New Alan Jackson Album a Collection Songwriters Can Cheer
By Norm Daniels
In June, Alan Jackson will release his first album since leaving Arista Records and forming his own label, AJR, in conjunction with EMI. The album is titled Thirty Miles West, in honor of the legendary Dixie Highway he grew up near. Alan is still total Country, of course, a solid fact that traditional fans will appreciate.
And there’s something songwriters everywhere will appreciate: Jackson includes seven songs written by outside writers; that despite his own songwriting abilities that make him one of the best writers in the business, and totally capable of writing the whole thing himself.
Some artists capable of writing or at least co-writing, hog not only the creative spotlight, but want to keep all the kale to themselves. Fortunately there are still some great singer/songwriters who love great songs enough to sprinkle some efforts other than their own through each project. Jackson is one.
Going in on this album, he sent out the word to publishers that he was going at a new project. There were two caveats: “Don’t worry about making it sound like me, I’ll take care of that.” And “Send me songs I wouldn’t write.”
It didn’t take long to get all he needed. Who wouldn’t want a cut on Alan Jackson? And despite so much music described as Country Pop, most good Nashville-style songwriters still like to write a good Trad Country song. There’s just something satisfying about it.
June 5 is the release date. You might want to grab one up and enjoy it from day one.
Can some one verify that Alan Jackson is using one of my songs… Country Highway or Brand New Classic….. Thanks
Benjamin…It’s rare for a song to be used by a major star without the writer’s knowledge, because a song must be licensed by a publisher, and the publisher would usually let the writer know. Are you with a publisher?