“The older I get,” mused Alan Jackson, “The more I think/You only get a minute, better live while you’re in it/’Cause it’s gone in a blink.” Wise words, even if the multi-million-selling country music hero had only just turned 59. “And if they found a fountain of youth,” he goes on, “I wouldn’t drink a drop and that’s the truth/Funny how it feels I’m just getting to my best years yet.”
The lyrics are on his track “The Older I Get,” released on October 20, 2017 and timed to mark his induction two days later into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The reflective sentiments could be autobiographical, and while the charmingly traditional new song was written by Adam Wright, Hailey Whitters and Sarah Allison Turner, it was Jackson who suggested a little lyrical uplift.
“This song reflects a lot of how I feel these days,” said Jackson. “It’s a good song. I really liked it, but the message was a little different when I first heard it. I thought maybe it could be a little more positive about being older and wiser and more content, so they rewrote a few things, and this is how it ended up.”
“The Older I Get” was the first taste of what would eventually be Jackson’s next album, 2021’s Where Have You Gone. That was the follow-up to 2015’s Angels and Alcohol, which featured the lead song, “Jim and Jack and Hank.” This was one of the seven songs Jackson wrote himself for the ten-track, Keith Stegall-produced set. Ahead of that, Jackson had released his first bluegrass set, 2013’s The Bluegrass Album, which included his own composition “Blue Ridge Mountain Song.”
“The Older I Get,” and the induction into country’s hallowed inner circle, were the latest chapters in an incredible career. His many Country Music Association Awards include three for the genre’s most prestigious title, Entertainer of the Year, in 1995, 2002, and 2003, and his catalog of hits includes such absolute staples of the format as “Don’t Rock The Jukebox,” “Gone Country,” and “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning).”
Once Jackson hit his stride with his subtly updated brand of country tradition, there was no stopping him. His first substantial hit was 1990’s “Here In The Real World,” and the following year, he scored three straight No. 1s with ”I’d Love You All Over Again,” the aforementioned “Don’t Rock The Jukebox,” and “Someday.”
Those No. 1s continued through the 1990s and 2000s, and in more recent years, Jackson topped the charts as a featured artist with the Zac Brown Band on 2010’s “As She’s Walking Away.” He was one of the featured legends collectively called Artists of Then, Now & Forever on 2016”s “Forever Country,” created to mark the 50th anniversary of the CMA Awards. He performed at the 51st awards show in November 2017, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Jackson didn’t his new Hall of Fame induction lightly, either. Honored alongside Don Schlitz and the late Jerry Reed, he told Rolling Stone Country: “Even though I’ve done a lot, I still don’t feel quite worthy, but I feel like it’s an honor to qualify for what it requires to be in here with these great people.”
Listen to the best of Alan Jackson on Apple Music and Spotify.
