counseling. Luckily, the couple was able to
identify their problems and begin to work toward solutions. In June
they reconciled, and they will renew their vows on December 15, their
19th wedding anniversary. High Mileage is a thoughtful, reflective work
dealing largely with love--love lost, love longed for, new love, lasting
love. From the loneliness of "Gone Crazy" to the light-hearted "Right
On the Money," it's clear that Jackson has taken a lot of time to think
about the various shades of love, and he's colored the album with a
whole range of art and emotion. |
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Story sept.1998 Copyright
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