Alan Jackson received the Poet’s Award at the recent ACM Honors ceremony, in acknowledgment of his songwriting skills. The 65-year-old was honored with an acoustic performance of “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow” by Eric Church, a song from Jackson’s debut Here in the Real World album, which Jackson released in 1990.
When accepting his award, Jackson was joined by his wife, Denise, whom he said was beside him because of his ongoing battle with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which impacts his mobility.
“She’s my leaning post in more ways than one tonight,” Jackson said from stage. “Thank you so much. Thank you to the Academy for this high honor. I’ve always put songwriting at the top of my list when it comes to making music. Hearing that song tonight, that made me tear up. It was such a soulful rendition, but it brought back a lot of memories. Jim McBride and I wrote that song almost 40 years ago down on Music Row. We were just getting to know each other’s writing, and he asked me about growing up in Georgia, and what I remembered.
“I told him when I was about five years old I think, my daddy worked for the Pepsi-Cola plant in Georgia, and they had an employee contest going on and he won this radio and brought it home,” he continued. “It was one of those big ol’ wooden ones like you set on the counter, and that was the first musical thing I remember growing up, and that ended up being the opening line of that song.”
“Chasin’ that Neon Rainbow” is one of many songs that Jackson penned over the years, which were inspired by his own life story.
“I realized a long time ago that life gives you a lot of ingredients for songwriting, and that typically makes the best songs,” Jackson explained. “I’ve been fortunate enough to pull a lot of stuff out of my life and turned it into music over the years. That’s been my biggest pride as an artist is to write a song and have people enjoy it and be touched by it or moved by it, or help them through a hard time, or enjoy a good time. I’m so proud of the songwriting part of this.
“I appreciate the opportunity to share all my music with all of y’all for so many years,” he added. “And there’s one more thing: I would like to dedicate this to my Daddy Gene and that old radio he won a long time ago. I’ve definitely lived that honky tonk dream.”
Jackson is currently on his Last Call: One More For The Road Tour, which will be his final tour. The Country Music Hall of Fame member announced he was retiring from life on the road, due to his health challenges.
“I’ve always admired my heroes like George Jones, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn and Charley Pride who just played as much as they wanted to, as long as they could,” Jackson said when announcing his last tour. “I’ve always thought I’d like to do that, and I’d like to as long as my health will allow. I’ll try to do as much as I can, but if I’m comin’ your way, come see me.”
Find tour dates and all of Jackson’s music at AlanJackson.com.