On This Day in 2008, Alan Jackson Released the Summer Single That Brought 90s Country Fun to the New Millennium

On this day (April 21) in 2008, Alan Jackson released “Good Time” as the second single from the album of the same name. The upbeat, up-tempo song brought many listeners back to the summer fun of previous hits like “Chattahoochee” and “I Don’t Even Know Her Name.” At the same time, it was a change of pace for an artist who had recently released a series of singles with more emotional depth.

Videos by American Songwriter

The late 2000s were an interesting time for country music as a whole. The charts were populated with songs that blended country elements with easy listening, pop rock, and hip-hop. At the same time, the first iterations of the bro-country that would dominate the charts in the following decade were beginning to appear.

Jackson had even changed his sound for his previous album, Like Red on a Rose, to match the middle-of-the-road sound with which so many artists were finding success. The singles from Good Time rolled back the clock and were, for many listeners, a breath of fresh air.

“Good Time” gave listeners a look back to the mid-1990s, when line dancing and Brushpopper shirts were the pinnacle of popular country music. He even nods to past party anthems like “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” and “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” in the song’s lyrics.

The “Good Time” video further capitalized on that nostalgia. It featured fictional news coverage of Jackson’s attempt to break the world record for the longest line dance.

Alan Jackson Gave Fans a Little Bit of Everything with Good Time

Most of Alan Jackson’s albums contain between 10 and 13 songs and run between 30 and 45 minutes. He’s usually able to trim the tracklist before going into the studio to record. However, that wasn’t the case with Good Time. It includes 17 songs and clocks in at just over an hour.

“We ended up recording 22 [songs], I guess, for the session,” Jackson revealed. “They just started sounding like a package together, and it was hard to leave the other five off. [Keith] Stegall, my producer, and I both felt like they needed to be together on the project. They all have different little qualities about them that make up the record,” he explained.

“Sometimes I think it might be a little bit too much music for people to listen to. It’s hard to sit down and listen to 17 songs you’ve never heard and absorb it all. But I think, over time, people who buy the album will be able to pick the ones on there they really like. There’s a mixture of sounds and styles on there. So, hopefully everyone will find something they like,” he said.

Featured Image by Lester Cohen/Getty Images