August 26, 2002
Good ol' boy Jackson serves up a heaping plate of tech and twang

Alan Jackson has the ability to put on a seamless, highly technical and smooth production while making you feel the warmth you might get from a performer onstage at a cosy Nashville bar.

It's been a couple of years since the humble, "aw shucks" country superstar with the lazy half-smile has played in the capital, but a lot's happened since then.

Jackson waited until the end of his 75-minute set last night to play Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning), the 9-11 song he wrote after waking up one October night with the chorus in his head. Sticking to his country roots, Jackson refused to strip the steel guitar from the song and release a pop version earlier this year, but it rose the charts anyway.

The song, touching but far from schmaltzy, has been described as capturing the shell shock of a nation and Jackson is reported to be performing it at an upcoming tribute concert. It was one of just three he played off his latest album, Drive, along with Drive (For Daddy Gene) dedicated to his Ford-mechanic father, and Work In Progress, a neat down-home take on the whole Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus craze.

But for most of the show he went back a bit in his 12-year career -- filled with No. 1 songs and multi-platinum album sales -- to the delight of about 7,200 fans ready to sing the words to anything he had to play.

They cheered like crazy when he talked about heading to Nashville from his home in Georgia to try to break into country music.

"I finally got into it," he understated, thanking the crowd. "It's been going pretty good."

Jackson thrilled when he played his first No. 1 hit, the title track off 1990's Here in the Real World. Fans tapped their toes and clapped to other upbeat tunes he penned in the past including Don't Rock the Jukebox, Chattahoochee, and www.memory. Then there were the Jackson songs anyone would know: Happy-go-lucky tunes like Mercury Blues, Gone Country, and Little Bitty.

Jackson gave his elaborate, tight eight-piece backup band time to shine during the show. The combined sound of two fiddles, keyboard, bass, drums, two acoustic guitars, one steel and one lead guitar were a pleasing balance to his rich, golden voice.

It was a high-tech affair too: Video screens depicted Jackson singing live from the show on his website and showed videos played in time with the words he sung on stage. A classy touch came near the end with a video montage of Ottawa, which must have been shot yesterday or in the very recent past, set to Where I Come From off his 2000 album When Somebody Loves You.

Fans including Corel Corp. honcho Derek McBurney in a jeans and black cowboy hat, applauded to shots of Parliament Hill, local firefighters, cops, shoppers, sports teams and heroes and the Beer Store, though a set of waitresses from the local Hooters made an oddly high number of appearances.

EASY ON THE EYES

Then there were the ballads, including When Somebody Loves You and Livin' On Love. No one can sing a sad country song about love lost and won better than Jackson. He spent many minutes signing autographs and tossing guitar picks out into the crowd. It doesn't hurt anyone that he's, as one female concert-goer put it, also "not bad to look at either." Besides singing Jackson is also apparently a very accomplished waterskier, according to video shown during the concert.

Though he does his tricks in trademark torn jeans and a cowboy hat, of course.

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5 (More on Alan Jackson)