Sent a strong message.
Alan Jackson has carried the torch for traditional country music for more than two decades now, leading the neo-traditional revival of the ’90s alongside his fellow members of the vaunted “Class of ’89.” And one of his core beliefs is and always has been the integrity of live music: Performing live, no lip syncing and no backing tracks, like country music is supposed to be.
Even on his final tour, while dealing with the physical effects of a neurological disease that limited his mobility, Alan refused to compromise and rely on backing tracks or pre-recorded vocals to help him get through a show. So it’s no surprise that he wasn’t happy when he was asked to do it all the way back in 1994.
During the 1994 ACM Awards, Alan was asked to perform his then-current single “Gone Country,” the third single from his fourth studio album Who I Am, which would eventually reach the top of the Billboard country charts.
But ACM producers had a request that Alan didn’t like: Instead of doing the song live, they told him that he had to perform to a pre-recorded backing track.
Of course Alan was (and still is) an old-school entertainer. You don’t lip sync, you don’t use pre-recorded tracks… live music is live music and there is no faking it. So when it came time to perform, Alan wanted to send a message to voice his displeasure.
When AJ took the stage with his band, he sent his drummer Bruce Rutherford out to perform with no drumsticks. Just waving his arms like a madman, wailing away on the drums as he played…absolutely nothing.
It was the perfect protest. Subtle yet effective, and drew attention to the fact that the awards show was using backing tracks instead of having artists perform live.
It also ended up not being the only protest Alan would make during an awards show: A few years later, AJ would throw shade at the CMA Awards when they wouldn’t allow George Jones to perform his full song “Choices,” asking him to perform only a 30-second clip and resulting in George declining to perform altogether.
Alan abruptly stopped his own performance and launched into “Choices” himself, showing his support for Jones and expressing his displeasure with the awards show’s treatment of a country music legend.
Gotta love artists who aren’t afraid to take a stand. But unfortunately, here we are 20+ years later and still having debates and discussions about artists using backing tracks. I guess you can’t win ’em all.
