Ahh, the 90’s. A simpler time when country music was (arguably) at its peak and you had to go to a physical store to rent a movie.
Luckily for us, we can just access whatever TV show or movie we want with the touch of a button now, and we can also easily travel back and revisit Alan Jackson‘s 1998 project High Mileage whenever we want.
The album was released on this date 25 years ago and featured a number of hit songs for Jackson. “Right On The Money” actually reached the top spot on the Hot Country Songs chart, while the other three singles for High Mileage (“I’ll Go On Loving You,” “Gone Crazy,” and “Little Man”) peaked as high as number three.
If you were to listen through the entire album, you might notice that many of the themes of Jackson’s seventh studio project were not as “happy-go-lucky” as the artist has usually tended to be throughout his country career.
When AJ was being interviewed about his album When Somebody Loves You in 2000, he actually looked back and revealed why his previous project was a little more somber:
“I guess the last album I made, not the cover-song album, Under the Influence, but High Mileage was a little on the dark side.
I love that album, but some of it’s a little heavy. Of course, some of my life was a little dark at that time, and that’s probably why it ended up that way.”
Regardless of the overall tone of the album, country music fans still loved Alan Jackson’s work. The project made it all the way to the number one spot on the Top Country Albums chart, and even reached number four on the U.S. Billboard 200. One month after High Mileage was released, it was certified platinum by the RIAA.
That platinum certification was probably thanks to people loving some of Jackson’s most personal and intimate work within the album, such as the song “I’ll Go On Loving You” linked below:
And, of course, who could forget about the country stylings of “Right On The Money,” which is just an all-time classic from Alan Jackson. See if you can keep up with all of the sports references that he makes as you listen.
Enjoy:
