Nightlife / Music

Alan Jackson: Still having a 'good time'

By Times staff and wire services | Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | () comments

Alan Jackson performs in the grandstand 8 p.m. Thursday, July 31, at the Mississippi Valley Fair. Buy this Photo

Alan Jackson has returned to traditional country on his newest album, “Good Time,” after a gospel disc and the Alison Krauss-produced “Like Red on a Rose,” and it has paid off for the singer, who turns 50 in October.

“Good Time,” released in March, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s album charts for all genres, and its title song — accompanied by its own country dance — hit No. 1 on the Billboard country singles charts last week, Jackson’s 33rd No. 1 single but his first since “Remember When” in 2004.

Jackson also reached a milestone last week by hitting the 50-million sales mark for albums sold since his major record label debut in 1989.

But it’s also a comeback for the Georgia-born singer.

The February 2006 gospel set, “Precious Memories,” was meant as a Christmas gift for his mother and became an unexpected sales hit. The project with Krauss, released the following September, was conceived as a bluegrass record, but it ended up being a collection of love songs that felt more adult contemporary than country. While it drew critical praise, it remains his only album other than a holiday record to sell less than 1 million copies.

“That’s what I said before we made it. I said it will get good reviews or win a Grammy, but I don’t think fans will get it,” he said of the record, which was nominated for a Grammy. “But what the fans heard, they loved. I think they didn’t get the opportunity to hear it because radio didn’t embrace it.”

That’s new territory for Jackson, who was out to shake things up with “Good Time.” He wrote all 17 tracks by himself — a lot of songs for a country CD and a bold move to write all of them alone, even for a superstar — and reunited with his longtime producer, Keith Stegall.

His label, Arista Nashville, wanted a more traditional 12 cuts on the record and only paid for that many, but Jackson felt strongly about the rest and included them at his own expense.

“They just seemed to fit together,” he explained.

The first single was a loping tune with fiddle and steel guitar called “Small Town Southern Man,” which was inspired by memories of his late father in Newnan, Ga. It reached No. 2 on Billboard’s country charts.

Despite his biggest hit being a rumination on the 9/11 terrorist attacks, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),” Jackson says he tries to avoid songs that are political or preachy.

“I came along singing in bars, and we sang bar songs and drinking songs and sad cheating songs. That’s what I loved and that’s still my favorite type of music. So, most of the time, that’s where it ends up.”

Still, at his best, he distills complex, sometimes-thorny issues into simple stories. In “Little Man” he tells of big box retailers and chain stores squeezing out small businesses; in “Gone Country,” he sings of carpetbaggers cashing in on the country boom. “Drive” deals with the bond between father and child and how it spans generations.

On the new record, he has a song called “I Still Like Bologna,” which expresses a middle-age man’s frustration with new technology, even though he knows it’s for the best.

“But I still like bologna on white bread now and then. And the sound of the whippoorwill down a country road,” he sings.

It’s an honest sentiment. “Every now and then, something will come up while we’re watching television or a DVD and I’ll tell my kids that when I grew up, there were only three channels and only one telephone in the house. They can’t even understand that at all.”

IF YOU GO

What: Mississippi Valley Fair

When: July 31 through Sunday, Aug. 3

Where: Fairgrounds, 2815 W. Locust St., Davenport

How much: $40 for a Fun Card, which includes grandstand admission; without a Fun Card, admission to the fairgrounds is $8 for adults, $3 for youth 4-12 years old.

Information: (563) 326-5338 or MVFair.com on the Web

Grandstand acts (all 8 p.m.): Alan Jackson, Thursday; Jason Aldean, Friday; Darryl Worley, Saturday; Ronnie Milsap, Sunday.