Music review: Alan Jackson – ‘Where Have You Gone’
Country music icon Alan Jackson is back with his first new studio effort in six years.
“Where Have You Gone” is an impressive double album filled with stirring tracks possessing the Georgia native’s tried-and-true formula of delivering heartfelt declarations of life, love and heartache.
Jackson opens the set with a yearning to go back to simpler times as described on the title track with Jackson singing, “The songs from your memory I cling to today/I won’t let them leave me, I won’t let them fade.” While the message seems to be directed at a lost love, I suspect that Jackson could also be referring to a time when artists such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson ruled the stage.
As a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Jackson faithfully maintains his traditional country style as opposed to much of today’s watered-down offerings.
Jackson drowns his sorrows away on a number of tear-in-my-beer tracks that speak to the loneliness of heartbreak. “Way Down in My Whiskey,” “I Was Tequila” and “Wishful Drinkin'” highlight the fact that there is no substitute for the love of a good woman as Jackson solemnly confesses, “I poured that bourbon in the glass/Sat down in the chair there by the front door/Where I watched you walk away there with my heart/And all I’ve ever cared for.”
On “I Can Be That Something,” Jackson aspires to be the one to bring comfort during troubled times as he sings, “But I can be that whiskey in your bottle/I can be that smile that takes away your tears/I can be the place you just want to run to/I can be that something to get you through.”
The 62-year-old singer proves he still has plenty of gas left in the tank and can get a little rowdy on the guitar-driven “Livin’ on Empty” and party anthem “Beer:10.”
Jackson gets sentimental on “You’ll Always Be My Baby” and “I Do.” Both arrangements were written for his daughters’ weddings and will certainly be signature selections during receptions for years to come.
“Things That Matter” serves as a gentle reminder that time passes by quickly and to make the most of each day as Jackson proclaims, “We only get so many trips around the sun/Some things matter some things don’t/It’s up to you to choose which ones.”
Jackson is scheduled to perform at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on July 10.