Don't Rock the Jukebox (CD - 1991)

Personnel: Alan Jackson, George Jones (vocals); Brent Mason (acoustic & electric guitars); Bruce Watkins (acoustic guitar); Danny Groah (electric guitar); Paul Franklin, Robbie Flint (steel guitar); Rob Hajacos, Mark McClurg (fiddle); Hargus "Pig" Robbins, Dirk Johnson (piano); Roy Huskey Jr., Michael Rhodes, Roger Wills (bass); Bruce Rutherford (drums, background vocals); Eddie Bayers (drums).

Recorded at Recording Arts, 16th Avenue Sound, Sound Emporium, and Digital Recorders, Nashville, Tennessee.

If there was one record that established Alan Jackson as a bona fide star, Don't Rock the Jukebox was it. The set featured no less than two number one singles in the title track and "Love's Got a Hold on You," and three more entered the Top Ten. This is Jackson at what he does best, being a modern honky tonk singer not quite as tough as Dwight Yoakam, but with more sex appeal and easier on the ears for those who like their "hard country" smoothed a bit. That's more Keith Stegall's fault than Jackson's, as there is no doubt by his having written or co-written all but one song here that he's the real thing. The truth of the matter is that Jackson's mettle comes in the ballads, like the criminally overlooked "That's All I Need to Know," or in the story-songs like "Dallas." "Midnight in Montgomery" is a stellar song about encountering the ghost of Hank Williams; its Spanish guitar overtones in the intro made it perfect for the radio, but its innovative video far overshadowed the song as a single. But hits aside, Don't Rock the Jukebox is solid as a new traditionalist record, meaning that it's a country record with ever-present pedal steel for every synth or glossy fiddle. Jackson's voice is in the groove, down there with Jones and Haggard, tougher than Travis, leaner than Strait, and almost as hillbilly as Yoakam. This is a great record that stands the test of time. ~ Thom Jurek

Alan Jackson's first album, 1989's HERE IN THE REAL WORLD, presented the singer/songwriter in a sensitive-balladeer mold along the lines of Randy Travis. But by 1991, Garth Brooks's more extroverted brand of country was all the rage, and Jackson's second album, DON'T ROCK THE JUKEBOX, brought out his honky-tonk side. Besides the instant-classic title track, still a honky-tonk jukebox anthem, the album includes the Number One hit "Love's Got A Hold On You," the outstanding "Midnight In Montgomery" (a tongue-in-cheek ghost story about being haunted by Hank Williams), and "Just Playin' Possum," a torch-passing duet with George Jones. Jackson proves that he still has a way with a ballad on the lovely "That's All I Need To Know," but overall, DON'T ROCK THE JUKEBOX is new-traditionalist country with a harder honky-tonk edge. minimize