Post by fogcitygal on Oct 7, 2006 3:43:36 GMT -5
Jackson and Krauss team up for beautiful `Like Red on a Rose'
By Chrissie Dickinson
Special to the Tribune
On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Alan Jackson appeared live on the "Today" show, performing "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," his ballad about the terrorist attacks. As the camera panned the crowd it focused on a fireman in tears. Five years after that catastrophic day, Jackson's song still carries an emotional wallop.
"Oh, yeah, it's always been that way with that song, especially when you perform it in places like that," Jackson says quietly in a recent phone interview. "I performed it up on the streets of New York not long after 9/11 and that was tough, and at the Pentagon, where I did a show for the survivors and the families. I still do it in concert every night, [because there are] plenty of people waiting for that song, and they still respond to it."
If audiences still react viscerally to the integrity and honesty of "Where Were You," the same could be said for Jackson's career. Since his major label debut in 1989, Jackson has never left the country music charts. Unlike many of his peers, Jackson has never stumbled critically or commercially. He became a superstar of the genre out of the gate, remained one throughout the 1990s and shows no signs of slowing down in the 2000s.
That streak will no doubt continue with his new album, "Like Red on a Rose" (Arista Nashville), which hit stores on Sept. 26. But this time out, Jackson will likely surprise a number of listeners. Instead of a CD helmed by his longtime producer, Keith Stegall, the new release was produced by pop-bluegrass diva Alison Krauss.
Although Jackson has long written much of his own material, he recorded mostly other songwriters' work for the new CD. But the biggest change is that Krauss brings a sophisticated, contemporary adult pop sensibility to the production. This is a CD lovingly painted with brushstrokes of sultry slide guitar, tinkling piano and haunting organ.
The album is an introspective song-cycle centered on a man in midlife. Krauss' production work is so finely layered and nuanced from song to song that it can't be easily pegged to one genre. The song "Like Red on a Rose" begins on a hushed, fragile note and builds into a lush cry of the heart. There's the country-rock slide guitar that echoes Toy Caldwell's work with '70s-era Marshall Tucker Band on "Nobody Said That It Would Be Easy." A subdued Elvis-in-Memphis gospel vibe permeates "Don't Change On Me." Robert Lee Castleman's "The Firefly's Song" is a gentle, haunting love song sung from the perspective of a man in his twilight years.
Jackson's albums have largely been a mix of rip-snorting uptempo numbers, midtempo two-steppers and rainy-day ballads. On his new CD, the emphasis shifts almost entirely to Jackson the introspective ballad singer. For her part, Krauss brought songs and arrangements to the studio that captured the singer in a deeply reflective mode. Even the CD's happiest love songs are imbued with a sad, burnished tone, investing them with emotional heft.
"When there's a chord structure that is really melancholy, and you combine it with a good, positive message, it's a very magical feeling," says Krauss on the phone from Nashville. "That's exactly what was the goal."
Jackson concurs. "If you're writing a positive love song, it has more effect when it has that feeling, when you get with a melody that's sad."
Jackson concedes that he's getting asked a lot about the musical departure. But what gets forgotten is that his albums have always featured certain songs that have departed from the prevailing Music Row norm, including such earlier hits as "Midnight in Montgomery," his eerie paean to Hank Williams Sr., and "I'll Go On Loving You," a lush ballad built on a recitation.
"People talk about what is so different [on the new CD], and in a way it is. But I've had a lot of songs that have had a similar sentiment or mood, and even arrangements," Jackson says. "I had `I'll Go On Loving You,' which is kind of that talkin', sexy song in the same vein. I've had a lot of ballads like that that would fit on this album. It's a different-sounding production. ... I think that's what people hear."
The album's first single is the title track. Wade Jessen, director of country charts at Billboard magazine, likens the sound to "a Charlie Rich record from 1975," placing the song among those early to mid-'70s countrypolitan numbers known for their smoother, more romantic production. "Like Red on a Rose" is currently in the Top 20 on Billboard's country singles chart, proof that Jackson's audience will follow the artist where he leads.
"It's different but it won't confuse his fans," says Jessen about the new CD. "Alan has the luxury of being in a place in his career where he has long defined himself. He wouldn't have done a record like this early in his career, say as his second or third record. But now he can. People know him for his integrity. He's dependable that way."
The genesis of the new CD began with Jackson wanting to do something different. He initially approached Krauss about producing a bluegrass record, but the project quickly morphed into what would became "Like Red on a Rose."
"What we described when I met with him was to make a record that was a mature man looking back on his life," says Krauss. "And you might have learned things the hard way, but you've learned them, and now you know what you want, and you have a real sense of yourself. I think that's true of who he is, that's a real place he's at."
As for his own life, Jackson says he's glad to be right where he is. "You start to know what's important and what isn't. How to make your choices a little better, or not as quick," he says with a laugh. "A little patience and wisdom."
By Chrissie Dickinson
Special to the Tribune
On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Alan Jackson appeared live on the "Today" show, performing "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," his ballad about the terrorist attacks. As the camera panned the crowd it focused on a fireman in tears. Five years after that catastrophic day, Jackson's song still carries an emotional wallop.
"Oh, yeah, it's always been that way with that song, especially when you perform it in places like that," Jackson says quietly in a recent phone interview. "I performed it up on the streets of New York not long after 9/11 and that was tough, and at the Pentagon, where I did a show for the survivors and the families. I still do it in concert every night, [because there are] plenty of people waiting for that song, and they still respond to it."
If audiences still react viscerally to the integrity and honesty of "Where Were You," the same could be said for Jackson's career. Since his major label debut in 1989, Jackson has never left the country music charts. Unlike many of his peers, Jackson has never stumbled critically or commercially. He became a superstar of the genre out of the gate, remained one throughout the 1990s and shows no signs of slowing down in the 2000s.
That streak will no doubt continue with his new album, "Like Red on a Rose" (Arista Nashville), which hit stores on Sept. 26. But this time out, Jackson will likely surprise a number of listeners. Instead of a CD helmed by his longtime producer, Keith Stegall, the new release was produced by pop-bluegrass diva Alison Krauss.
Although Jackson has long written much of his own material, he recorded mostly other songwriters' work for the new CD. But the biggest change is that Krauss brings a sophisticated, contemporary adult pop sensibility to the production. This is a CD lovingly painted with brushstrokes of sultry slide guitar, tinkling piano and haunting organ.
The album is an introspective song-cycle centered on a man in midlife. Krauss' production work is so finely layered and nuanced from song to song that it can't be easily pegged to one genre. The song "Like Red on a Rose" begins on a hushed, fragile note and builds into a lush cry of the heart. There's the country-rock slide guitar that echoes Toy Caldwell's work with '70s-era Marshall Tucker Band on "Nobody Said That It Would Be Easy." A subdued Elvis-in-Memphis gospel vibe permeates "Don't Change On Me." Robert Lee Castleman's "The Firefly's Song" is a gentle, haunting love song sung from the perspective of a man in his twilight years.
Jackson's albums have largely been a mix of rip-snorting uptempo numbers, midtempo two-steppers and rainy-day ballads. On his new CD, the emphasis shifts almost entirely to Jackson the introspective ballad singer. For her part, Krauss brought songs and arrangements to the studio that captured the singer in a deeply reflective mode. Even the CD's happiest love songs are imbued with a sad, burnished tone, investing them with emotional heft.
"When there's a chord structure that is really melancholy, and you combine it with a good, positive message, it's a very magical feeling," says Krauss on the phone from Nashville. "That's exactly what was the goal."
Jackson concurs. "If you're writing a positive love song, it has more effect when it has that feeling, when you get with a melody that's sad."
Jackson concedes that he's getting asked a lot about the musical departure. But what gets forgotten is that his albums have always featured certain songs that have departed from the prevailing Music Row norm, including such earlier hits as "Midnight in Montgomery," his eerie paean to Hank Williams Sr., and "I'll Go On Loving You," a lush ballad built on a recitation.
"People talk about what is so different [on the new CD], and in a way it is. But I've had a lot of songs that have had a similar sentiment or mood, and even arrangements," Jackson says. "I had `I'll Go On Loving You,' which is kind of that talkin', sexy song in the same vein. I've had a lot of ballads like that that would fit on this album. It's a different-sounding production. ... I think that's what people hear."
The album's first single is the title track. Wade Jessen, director of country charts at Billboard magazine, likens the sound to "a Charlie Rich record from 1975," placing the song among those early to mid-'70s countrypolitan numbers known for their smoother, more romantic production. "Like Red on a Rose" is currently in the Top 20 on Billboard's country singles chart, proof that Jackson's audience will follow the artist where he leads.
"It's different but it won't confuse his fans," says Jessen about the new CD. "Alan has the luxury of being in a place in his career where he has long defined himself. He wouldn't have done a record like this early in his career, say as his second or third record. But now he can. People know him for his integrity. He's dependable that way."
The genesis of the new CD began with Jackson wanting to do something different. He initially approached Krauss about producing a bluegrass record, but the project quickly morphed into what would became "Like Red on a Rose."
"What we described when I met with him was to make a record that was a mature man looking back on his life," says Krauss. "And you might have learned things the hard way, but you've learned them, and now you know what you want, and you have a real sense of yourself. I think that's true of who he is, that's a real place he's at."
As for his own life, Jackson says he's glad to be right where he is. "You start to know what's important and what isn't. How to make your choices a little better, or not as quick," he says with a laugh. "A little patience and wisdom."
