Alan Jackson Assures That He’s Not Done Creating Just Yet
Alan Jackson announced in September of 2021 that he suffers from a degenerative nerve condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, or CMT for short. He was diagnosed with the condition around 2011. The disease primarily affects the peripheral nervous system causing balance issues by compromising smaller muscles in the body’s extremities, but the good news is that it’s not life threatening, nor does it affect longevity.
However, CMT has affected Alan Jackson’s ability to perform. That is why in March of 2022 Jackson announced his “Last Call” Tour, which he made sure to emphasize might not be his final tour, but it very well could be. Jackson also started sitting on a stool to perform, and had to postpone some of the dates on the tour. Jackson currently doesn’t have any tour dates or engagements on the calendar.
But Alan Jackson is assuring people that he’s not done creating just yet, even if he’s not out there playing concerts on a regular basis. Recently while on his daughter’s podcast “In Joy Life with Mattie Jackson,” Alan Jackson said,
“I may not have toured much, but like I said, the creative part jumps out every now and then. I’m always scribbling down ideas and thinking about melodies, and I feel like there’ll be some more music to come. When you make an album, or especially when you write a lot of the songs, that’s creating something. It’s a challenge, so it keeps you interested a little more. If I didn’t write, I think I would’ve gotten bored just singing a long time ago.”
One of the remarkable things about Alan Jackson’s career—and something he doesn’t always get credit for—is that unlike many of country music’s major stars in the more modern era, Alan Jackson wrote most all of his own material, from album cuts to major #1 hits, and usually as solo writes. On his last album, 2021’s Where Have You Gone, Jackson wrote 16 of the 21 songs himself.
Jackson went onto say on the podcast that songwriting was more fulfilling than anything else in his career, and that’s why he has no intention of quitting. Even a song like “Chattahoochee” that may seem simple and silly still resonated with people, and hearing people’s stories has inspired Jackson to continue to write.
“It was a fun, uptempo thing about coming to age, and I thought, ‘Well yeah, that’s a fun song, and I like it, and people in Georgia are going to like it, but nobody else in the world is gonna know what it is or care about it.’ But then I learned right quick that everybody has a Chattahoochee. It may be called something else, or may not be a river at all, but it just was the story, was something people could relate to in their life for wherever they were from. So, you just never know.”
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease might keep Alan Jackson from performing live as much heading into the future. But don’t expect him to stop writing songs and recording them anytime soon.
February 26, 2023 @ 8:57 am
We need a George Strait/Alan Jackson duets album.
February 26, 2023 @ 9:16 am
I’ve though the same thing for years. Maybe even write a few songs together with Dean Dillon. I’d buy it
February 26, 2023 @ 5:22 pm
Honestly would be great. Only thing likely preventing it is the different record labels.
February 26, 2023 @ 9:36 am
The fact that Alan writes most of his stuff and what he don’t he usually co-writes to a degree is one of the reasons why I’m such a big fan of his. I’m not saying anything bad or making less of guys like king George that get a lot of their stuff from other writers but it’s a lot harder to have to depend on your own writing skills. Anyone knows that has did any writing of any kind, particularly songs and poetry, that stuff can come and go and particularly as time goes on becomes harder to come up with new and exciting material. To Alans credit, I think his writing has gotten better. I didn’t listen to all his earlier albums cause I had largely stopped buying albums when he became popular cause all that becomes too much but having gone back and listened to some later, I think his last two are better in most every way. Sure he hasn’t been the commercial success he was but that’s more due to not getting much airplay and younger people going towards other artist which happens to most all singers and acts. I look forward to a new album from him.
February 26, 2023 @ 4:33 pm
Jackson has written a few major hits on his own, but in general he’s used co-writers or for the big singles–“Here in the Real World,” “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” “Don’t Rock the Jukebox,” “Midnight in Montgomery,” “Chattahoochee,”–or occasionally outside writers–“It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” “Gone Country”–and written the more contemplative and personal songs himself, that haven’t been released as singles. I’d say his biggest solo writes are “Where Were You” and “Drive.”
It looks like in the 2010s, after radio stopped playing his singles, he started doing even more solo writes.
The artist who recorded almost exclusively his own material or songs that he co-wrote is Clint Black–and that fact has been blamed by some for the premature crash of his commercial career.
February 26, 2023 @ 5:25 pm
Aside from a cover here and there, Dwight Yoakam also exclusively wrote and recorded his own material
February 27, 2023 @ 3:53 am
Well I said he wrote or cowrote a lot of his stuff, I didn’t say hits. I also said his later stuff I like better than his older stuff including his hits. I like stuff from his early albums that wasn’t singles better as well
February 28, 2023 @ 9:43 am
yes but Dwight is his own animal.
February 28, 2023 @ 7:15 pm
Dwight is the real king of the 80, 90’s and more. Good call.
February 27, 2023 @ 5:08 am
Clint Black co-wrote nearly exclusively with Hayden Nicholas, and it resulted in songs that got less and less interesting as his career went on. In fact, if you didn’t care for Clint at first listen, you were unlikely to warm up to him as the years and singles and albums passed, because he never took any chances or explored different styles. He didn’t even come out with remakes, as Alan did with “Mercury Blues,” “Who’s Cheatin’ Who,” “Tall Tall Trees.” The contributions of co-writers and outside writers kept Alan’s music interesting a lot longer.
February 27, 2023 @ 9:10 pm
I’d say D’lectrified was a bit of a stylistic departure for Clint Black.
February 28, 2023 @ 11:35 am
@Dave–I agree with you. I don’t think Clint’s problem was that he never took chances or explored different styles. I think he did all that. Clint was miles ahead of everybody both lyrically and musically. Listen to Tracy Lawrence’s Roadhouse interview of Clint Black on Youtube: Tracy talks about how blown away he was by Clint’s first two albums and how he learned a lot from Clint about how to write songs and make albums.
Clint’s problem in later years was that his songs started to rely too much on clever wordplay and failed to connect on the “three chords and the truth” level. Also–and this is just my opinion—Clint was a geat vocalist on his early albums, but as he got older, he started to sound a bit shrill, rather than maturing into a middle-aged voice like Haggard and Jones and Strait and Alan did.
February 26, 2023 @ 10:29 am
Off Topic: Trigger, do you have another article regarding the Mark Capps case planned anytime soon?
February 26, 2023 @ 10:39 am
The reporting on Mark Capps is ongoing and active. I am regularly in contact with different sources and agencies, was in Nashville for multiple days earlier this month exclusively to meet with people and to do work in the Metro Nashville Records Department, and will be reporting on details when they come available and are important to the public. What I don’t want to do is report every new minute detail or development and risk the public tuning out more than they already have in many respects beyond the people who knew Mark through the music community. But I won’t stop reporting on this story until it comes to whatever ultimate conclusion it comes to.
February 26, 2023 @ 10:54 am
Your continued work and reporting regarding Mark Capps and the circumstances surrounding his death are greatly appreciated. I have been recently fairly consumed with the legal minutiae and ramifications of his death at the hands of the police. If you will be so kind, I would like to post a few of my current thoughts on your most recent article. If anyone is interested, I would welcome any thoughts or criticisms of my legal interpretation of the case. Thanks Trigger, you are doing awesome work.
February 26, 2023 @ 11:03 am
By “most recent article”, I mean the most recent article concerning Mark Capps, not this one, to be clear.
February 26, 2023 @ 11:55 am
All the medical opinions I’ve seen say that one of the most important things one can do for longevity is to get ourside and move around a lot. Even if not heavy exercise, just walking. To the extent that any condition prevents one from doing that, it’s likely to hamper longevity. I certainly wish A.J. luck. At least he has the resources to hire a P.T. and personal trainer to provide whatever assistance or urging that he may need.
February 26, 2023 @ 12:26 pm
keep it up with writing and singing as long as you can love everything you sing, Take care of your health so that you can enjoy that grandson.
February 26, 2023 @ 1:41 pm
Alan Jackson is one of the true Country Artists in the modern mainstream era. Even if he is commercialized I can respect him for writing most of the songs he sangs & keeping his music traditional when most mainstream artists of his time were more Pop than Country Shania Twain, Kenny Chesney…ect. I am not the biggest fan of his but do own a few old cassette tapes of his from back in the day. I’m curious where Alan will fall in Country Music lore when all is said & done, I know won’t ever be regarded as Cash, Waylon, & the legends from the 50s-80s but he was a great push back to the more progressive artists of the 90s like Garth Brooks he was the perfect counterpart to Brooks he gave traditional fans something that could rival the “progressive” music of that time. I stopped listening to mainstream country in the early to mid 2000s, to me the 90s was the start of the downfall of mainstream Country Music but I won’t lie Alan along with Brooks & Dunn are guilty pleasures of mine from that time period they weren’t quite like the classic guys but they weren’t the garbage that is out there today.
February 26, 2023 @ 4:19 pm
Love Alan like song “who’s cheatin who”
February 26, 2023 @ 4:24 pm
Love Alan he’s old country
February 27, 2023 @ 5:33 am
This is really sad for me one of my favorite all-time artists was Mr. Alan Jackson. I was hooked on him from the very first album. Alan and John Anderson have always been my favorites
February 27, 2023 @ 10:30 am
PRAYING AND WISHING THE BEST FOR MR. JACKSON AND HIS FAMILY.
February 27, 2023 @ 11:09 am
what the hell is a Charcot-Marie-Tooth-oochie
February 28, 2023 @ 8:45 pm
A lot about misery, a little ’bout pain — and nothing about humor.
February 28, 2023 @ 6:41 pm
This is great news. Thanks, Trig. Alan Jackson is a bona fide Natural. The more he writes, the better.
May 20, 2023 @ 8:43 pm
Alan is God’s special Blessings for us! He is our Awesome singer!!!