Review – Alan Jackson’s “The Bluegrass Album”
It’s not that you can’t find a better bluegrass album released in 2013. It’s not that you can’t find a more intriguing collection of songs, or a better showcase of instrumentation. The bluegrass world these days is filled with such unparalleled and inspiring musical talent, the sub-genre might mark the biggest concentration of aptitude in popular Western music. But to have Alan Jackson—3-time CMA Entertainer of the Year winner, and a man that has sold more than 60 million records worldwide—release a straightforward, traditional bluegrass album with no caveats, no tangents, simply straight ahead acoustic instrumentation in a traditional style, is a feat and a victory all on its own. And the music ain’t too bad either.
The Bluegrass Album isn’t completely unprecedented. Dierks Bentley a few years back took a step back from the mainstream spotlight to cut the bluegrass-inspired Up On The Ridge. Dolly Parton’s The Grass Is Blue from 1999 gave bluegrass a similar mainstream boost. But there’s so much else Alan Jackson could have done with his next release, and he chose to do this. And what has been the result so far? With the Alan Jackson name behind it, we’ve seen a 100% traditional bluegrass album chart at #3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, and come in at #11 on the all-genre Billboard 200. So much for the idea that traditional country is no longer commercially viable.
Another remarkable thing about The Bluegrass Album is it is very much Alan Jackson’s original expression. Jackson wrote the majority of the album himself, including many of the standout tracks. When you think about bluegrass, you think about instrumentation just as much, if not more than you think of songwriting. But The Bluegrass Album is as much as songwriter’s album as any. Without any real blazing speed, and featuring journeymen pickers without flashy names except for maybe Rob Ickes on resonator, this album doesn’t set off to wow you with anything but its words, and its simple honesty.
The Bluegrass Album resides well within the common themes of bluegrass music like mountains, faith, and family. If Jackson had wanted to go with a less generic title, it would’ve still needed to feature the word “blue” somewhere. The color and its corresponding emotions, landscapes, and inferences run like a thread through this record. Jackson’s “Blue Ridge Mountain Song” and “Blue Side of Heaven” jump out you initially as two of the album’s strongest tracks, while Bill Monroe’s bluegrass standard “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Wild and Blue” original popularized by John Anderson and written by John Scott Sherill, and “Way Beyond The Blue” mark the album’s best covers.
Another interesting track is “Blacktop,” which praises the arrival of paved roads to rural locations. Despite being smart, well-written, and relatable on its own, depending on the perspective and sensibilities of the listener, this song could also be interpreted as a subtle protest to modern pop country songs surreptitiously praising roads of the dirt persuasion. Because as anyone who has actually lived beyond where the blacktop ends knows, bumpy roads and muddy ruts can be a beating when you have to face them daily instead of on a recreational basis.
“Blacktop” in a way is a good summation for The Bluegrass Album—taking gratitude in simple pleasures, and being different simply by being honest and straightforward. Jackson’s dedication to bluegrass, at least for the moment, is true. He introduced this album by playing an intimate show at Nashville’s smallish Station Inn. He’s signed on to play MerleFest in April. Alan Jackson is no carpetbagger or interloper. His grass is blue, and The Bluegrass Album shows his breadth of knowledge and dedication to a style of music that helped lay a foundation beneath his storied career.
1 3/4 of 2 guns up.
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October 4, 2013 @ 9:43 am
Nice review and it’s spot on. I more of a Bluegrass fan than country anymore and Alan delivers on this one.
October 4, 2013 @ 10:03 am
Alan Jackson has always been one of my favorite singers. I love how down-to-earth and simplistic he is and unapologetically true blue country. Look how long he’s been in the business, how many trends have come and gone, but he remains unchanged.
I love the album. I really like “Blue Mountain Song”. I thought the same thing about “Blacktop”. Like it was a subtle diss to all those country “frat-boys” singing about the love of dirt roads. I thought if only Luke Bryan or Jason Aldean could hear this but then I realized they probably wouldn’t touch this album with a ten foot pole.
October 4, 2013 @ 10:04 am
I like it. Not a huge AJ fan anymore, but the album features kind of an integration of something new and something familiar. Plus, his rewrite of ” Let’s Get back To me And you” fits this album and genre so well you’d swear it was a new song if you hadn’t heard it before. Keep em coming, Alan!
October 4, 2013 @ 10:42 am
it looks like he hired the guy who does Ray Lawrence Jr.’s covert art.
October 4, 2013 @ 11:07 am
cover (not covert) art. and that’s not a bad thing.
October 4, 2013 @ 11:46 am
That thought ran through my head too, though my guess is the designers have no idea who Ray Lawrence Jr. is. I really like the cover because it fits with sort of the understated, simple approach of the album. That’s why it worked so well for Ray Lawrence too.
October 4, 2013 @ 11:37 am
“When you think about bluegrass, you think about instrumentation just as much, if not more than you think of songwriting. But ‘The Bluegrass Album’ is as much as songwriter”™s album as any.”
Good point; that pretty much sums up my feeling that this is more of a typical AJ record in an acoustic mode, rather than a mere genre exercise. He’s trying something that may be different on the surface, but the actual songs (his own, as well as the kinds of cover material he gravitates toward) aren’t all that far removed from some of his best work. 🙂
October 4, 2013 @ 12:40 pm
“So much for the idea that traditional country is no longer commercially viable”
I hope this idea catches on.
PS – “There is a Time” is the best cut on the CD.
October 4, 2013 @ 12:51 pm
PPS – you should restore this interview to the news feed. His humble attitude, respect for Bluegrass, and for the musicians shines through.
http://www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/alan-jacksons-bluegrass-album-speaking-language-tradition
October 4, 2013 @ 1:20 pm
On a side note it looks the World of Bluegrass Week generated $10 million in Raleigh N.C. This has something to say about the music and fans too!
http://www.musicrow.com/2013/10/ibmas-world-of-bluegrass-week-has-10-million-impact/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Musicrow+(MusicRow)&utm_content=My+Yahoo
October 4, 2013 @ 9:38 pm
I don’t think people appreciate just how strong and organized the bluegrass world is. From fiddle camps for kids, all the way up to respecting the elders and giving back, bluegrass really is the ideal model for how independent music should run.
October 4, 2013 @ 7:12 pm
Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. I love the album! Best original song, “Long Hard Road”. Best cover “Way Beyond Blue”. But I love the whole album. Also Love this Site!
October 4, 2013 @ 7:27 pm
Also, I just wanted to add how I found this website. My g/f thought it was funny when she asked how I ever came came across it and I told her.
I was listening to country radio and heard the latest greatest at the time from Jason Aldean, do not even remember the song now. I do remember thinking, WOW WTF has happened to the country I had once loved?
Frustrated at the current state in which country was/is, I took to google trying to maybe find others who felt the same as I. I remember doing searches “WTF has happened to country music” and “someone needs to save country music”. Thats all there was to it lol. Here I am now finally posting.
October 4, 2013 @ 9:34 pm
Glad you found us Michael!
October 4, 2013 @ 9:04 pm
Yes, I really like Alan Jackson and Bluegrass. I’m going to download the cd.
October 4, 2013 @ 9:15 pm
Although I do like about five of current female mainstream women in country, I have been looking for something different. I just want to say thanks for your site. I have discovered the kind of artists(male and female), I have been wanting. So now I have more people I enjoy listening to. I grew up with the legends, and still love there music. I saw Willie Nelson when I was little girl. Its one of my favorite memories growing up. Country is one of my favorite genres. So thanks for the wonderful music recommendations.
October 4, 2013 @ 9:36 pm
Thanks so much for reading Sarah!
October 6, 2013 @ 10:36 pm
The names of the sidemen on the CD might not be flashy to a “Traditional Country” fan, but a Bluegrasser would consider most of these guys celebrity musicians.
Anyway, nice review otherwise.
October 6, 2013 @ 11:01 pm
I can understand how someone could take that as a dig at the players on the record, but it was actually meant as somewhat of a compliment to both the players, and Alan Jackson. What was meant by that statement is that Alan Jackson could have used his name to pull together a super group of bigger-named players like Sam Bush and Noam Pikelny for example, but instead decided to go with veteran guys who could do the job and not take focus from where the attention should be: the music. Just like the cover of this album and the entire approach, Alan Jackson resisted being flashy. Certainly the names may be very flashy or considered celebrity to some people, but I wouldn’t consider it a flashy bad, I would consider it an authentic band.
October 7, 2013 @ 7:29 am
I didn’t take it as a dig at all. Just referencing the fact that to a “Bluegrass” crowd every one of the sidemen he used other than Tim Dishman (who has been off the road for years) would be considered somewhat “flashy”. I respect who (probably more Adam Wright than Alan) picked to make this fine record.
Adam Steffey is the 10 time IBMA Mandolin player of the year, and is best known for his work with Allison Krauss and Union Station, the Dixie Chicks, The Isaacs and The Boxcars.
Sammy Shelor is a 5-time IBMA Banjo player of the year and was the recipient of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize two years ago. He’s been on the road as Band Leader of the legendary Lonesome River Band for many years and is considered one of the biggest influences on Bluegrass Banjo picking in the last 20 years.
Not being a jackass here, just being a music nerd responding to another.
Love the site.
October 7, 2013 @ 5:27 pm
And Rob Ickes is a 13 time IBMA Dobro player of the year.
Alan even states …
“I didn”™t even realize really what an elite group I had until I met ”˜em and learned about ”˜em. I have to give the credit to Scott Coney”
(and)
“Scott was the only guy on hand immediately that I could think of that I knew loved bluegrass and played it. So I actually asked him. I said, “Man, do you know any of these players around that you think would be good to play on the album?””
Rob Ickes “Big Time” from 2004 is one of my top 5 bluegrass CDs.
December 24, 2013 @ 11:47 pm
I know this is months old, now, but I feel like I should comment that AJ’s best album by far is another album that steers away from the the radio country sound. “Like Red On a Rose” is a phenomenal album that displays Jackson’s incredible ability to convey emotion. Though I’ll always love songs like Midnight in Montgomery, Gone Crazy, Little Man, Drive, or the more recent So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore, there’s no denying that Alan’s best music has come from his albums that steer away from country radio.
September 1, 2016 @ 1:38 pm
Five tracks into the album and I already want to buy it. “Ain’t Got Trouble Now” is a great song. Jackson and the background guys had a nice melody on it. It may not be the .357 String Band but for main record label bluegrass, this is gold.