When it comes to staying power, Alan Jackson’s longevity in country music has really set the tone for all the other younger artists out there.
Jackson got his start all the way back in 1989, and one could argue that he basically owned the decade of the 90’s. His most recent work was back in 2021 with his album Where Have You Gone, which means that Alan Jackson has been doing it, and doing it well, for over 30 years.
It’s crazy how fast time passes, and I’ll prove that to you by bringing up Jackson’s hit song “Country Boy,” which was released in 2008. I don’t know about you, but 2008 still feels like it only happened maybe 5 years ago or so? And here we are actually 15 years removed…
Alan Jackson released “Country Boy” on this date in 2008, and a few months later, the song became the country artist’s 25th number one hit on the Billboard Country singles chart. It was also the third consecutive number one from the album Good Time.
The streak of 25 straight number one songs actually matched a record that had previously been set by George Strait in the category of “most number one hits by a country music artist since 1990.
“Country Boy” told the story of a man talking to a woman, inviting her to basically do whatever she wanted to do because he’s a country boy, and he can handle it. There’s a lot of talking about four-wheel-drive trucks, country roads, and unsurprisingly countries boys.
It’s a great song from Alan, though it does lean a little bit more towards the “pop” side of things. In fact, some people accuse the song of being one of the very first examples of the “bro-country” genre. Could Jackson have unintentionally created a monster?
I’d venture to say no, considering that much of the rest of his catalogue is quality, non-pop country at its best. And speaking of best, the music video that was released along with “Country Boy” was simple, yet very effective.
Getting a band to stand on some old cars and sing about being a “Country Boy” was the perfect fit for the song, and allowed for it to be added into the extensive collection of high-level Alan Jackson music videos.
Take a look:
