Alan Jackson Quotes

I'm usually just enjoying life.

— Alan Jackson

“If anything good came out of 9/11, to me, was that people were so cynical about the world - all you hear about on the news is all the bad stuff everyday, but what was refreshing to me was after that, you saw how many good people there are out there. For every one bad one, there's a thousand good ones.”

— Alan Jackson

Growing up in Georgia, I used to think people up north or out west were so different. They're really not. They're just regular people who live in small towns. They grow up and try to raise families and have a job and go to church and play softball. It's that way everywhere.

— Alan Jackson

“I mean, my voice has gotten a little deeper sounding as I've gotten older, I think. I noticed that.”

— Alan Jackson

Oklahoma's always been good to me.

— Alan Jackson

“A country song is a song about life.”

— Alan Jackson

I think if you retire from touring then people think you are retired.

— Alan Jackson

“I like to write sad songs. They're much easier to write and you get a lot more emotion into them. But people don't want to hear them as much. And radio definitely doesn't; they want that positive, uptempo thing.”

— Alan Jackson

“I grew up with nothing, so whenever I got to where I could have something I felt like I needed to have everything I couldn't have when I was young.”

— Alan Jackson

“I mean, I am driven and laid-back at the same time.”

— Alan Jackson

The older you are, I think you realize what you enjoy and what you don't need, what wears you out and what's important.

— Alan Jackson

“For some reason I've been labeled that and it's fine, but there are a lot of other artists that sing real traditional stuff, so I don't know why they picked me. That's what I've always done.”

— Alan Jackson

“Hee Haw was probably my biggest exposure to live music at a young age, because there wasn't any live music around my town and no one in my family played instruments.”

— Alan Jackson

“What I enjoy doing more than anything is, I have my little antique car collection, and when the weather is pretty I like to get out one of my old cars. I have a little route I run down in the country, down Nachez Trace Parkway. The loop down through there is just really relaxing, not much traffic.”

— Alan Jackson

You have to be tough-skinned and willing to accept criticism, and at the same time, just try to do music that you like and you are proud of and not just whatever you think it's going to take to get you on the radio.

— Alan Jackson

“If you can last until you're 40 years old, hopefully you'll be mature enough to figure out the rest of the years.”

— Alan Jackson

“I've always wanted to make a bluegrass album.”

— Alan Jackson

“Making music is still what keeps a fire going on in me.”

— Alan Jackson

“The music business doesn't take up that much of my time. I probably should put a little more energy into it.”

— Alan Jackson

“I didn't realize until I was older what a huge music fan my daddy really was, and actually that my grandma played banjo at one time, and I didn't even know that until a year or two ago.”

— Alan Jackson

“He's written some great songs. I thought that 'Blues Man' was a perfect song for me to do as a tribute.”

— Alan Jackson

I always try to make the music that I like and think my fans will like.

— Alan Jackson

“I mean, my girls are very sweet; I'm very proud of all of of them.”

— Alan Jackson

“As long as I'm still able to have a hit on the radio and sell a few albums and some tickets, I don't see that it would be worth retiring.”

— Alan Jackson

“I've always said that if you have songs on the radio and get played, you've got to have a tour to support that.”

— Alan Jackson

“I've always stood up for country music.”

— Alan Jackson

I've had several working-man songs that I like.

— Alan Jackson

“I've had to live with women all my life. I grew up with four older sisters, and I was the baby and the only boy.”

— Alan Jackson

“If you just do 50 to 60 shows a year, it's not that much time away from home.”

— Alan Jackson

“When I was in high school, I don't know that I really had big dreams.”

— Alan Jackson

A lot of times when songwriters get together and write a song ... somebody will come in with a hook and a lot of times they come out with something that sounds a little crafty.

— Alan Jackson

'After 17' is a song I wrote when my first daughter went to college, so that's kind of where I'm at in that part of my life. If you listen to that song and knew anything about me, you'd say, 'Oh yeah, he wrote that about his daughter,' but I try not to write them that they are so specific that they wouldn't apply to anybody that has a child.

— Alan Jackson

“I really was a fan of his and always have been - his writing especially, you know? I think people a lot of times overlook that part, because he kind of got into that party character so heavy.”

— Alan Jackson

“I could have done a hundred songs, really. It was hard to narrow them down, because I tried to pick songs for the most part that actually did have some effect on me or influenced me in the past.”

— Alan Jackson

I think I've always approached making albums pretty much the same way. I'm just looking for a mixture of songs and topics that aren't the same thing over and over.

— Alan Jackson

“I've been a lot of places, and my wife, Denise, she likes a lot of the fancy restaurants. I'm more of a basic eater. I still go into Cracker Barrel. Those are the kind of people who like the kind of music I'm making.”

— Alan Jackson

My mother kept asking me, 'When are you going to do a gospel album?' And I've always wanted to do a gospel album. Everybody was going on about it, so mom started hounding me more.

— Alan Jackson

Probably some of the songs I never even really listened to the lyrics. Half of them I'd hear off the radio and was probably singing the wrong words and didn't even know it.

— Alan Jackson

“You think a lot of people get to be big stars and get a little crazy, but most of the ones I've ever met have always been surprisingly normal, and I've enjoyed that.”

— Alan Jackson

I don't like politics, hypocrites, folks with poodles ...

— Alan Jackson

“To me, songwriting is the backbone of Nashville. Looks can go, fads can go, but a good song lasts forever.”

— Alan Jackson

You think about people like Hank Williams, who stood on that spot of wood, and Mr. Acuff, and, of course, George Jones. And just about anybody you can think of who has made country music has been on that stage. That's what makes you so nervous - to think about the historical part of the Opry and how it's played such a part in country music.

— Alan Jackson

“Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?”

— Alan Jackson

“I'm hooked on my baby's love, there ain't nothing in the jug this strong.”

— Alan Jackson

“I love your cooking, honey, but sometimes I need some real food.”

— Alan Jackson

“Pour me something tall and strong, make it a Hurricane before I go insane. It's only half past twelve but I don't care, it's 5 O'clock somewhere.”

— Alan Jackson

There's no hall of fame for that working class hero, no statue carved out of stone. And his greatest reward is the love of a woman and his children.

— Alan Jackson

“Flesh is weak, but love is strong.”

— Alan Jackson

Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones and pray for the ones who don't know? Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble, and sob for the ones left below?

— Alan Jackson

“Wembley way is beginning to blacked with people in terms of red and blue”

— Alan Jackson