Good Time (CD - 2008)

Alan Jackson: Brent Mason (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar); Bruce Watkins (acoustic guitar, banjo); James Curtis Mitchell (electric guitar, accordion); Paul Franklin (steel guitar, lap steel guitar, dobro); Robbie Flint (lap steel guitar); Stuart Duncan (mandolin, fiddle); Jim Hoke (harmonica, accordion, Jew's harp); Gary Prim (piano, Wurlitzer piano, Clavinet, Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards); Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano, Wurlitzer piano); Greenwood Hart, Shane Keister (vocoder); Glenn Worf (upright bass, bass guitar); Jimmy Carter (bass guitar); Eddie Bayers, Jr. (drums); Lucas Ketner (percussion); John A. Kelton.

On his first traditional country album since 2004's WHAT I DO, Alan Jackson steps outside the comfortable routine he's created for himself in favor of creating a more personal and introspective work. The first album on which Jackson has written all of the songs all by himself, GOOD TIME is Jackson's most autobiographical album by some distance. "Small Town Southern Man" is a touching farewell to his late father, while "I Wish I Could Back Up" and "Never Loved Before" (a duet with country superstar Martina McBride) are intimate love songs more revealing than most country radio fare. GOOD TIME is true to its title, however; alongside the revealing autobiographical tunes, there are sly, swaggering country-rockers like "Country Boy" and more thoughtful fare like the devotional "If Jesus Walked The World Today." At 17 songs, this is one of Alan Jackson's longest albums, but GOOD TIME features remarkably little filler and many outstanding new traditionalist country songs in the great Alan Jackson style.

Alan Jackson has never been away, so why does 2008's Good Time feel like a comeback album? Because this, his 14th album, is a return to straight-ahead modern country after several years of detours, including a late-night saloon album produced by Alison Krauss (Like Red on a Rose) and an austere collection of spirituals (Precious Memories). Even his last full-fledged country album, 2004's What I Do, felt a little understated and modest, adjectives that can't quite be applied to Good Time, even if it bears Jackson's unmistakable mark of casual authority. That casualness can disguise his ambitions, especially on an album as shining and snappy as this. It's only upon close inspection that the audacity behind Good Time becomes apparent: it's Jackson's first album of all-original material, and at 17 tracks it's the effective equivalent of a double-album in country music, where all albums outside of Vince Gill's mammoth triple-disc These Days are brief and to the point. Unsurprisingly given its length, Good Time drifts amiably and takes its time, lingering on its ballads and gliding through the faster tunes, sustaining a cheerful mood. It's so easy to enjoy that it takes a bit of attention to dig out the true gems lying here, and there are many: the brisk bluegrass strut of "Long Long Way," brought down to earth by Jackson's Haggard-esque phrasing; the slightly gangly, tongue-in-cheek Western swing of "I Still Like Bologna," which finds a more straightforward cousin in "Nothing Left to Do"; the gentle roll of "Listen to Your Senses," as sweet and light a song as Jackson has ever cut. These are the exceptions on an album that feels big and bright, a throwback to the days of '80s new country, especially on "Never Loved Before," a zippy duet with Martina McBride that finds its flip on "Laid Back 'n Low Key," a piece of soft rock that could have fit onto the airwaves during the prime of urban cowboy. And that is the sly genius of Good Time -- it demonstrates that Jackson is as comfortable with the poppier side of country as he is with the harder stuff, and he can deliver it without seeming as if he's pandering, a feat that is almost as impressive as those generic detours he's taken in the past few years. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize