18 Years Ago Today, Alan Jackson Was at No. 1 With a Song Inspired by the Men in His Family

On this day (April 1) in 2008, Alan Jackson was in the middle of a two-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with “Small Town Southern Man.” It was his first song to top the chart in five years and the lead single from his hit album Good Time. Additionally, it showed fans that he was going back to his neotraditional country roots after a period of experimentation.

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Jackson is among a handful of artists who kept the neotraditional country sound popular in the 1990s alive, with any level of success. Unlike many of his ’90s country contemporaries, he was still notching top 10 hits until the end of the 2000s. Songs like “Small Town Southern Man” are the reason he was able to hold on for so long.

However, it is more than the throwback country sound that keeps fans coming back to Jackson’s music. The authenticity and relatability of his lyrics set him apart from many other artists.

The title “Small Town Southern Man” came to Jackson out of nowhere, and he knew he had to write the song. “I started pulling from real things that I knew about and embellished them a little bit,” he said. “I didn’t sit down to write a song about my family and my daddy and granddaddy and all that stuff. But I did pull from all that. A lot of these lyrics are factual,” he added.

“Small Town Southern Man” Was a Return to Form for Alan Jackson

Since he recorded his debut album, Here in the Real World, Alan Jackson has worked with producer Keith Stegall and laid down traditional-sounding music. The one exception to these was his 2006 album Like Red on a Rose. Bluegrass great Alison Krauss produced the record. At the same time, it didn’t sound like Jackson’s usual output. Instead, it was a middle-of-the-road, easy listening album. It sounded like it was aimed at the adult contemporary chart instead of the country chart.

The album performed well, topping the country albums chart and reaching No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The album’s two singles, “Like Red on a Rose” and “A Woman’s Love,” went to No. 15 and No. 6 on the country chart, respectively. However, it left many fans wondering if they’d hear the output they’d grown accustomed to from Jackson again.

In November 2007, they got their answer when “Small Town Southern Man” was released as the lead single from Good Time. The Keith Stegall-produced album and its singles gave fans exactly what they wanted from Alan Jackson.

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