No love for Taylor?
Alan Jackson capped off a legendary career last night in Nashville with his star-studded Last Call: One More For the Road – The Finale concert at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. The concert immediately became one of hottest tickets of the year, and Nashville had been buzzing all week for one of the biggest concerts we’ve seen in a long time. The stadium was packed, the streets were packed, a big video board was placed on Broadway for a public showing… just about everybody in business showed up to send off one of the best to ever play the game.
Along with Alan, the show featured an all-star lineup of Eric Church, George Strait, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Riley Green, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Jake Owen, Jon Pardi, Thomas Rhett, George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson and Lee Ann Womack.
Strait joined Alan for a performance of their hit “Murder On Music Row,” Cody Johnson performed “Job Description,” Carrie Underwood sang “Everything I Love” but not before confessing that Jackson was her first ever concert in 1994. As a fellow father to 4 girls, Thomas Rhett did “Small Town Southern Man,” Luke Combs paid tribute to his family’s blue collar roots with “Hard Hat and a Hammer” and Eric Church delivered a solo rendition of “Someday.” Finally, the entire group came together for “Pop a Top.”
Alan also received a special message from Taylor Swift, who was met with a bevy of boos from the crowd, with a few cheers sprinkled in.
Savage… although not exactly unexpected. Taylor Swift of course got her start in country music, and I think there’s a good chunk of country music fans who think she sold out and went pop to cash a bigger check. Traitorous behavior in a genre that values loyalty. There’s also a certain segment of people who just hate anyone who is hyper successful and that certainly plays a large role in the overall Taylor Swift hate. Me personally, I’m pretty indifferent on Taylor and her music but I do have to give her respect… she went from a high school girl singing about “Tim McGraw” to arguably the biggest music star in the world all while writing all her own songs, singing her own songs, designing a lot of her set and her live show herself. Love her or hate her, she’s a phenomenal entertainer.
All in all, it was a deeply emotional, moving and nostalgic night that went off without a hitch… minus some Taylor Swift boos and a brief weather interruption. But I wouldn’t expect anything less for the beloved country music icon, Alan Jackson. For most of us who are roughly between 25 and 45, Alan is a staple, a cornerstone of our country music experience. We’re talking 60 million albums sold, 35 #1 hits, 22 ACM awards, 17 CMA awards, two Grammy awards, and induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame back in 2017.
Alan’s easily in my top 5 favorite country artists of all time, and it’s hard to even know where to start when going back over his catalog with hits like “Don’t Rock the Jukebox,” “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” “Livin’ On Love,” “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” “Gone Country,” and of course, “Chattahoochee.”
Enjoy your time off the road Alan, you deserve it for all that you’ve given us over the past 40 years.
Here’s to the great Alan Jackson.
Why Won’t Alan Jackson Be Touring Anymore?
Alan announced back in 2021 that he was suffering from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a degenerative nerve condition that made it hard for the country music legend to stand and keep his balance.
While he assured fans the disease isn’t fatal, it’s made it harder for the legend to tour and deliver the performance that he wants for fans:
“It’s starting to affect my performance on stage a little bit, where I don’t feel comfortable and I just wanted the fans and the public to know, if they’ve come to see me in the last few years or if they come to see me in the future if I play anymore, what’s going on.”
Jackson was diagnosed with the condition over a decade ago, but decided to go public with the diagnosis after the effects became more obvious so that fans didn’t assume he was drunk on stage:
“I’ve been reluctant to talk about this publicly and to my fans, but it’s been a while and it’s starting to affect my performance on stage a little bit, where I don’t feel comfortable and I just wanted the fans and the public to know, if they’ve come to see me in the last few years or if they come to see me in the future if I play anymore, what’s going on. I don’t want ’em to think I’m drunk on stage because I’m having problem with mobility and balance.”
Alan revealed that the disease (which he points out is ironically abbreviated “CMT”) is genetic, and that it affected not only his father but also his grandmother and his older sister. And he says he knows that he’s “stumbling around on stage” and having trouble balancing.
After his recent emotional performance at the ACM Awards, fans who weren’t aware of his health issues had questions about what was going on with Alan. And those who knew he was suffering from CMT were left wondering about the condition itself.
As it turns out, the disease has been recognized for a long time. According to the NIH, it was first described in 1884 before being correctly labeled as a neuropathy by “The Father of Neuropathy,” Jean-Marie Charcot two years later. The disease affects the peripheral nerves – those outside of your brain and spinal cord – and causes neuropathy, or degradation of those peripheral nerves that control movement. And it also leads to neurogenic muscle atrophy, which is the loss of muscles due to the disease (as opposed to physiological atrophy, which occurs from simply not using the muscle enough). Neurogenic atrophy isn’t recoverable and leads to further mobility problems.
Signs of CMT often develop as early as five years old, such as walking on your toes, having a high arch or flat feet, or having numbness of the limbs. Along with numbness, CMT can also lead to severe pain and fatigue that contribute to mobility problems. And it can be difficult to diagnose because it shares symptoms with other, potentially treatable, conditions.
Right now there are no approved treatments for CMT, with treatment largely focusing on managing the symptoms through physical or occupational therapy and even surgery to correct foot and hand deformities.
There are over 160 different types of CMT, and it’s actually more common than you think: According to the CMT Association, the condition affects one in every 2,500 people, especially those who are at risk due to a family history with the disease.
Luckily, as Alan said, CMT isn’t fatal, and those with the disease generally have the same life expectancy as those without CMT. But unfortunately, because it’s progressive and there’s no cure, those with CMT can expect to see a gradual decline in their ability to do everyday activities like standing and walking as the condition progresses.
