Alan Jackson Writes & Records Song with Daughter After Tragedy

Alan Jackson’s family experienced an unthinkable tragedy when his oldest daughter Mattie Jackson Selecman’s husband Ben Selecman was trying to help a woman onto a boat while the couple was on vacation near Jupiter, Florida. Ben Selecman fell from the pier, hitting his head and sustaining fatal injuries. He died on September 12th, 2018. Selecman was an Assistant District Attorney in Davidson County, Tennessee, and only 28 years old. The couple had only been married for 11 months.

The tragedy rocked the Jackson family, and it’s one of the reasons Alan Jackson took an extended period off between his album Angels & Alcohol in 2015, and his latest release from May, Where Have You Gone. Now his daughter is releasing a new book about the experience called Lemons on Friday that will be released on November 16th. It is a memoir about her experience, and how she found a way through the grief.

Alan Jackson and his wife Denise wrote the forward to the book, but that’s not all he contributed. As part of the project, he co-wrote a song with his daughter Mattie called “Racing the Dark.” Alan Jackson has written songs for his three daughters before, including two released on his latest album (“You’ll Always Be My Baby” and “I Do”), but he’s never written a song with one.

Don’t bother checking out Spoitfy to hear it just yet though. Apparently it will only be available, at least initially, if you pre-order the book.

Mattie Jackson Selecman is not the only author in the family. Her mother Denise wrote a book in It’s All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life in 2007 that became a New York Times bestseller. And of course, Alan Jackson knows a thing or two about writing. Though he never seems to get enough credit for it, he’s one of the most successful country artists in history who wrote most all of his own material, including many of his biggest hits.

Alan Jackson was supposed to be performing in Detroit on Friday, September 17th, and in Green Bay on Saturday, September 18th, but the concerts were cancelled earlier this week. No reason for the cancellations has been given.

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