Album Features 21 Songs, 15 Written by the Award-Winning Entertainer
Country Music Icon Performs Tonight on NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon;
Upcoming Appearances Also Include PBS’ National Memorial Day Concert
NASHVILLE, TN – Country superstar Alan Jackson releases his first album of all new music in six years today. Where Have You Gone features 21 songs – 15 of them written by the Songwriters Hall of Fame member himself. It’s his 16th studio album – the 25th in a career that includes two Christmas albums, two gospel albums, three Greatest Hits collections, a bluegrass album, and one boxed set. Longtime producer Keith Stegall again plays that role on Where Have You Gone.
“The plain-spoken wordsmith sings about fatherly love, once-in-a-lifetime loss and the barn-burnin’ honky-tonk music that remains near his heart,” notes USA Today. “Where Have You Gone is the quiet superstar’s rebuke to those who would forget the roots of where this music comes from,” says HITS magazine, while Rolling Stone calls Where Have You Gone “a sprawling 21-track compilation that finds the Country Music Hall of Fame member reflecting on the state of his beloved genre, paying tribute to his late mother, and, in some songs, simply having a honky-tonking good time.”
Jackson will mark today’s release of Where Have You Gone with a performance of “Way Down In My Whiskey” from the album this evening on NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (11:35pm ET/10:35pm CT). On Sunday, May 30, Jackson will appear as part of the National Memorial Day Concert on PBS (8:00pm ET). He’s currently featured on Apple Music’s Essentials Radio, reflecting on his life and career with host Kelleigh Bannen.
Led by the self-penned title track, Where Have You Gone is highlighted by such songs as the poignant and thoughtful “Things That Matter,” the heartache-filled “Way Down in My Whiskey” and the tender “I Can Be That Something.” Never one to shy away from reflecting real life in his music, “You’ll Always Be My Baby” and “I Do” were written for his daughters’ weddings…while “Where Her Heart Has Always Been” was written for his mother’s funeral and includes a recording of her reading from The Bible. There’s also plenty of fun to be had on barnburners like “Livin’ On Empty,” “Back” and “Beer:10.” And, in the spirit of the album’s overall sound, “That’s The Way Love Goes (A Tribute to Merle Haggard)” is a bonus track.
“Real country songs are life and love and heartache, drinking and Mama and having a good time,” the Country Music Hall of Fame member says. “You listen to these songs, and you realize these things are true,” he adds. “I just love this kind of music.”
ALAN JACKSON’S WHERE HAVE YOU GONE Track Listing
- “Where Have You Gone” (Alan Jackson)
- “Wishful Drinkin’” (Alan Jackson)
- “I Can Be That Something” (Alan Jackson)
- “Where the Cottonwood Grows” (Alan Jackson)
- “Way Down In My Whiskey” (Alan Jackson)
- “Things That Matter” (Robert Keith Stegall, Michael White)
- “Livin’ On Empty” (Alan Jackson)
- “You’ll Always Be My Baby (Written for Daughters’ Weddings)” (Alan Jackson)
- “Where Her Heart Has Always Been (Written for Mama’s funeral with an old recording of her reading from The Bible)” (Alan Jackson)
- “The Boot” (Adam Wright)
- “Back” (Alan Jackson)
- “Write It In Red” (Alan Jackson)
- “So Late So Soon” (Scotty Emerick, Daniel Tashian, Sarah Buxton)
- “This Heart Of Mine” (Adam Wright)
- “A Man Who Never Cries” (Alan Jackson)
- “Chain” (Alan Jackson)
- “I Was Tequila” (Alan Jackson)
- “I Do (Written for Daughters’ Weddings)” (Alan Jackson)
- “Beer:10” (Alan Jackson)
- “The Older I Get”* (Hailey Whitters, Adam Wright, Sarah Turner)
Extra Track: “That’s The Way Love Goes” (A Tribute to Merle Haggard) (Lefty Frizzell, Whitey Shafer)
Produced by Robert Keith Stegall
*Produced by Keith Stegall