Alan Jackson’s Nephew Wrote the Singer’s Heartbreaking Final Top 25 Single

In 2012, Alan Jackson released “So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore”. The heartbreaking ballad, part of Jackson’s Thirty Miles West record, is Jackson’s final Top 25 single of his extraordinary career. 

“So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore” ends with, “If you need me to make you cry / I don’t want to but I’ll try / So you don’t have to love me anymore,” part of an absolutely tragic song that Jackson, perhaps surprisingly, did not write. Instead, “So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore” was written by Jackson’s nephew, Adam Wright, along with Jay Knowles. 

Still, in spite of the family connection, Jackson says the fact that his nephew co-wrote “So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore” is not at all why he recorded it.

“My nephew’s a writer on it, but that didn’t have any influence on me,” Jackson tells The Boot. “I try not to look at who writes anything. I try to just pick the songs.”

What Alan Jackson Says About “So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore”

Jackson has written a lot of his own hits, including several by himself. By the time he released “So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore”, Jackson was well aware of what songs did and did not work for him, regardless of who wrote them.

“Well, at first it raised the hair on my arms when I heard the demo,” Jackson remembers. “It was a really good version, too. It was one of those songs that, when I heard it, it’s the kind of song that made me want to be in country music. I’m such a big fan of that kind of song. Sad songs, or break-up songs, and heartache songs are always the best ones to bring that emotion out and are actually the easiest to write as a writer.”

Jackson rightfully acknowledged the similarities between this song and what remains the biggest hit by George Jones.

“I just think it’s one of the better songs to come out of Nashville in a long time,” Jackson says. “People are comparing it to a new ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’. I wouldn’t want to put myself in that category with George, but it is a great song.”

After “So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore”, Jackson released “You Go Your Way”. Also from Thirty Miles West, “You Go Your Way” was Jackson’s final Top 40 single.

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