Under the Influence (CD - 1999)

Personnel: Alan Jackson, Jimmy Buffett (vocals); Bruce Watkins, John Willis (acoustic guitar); Brent Mason, Brent Rowan (electric guitar); Paul Franklin, Scotty Sanders (steel guitar); Stuart Duncan, Larry Franklin (fiddle); Hargus M. "Pig" Robbins, Gary Prim (piano, keyboards); Glenn Worf, Michael Rhodes (bass); Eddie Bayers, Owen Hale (drums); John Wesley Ryles (background vocals).

Principally recorded at Javelina Recording Studio, Wedgewood Sound and The Sound Station, Nashville, Tennessee; Clinton Recording Studio, New York, New York; Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas. Includes liner notes by Alan Jackson.

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Country Album.

Traditionalist Alan Jackson has paid tribute to his musical roots in the past with reworked versions of songs like "Who's Cheating Who" and "Summertime Blues." With UNDER THE INFLUENCE, an entire album's worth of classic country songs, Jackson truly proves the old adage, "They just don't write 'em like that anymore." Drinking, cheating, divorce, death--those classic country topics--are all here, in great songs made famous by the likes of George Jones, Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, Gene Watson, and Don Williams.

Without imitating the original artist's delivery, Jackson manages to introduce a bit of each singer's style to the material: Pride's rich tones; Jones's stretched-out notes; Williams' laid- back approach. Jackson also wisely avoids modernizing the arrangements, so a hard country song like "Farwell Party"--a song so dark it could never be a hit today--retains its authentic feel. Highlights include "The Blues Man," an extended tribute to Hank Williams Jr., and "Right in the Palm of Your Hand," a mid-'70s Mel McDaniel track that still sounds incredibly fresh. Jackson closes with a crowd-pleaser: a version of "Margaritaville" with guest vocals by Jimmy Buffett himself. Overall, UNDER THE INFLUENCE is a fine introduction to country's past, from one of its present-day heroes. minimize