On This Day in 1991, Alan Jackson Released His First No. 1 Song—an Anniversary Gift He Penned for His Wife During a Rainy Hotel Stay

On this day (January 7) in 1991, Alan Jackson released “I’d Love You All Over Again” as the fifth and final single from his debut album, Here in the Real World. Later that year, it spent two weeks at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart, giving Jackson his first No. 1.

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Jackson was a dominant force in country music during the 1990s. His debut single, “Blue Blooded Woman,” failed to break into the top 40. However, the rest of the singles from his debut album landed within the top 5, with “I’d Love You All Over Again” topping the chart. More importantly, many of those songs have stood the test of time. More than three decades later, fans are still spinning “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow” and the album’s title track along with the single that became Jackson’s first chart-topper.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1979, Alan Jackson Married His High School Sweetheart—the Woman Who Helped Him Land His First Songwriting Deal and Inspired Two Classic Songs]

“I’d Love You All Over Again” is special for multiple reasons. It wasn’t just a milestone hit for Jackson. It was a song he wrote solo in which he poured out his heart to the woman he loved. When he wrote the song, they had already been married for ten years, and his career was just starting to take off.

Alan Jackson Finds a Major Hit with a Heartfelt Love Story

Alan and Denise Jackson were high school sweethearts. According to his website, the two met at the Dairy Queen in their hometown of Newnan, Georgia, in 1976. Three years later, after they had graduated from high school, they tied the knot. That was four years before he started writing songs and formed his first band, Dixie Steel.

Denise helped further his career. Her chance encounter with Glen Campbell led to Jackson inking a songwriting deal with Campbell’s publishing company in 1986. A year later, he became the first country artist signed to Arista Nashville.

As a result, Jackson was in a Pine Bluff, Arkansas, hotel room on a rainy evening in 1989. He was doing a radio tour in preparation for the release of his first album. While there, he started thinking about his marriage, sat down at the table in the room, and wrote this song for his wife. He then recorded it for his debut album. The rest, as they say, is history.

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