As we near the top, the reason songs are important are many and front and center. After the tragic 911 Attacks, most large entities, groups and organizations had their statement or course of action coming out one-by-one. All of them very apt and motivating. This was Alan Jackson’s statement on that day, and it very quickly became a loud cry from Country Music, and was totally and completely embraced by those in music far outside of our format. It was a simple man’s observations of a horrible day, set to a very simple tune, that debuted on National TV during the CMA Awards show giving it one of it’s best, most poignant, and memorable moments it will ever have. It also once again proved the giants of our format are not afraid to be the honest voice of a powerful situation. He was the perfect artist to write and perform this song of the moment as Jackson was the king of country in this era. He didn’t want it angry, he just wanted to convey what he was feeling that day and as it turned out, it was how most of us were feeling that day, and the ones that followed. He wrote this a few weeks after the attacks and performed it in early November on the CMA’s. The next morning it was added by about every country station in America and debuted at number 25 on the charts, eventually going #1 in just 6 weeks and stayed there for 5 weeks selling an untold millions. It also went to #28 on the pop charts. It went on to be honoredas the CMA and ACM Song Of The Year and Jackson won his first Grammy for this song. This song is the epitome of this year-long list – a very important song, while also giving us maybe our most important moment ever on TV. Whether we knew it or not, we all needed this song at that moment.
My Full Profile On Alan Jackson
