Who I Am (CD - 1994)

Personnel: Alan Jackson (vocals); Brent Mason (acoustic & electric guitars, 6-string bass); Keith Stegall (acoustic guitar, piano); Bruce Watkins (acoustic guitar); Robbie Flint (acoustic slide guitar); Paul Franklin, John Hughey (steel guitar); Stuart Duncan, Larry Franklin (fiddle); Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano); Roy Huskey, Jr. (acoustic bass); Glenn Worf, John Kelton (bass); Eddie Bayers (drums); John Wesley Ryles (background vocals).

Recorded at The Castle, Franklin, Tennessee.

"Gone Country" was nominated for 1996 Grammy Awards for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song.

Personnel: Alan Jackson (vocals, guitar, background vocals); Brent Mason (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass); Keith Stegall (acoustic guitar, piano); Robbie Flint, Bruce Watkins (acoustic guitar); Paul Franklin, John Hughey (steel guitar); Larry Franklin, Stuart Duncan (fiddle); Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano); Roy M. "Junior" Husky (acoustic bass); Glenn Worf (electric bass); Eddie Bayers (drums); John Wesley Ryles (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: John Kelton.

Recording information: Castle, Franklin, TN; Cayman Moon Recorders, Berry Hill, TN; Eleven Eleven Sound, Nashville, TN; Showbus S.

By 1994, Alan Jackson may not have scored as many hit singles, but he definitely began to set himself apart from the onslaught of young country hat bands. First, there are 13 tracks on this set -- three more than usually appear on country records because labels don't want to pay for more than that. Second, Jackson showed he had cojones by opening his album with Eddie Cochran's rockabilly classic "Summertime Blues," a song as associated with the Who as it is with Cochran. But Jackson shows the 'billy side of the equation while delivering both humor and soul in his reading. "Living on Love," an original, is a mid-tempo honky tonker with killer fiddle, telecasters chopping up the middle, and lyrics that make its sentimental subject matter palatable. "Gone Country," by Bob McDill, is an anti-new country anthem accusing a whole lot of folks of coming into the game for the cash. Jackson is the real hillbilly article, so he can sing that song -- and so is the writer, but it's most effective when looking at some of Alan's peers. But it's on Harley Allen's "Who I Am," a mid-tempo two-step barroom love song where the pedal steels whine and the fiddles cascade with their high lonesome song in the bridge, that Jackson's at his best. He sings with a sincerity that turns sarcasm on its head. The same is true on Rodney Crowell's "Song for the Life." In a version that rivals Crowell's own, Jackson's balladry in three-forths time is heartbreakingly beautiful. And then there's Jackson's own songs like "Job Description," which comes right from the Merle Haggard side of the Bakersfield side of honky tonk, and the same goes for "Let's Get Back to You and Me," which is every bit as tough as Dwight Yoakam with a guitar solo to match. This is where Buck Owens and Ernest Tubb meet Johnny Burnette and George Jones. What a way to end a record. This is solid from top to bottom and one of Jackson's strongest outings. ~ Thom Jurek

Alan Jackson, King Of The Hunky-Tonkers, will not disappoint his fans with WHO I AM. Swathed in traditional guitar pickin', moaning steel and slide guitars and wailing fiddles, Jackson's sumptuous baritone glides smoothly through lyrical and musical territory similar to his previous platinum releases.

The Georgia native gets down to business with the first cut, a down-home remake of the Eddie Cochran rock nugget "Summertime Blues." In Jackson's hands, it's another good-ol'boy party anthem in the tradition of his mega-hit "Chattahoochee."

Jackson proves to be a clever, straightforward country songwriter, contributing crisp country hits. As usual, themes deal with red necks and blue collars, but this time there is an overriding, articulated desire to be off the road, where, he reveals in "Job Description," "I just sing for the people, count the money and miles back home to you."

The musicians are given full reign to show off their skills on tunes that range from plaintive ballads to country rave-ups. But it's a song, "Gone Country," that steals the show. With understated delivery and sly resolve, Jackson non-judgmentally slurs "here he comes," and you know he has nothing to fear from the Jackson wannabes he's acknowledging. minimize