This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

George Bradshaw
George Bradshaw (1801–1853), by Richard Evans, 1841
Born	(1801-07-29)29 July 1801 Windsor Bridge, Pendleton near Salford, Lancashire, England
Died	6 September 1853(1853-09-06) (aged 52) Oslo, Norway
Cause of death	Cholera
Known for	Bradshaw's guides and timetables
Religion	Society of Friends
Children	2

George Bradshaw (29 July 1801 – 6 September 1853) was an English cartographer, printer and publisher. He is best known for developing the most successful and longest published series of combined railway timetables.

Biography[link]

Bradshaw was born at Windsor Bridge, Pendleton, in Salford, Lancashire. On leaving school he was apprenticed to an engraver named Beale in Manchester, and in 1820 he set up his own engraving business in Belfast, returning to Manchester in 1822 to set up in that city as an engraver and printer, principally of maps. ^[1]

He was a religious man. Although his parents were far from wealthy, when he was young they enabled him to take lessons from a minister devoted to the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. He later joined the Society of Friends (the Quakers) and gave a considerable part of his time to philanthropic work. ^[1] He worked a great deal with radical reformers such as Richard Cobden in organising peace conferences and in setting up schools and soup kitchens for the poor of Manchester. ^[2] It is his belief as a Quaker that is quoted as causing the early editions of Bradshaw's guides to have avoided using the names of months based upon Roman deities (i.e. a "pagan" usage). (Quaker usage was (and still is) "First month" for January, "Second month" for February and so on. Days of the week were "First day" for Monday and so on.)

He married on 15 May 1839. While touring Norway in 1853 he contracted cholera and died in September of that year without being able to return to England. He is interred in the cemetery adjoining the cathedral in Oslo.^[2][3][4]

Bradshaw's railway timetables[link]

Early history[link]

Bradshaw's name was already known as the publisher of Bradshaw's Maps of Inland Navigation, which detailed the canals of Lancashire and Yorkshire, when, on 19 October 1839, soon after the introduction of railways, the world's first compilation of railway timetables was published in Manchester. It cost sixpence (6d/2½p) and was a cloth-bound book entitled Bradshaw's Railway Time Tables and Assistant to Railway Travelling, the title being changed in 1840 to Bradshaw's Railway Companion, and the price raised to one shilling. ^[1] A new volume was issued at occasional intervals and from time to time a supplement served to keep this up to date. The original Bradshaw publications were before the limited introduction of standardised Railway time in November 1840, and its subsequent development into Standard time.

In December 1841, acting on a suggestion made by his London agent, William Jones Adams, Bradshaw reduced the price of his timetables to the original sixpence, and began to issue them monthly under the title Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide. ^[1] Many railway companies were unhappy with Bradshaw's timetable, but Bradshaw was able to circumvent this by becoming a railway shareholder and by putting his case at company AGMs.^[5] Soon the book, in the familiar yellow wrapper,^[2] became synonymous with its publisher: for Victorians and Edwardians alike, a railway timetable was "a Bradshaw", no matter by which railway company it had been issued and whether Bradshaw had been responsible for its production or not.

Timetable from the 1850 Bradshaw

The eight page edition of 1841 had grown to 32 pages by 1845 and to 946 pages by 1898 although unusually, in April 1845, the issue number jumped from 40 to 141.^[5] The publisher claimed this was an innocent mistake, although it has been speculated as a commercial ploy, where more advertising revenue could be generated by making the publication look longer-established than it really was. Whatever the reason for the change, the numbering continued from 141.

When, in 1865, Punch praised Bradshaw's publications, it stated that "seldom has the gigantic intellect of man been employed upon a work of greater utility." At last, some order had been imposed on the chaos that had been created by some 150 rail companies whose tracks criss-crossed the country and whose largely uncoordinated network was rapidly expanding. Bradshaw minutely recorded all changes and became the standard manual for rail travel well into the 20th century.

By 1918 Bradshaw had risen in price to two shillings (2s/10p) and by 1937 half a crown (2s-6d/12½p). Although historic money values are difficult to calculate, this would have been equivalent to perhaps £6.00 at 2009 values.

Later history[link]

Bradshaw became less necessary from 1923, when more than 100 surviving companies were "grouped" into the Big Four. This change reduced dramatically the range and number of individual timetables produced by the companies themselves, who now published a much smaller number of substantial compilations which between them covered the country. Ironically, three of the Big Four transferred their timetable production to Bradshaw's publisher Henry Blacklock & Co. between 1923 and 1939, and most of the official company timetables therefore became reprints of the relevant pages from Bradshaw. Only the Great Western Railway retained its own format.

Between the two world wars, the verb 'to Bradshaw' was a derogatory term used in the Royal Air Force to refer to pilots who could not navigate well, perhaps related to a perceived lack of ability shown by those who navigated by following railway lines.

Regrettably, the 20th century had brought about no improvement to the cramped Victorian typography of the earlier issues and a certain inertia became apparent, although the information was as good as ever.

By the 1950s Bradshaw looked distinctly old-fashioned. Five of the six British Railways Regions had followed the companies' example by using Henry Blacklock & Co to produce their own timetable books when the railways were nationalised in 1948, but production was eventually moved to other publishers. This change must have reduced Henry Blacklock & Co's revenue substantially. Parts of Bradshaw began to be reset in the newer British Railways style from 1955, but modernisation of the whole volume was never completed. By 1961 a single Bradshaw cost 12s 6d (62½p), although a complete set of BR Regional timetables could be bought for 6s (30p).

The conclusion was inevitable, and the last edition, No. 1521, was dated May 1961. The Railway Magazine of that month printed a valedictory article by Charles E. Lee.

Reprints of various past Bradshaws have been produced.

References in literature[link]

19th century and early 20th century novelists make frequent references to a character's "Bradshaw". Dickens refers it in his short story "The Portrait-Painter's Story" (1861). In Around the World in 80 Days Phileas Fogg carries a Bradshaw. In particular, it was crime writers who were fascinated with trains and timetables, especially as a new source of alibis. Examples are Ronald Knox's The Footsteps at the Lock (1928) and novels by Freeman Wills Crofts. Perhaps the most famous example is by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes story The Valley of Fear: "the vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous and terse, but limited." Other references include the Sherlock Holmes story: The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, Lewis Carroll's long poem: Phantasmagoria and Bram Stoker's "Dracula", which makes note of Count Dracula reading an "English Bradshaw's Guide" as part of his planning for his voyage to England. There is also a reference in Death in the Clouds (1935) by Agatha Christie: "Mr. Clancy, writer of detective stories...extracted a Continental Bradshaw from his raincoat pocket...to work out a complicated alibi." It is also mentioned in "The Secret Adversary" by Agatha Christie. In Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1938), the second Mrs. de Winter observes that "Some people have a vice of reading Bradshaws. They plan innumerable journeys across country for fun of linking up impossible connection" (chapter 2). Another reference to a "Bradshaw" occurs in an aside in Riddle of the Sands (1903) by Erskine Childers ... "an extraordinary book, Bradshaw, turned to from habit, even when least wanted, as men fondle guns and rods in the close season." In G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday, the protagonist, Gabriel Syme, praises Bradshaw as a poet of order: "No, take your books of mere poetry and prose; let me read a time table, with tears of pride. Take your Byron, who commemorates the defeats of man; give me Bradshaw, who commemorates his victories. Give me Bradshaw, I say!". In Max Beerbohm's Zuleika Dobson (1911), a satirical fantasy of Oxford undergraduates, a Bradshaw is listed as one of the two books in the "library" of the irresistible Zuleika.

Although not a direct reference to the Bradshaw railway timetable, it is also worth noting the name of the character of Sir William Bradshaw in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Considering this character's association with rigorous quantitative measurement, it is quite possible that the name was chosen deliberately by Woolf.

Bradshaw's is also mentioned in some modern novels with a period setting. It is directly mentioned in Philip Pullman's The Shadow in the North (Sally Lockhart Quartet).

Bradshaw's Air Guide[link]

In 1934 Bradshaw also began publishing a guide to the major airline routes both within Europe and those transcontinental flights that originated from Europe and the UK.

[edit] Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide

In June 1847 the first number of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide was issued, giving the timetables of the Continental railways, just as Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide gave the timetables of the railways of the United Kingdom. The Continental Railway Guide eventually grew to over 1,000 pages, including timetables, guidebook and hotel directory. It was discontinued in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War. Briefly resurrected in the interwar years, it saw its final edition in 1939.

Bradshaw's and other printed timetables today[link]

In December 2007, the Middleton Press^[6] was one publisher which took advantage of Network Rail's willingness to grant third-party publishers the right to print paper versions of the National Rail timetable. Network Rail itself had discontinued official hard copies in favour of pdf editions, which can be downloaded without charge.

As an appropriate tribute to Bradshaw, the Middleton Press named its timetables the Bradshaw-Mitchell's Rail Times. A competing edition of the National Rail timetable, again reproduced from Network Rail's own artwork, is published by TSO,^[7] This is a same-size reproduction of the Network Rail artwork, although the size is only about 70% in the Middleton Press versions to reduce the page count. It is said that even for those with keen eyesight the Middleton Press version is physically impossible to read with the naked eye.

A third publisher, UK Rail Timetables,^[8] has been set up to produce printed timetables, but announced publishing dates (or seasons) have been repeatedly missed.

The problem faced by such publishers is that all franchised train operating companies in Britain are obliged to produce free booklets for their own services, while many passengers also obtain timetable information from the website of National Rail Enquiries (or third-party ticket retailers) instead. It may well be that the majority of purchasers of the surviving hard-copy editions are railway enthusiasts rather than ordinary rail users, although the hard copies do continue to be bought by many reference libraries.^{[original research?]}

The main timetable for Indian Railways is still known as Newman's Indian Bradshaw.

[edit] Great British Railway Journeys

Michael Portillo used a copy of what was described as a Bradshaw's guide (specifically Bradshaw's Tourist Handbook) for Great British Railway Journeys, a BBC Two television series in which he travelled across Britain. The first series was broadcast in early 2010, a second in early 2011, followed by a third in early 2012.

External links[link]

• A digitalised version of the 1866 edition of Bradshaw's handbook for tourists in Great Britain & Ireland

Sources[link]

• Edward H. Milligan. British Quakers in Commerce & Industry 1775-1920. 2007. William Sessions of York. Page 61.

References[link]

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bradshaw, George". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Boase, George Clement (1886). "Bradshaw, George". In Leslie Stephen. Dictionary of National Biography. 6. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 174–175.  Endnotes:
  • Manchester Guardian, 17 Sept. 1853, p. 7
  • Minutes of Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers (1854), xiii. 145-9
  • Athenæum, 27 Dec. 1873, p. 872, 17 Jan. 1874, p. 95, 24 Jan. p. 126
  • Notes and Queries, 6th ser., viii. 45, 92, 338, xi, 15.

Alan Jackson
Jackson in April 2010
Background information
Birth name	Alan Eugene Jackson
Born	(1958-10-17) October 17, 1958 (age 53)
Origin	Newnan, Georgia USA
Genres	Country, Neotraditional country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Arista Nashville EMI Nashville/Alan's Country Records
Associated acts	Keith Stegall, George Strait, The Wrights, Zac Brown Band, Jeff Foxworthy, The Bellamy Brothers, George Jones
Website	www.alanjackson.com

Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista Nashville label. More than 50 of his singles have appeared on Billboard's list of the "Top 30 Country Songs". Of Jackson's entries, 35 were number-one hits, with 50 in the Top 10. He is the recipient of 2 Grammys, 16 CMA Awards, 17 ACM Awards and nominee of multiple other awards. Jackson is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Early life[link]

Jackson was born to Joseph Eugene Jackson and Ruth Musick in Newnan, Georgia, and has four older siblings. Jackson is of English descent.^[1][2] As a youth, Jackson listened primarily to gospel music. Otherwise he was not a major music fan. However, a friend of his introduced him to the music of Gene Watson, John Anderson and Hank Williams Jr. Jackson attended the local Elm Street Elementary and Newnan High School, starting a band after high school. After a time, he and his wife of six years, Denise Jackson, moved from Newnan to Nashville where Jackson hoped to pursue music full-time.^[3]

Jackson sang in church as a child. He, his father, mother, and four sisters lived in a small home. At one point, his bed was in the hallway for lack of room. His mother lives in the home to this day. His first job, at 12, was in a shoe store. He wrote his first song in 1983. He worked as a car salesman in his 20s.

Career[link]

This section requires expansion with: More info on each individual album, critical reception, etc. etc..

In Tennessee, Jackson got a job in The Nashville Network's mailroom.^[3] Denise connected him with Glen Campbell, who helped jumpstart his career.^[4] Jackson eventually signed with Arista.^[3] By 1989, he became the first signee to the newly-formed Arista Nashville branch of Arista Records.^[5]

Arista released Jackson's debut single, "Blue Blooded Woman", in late 1989. Although the song failed to reach top 40 on Hot Country Songs, he reached number three by early 1990 with "Here in the Real World".^[6] This song served as the title track to his debut album, Here in the Real World, which also included two more top five hits ("Wanted" and "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow") and his first number one, "I'd Love You All Over Again".^[6]

Don't Rock the Jukebox was the title of Jackson's second album. Released in 1991, it included four number-one singles: the title track, "Someday", "Dallas" and "Love's Got a Hold on You", and the number three "Midnight in Montgomery".^[6] Jackson also co-wrote several songs on Randy Travis' 1992 album High Lonesome.^[5]

A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love), his third album, accounted for the number one hits "She's Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues)" (which Travis co-wrote) and "Chattahoochee", plus the top five hits "Tonight I Climbed the Wall", "Mercury Blues" and "(Who Says) You Can't Have It All". "Chattahoochee" also won him the 1994 Country Music Association (CMA) awards for Single and Song of the Year.

In 1994 Jackson left his management company, Ten Ten Management, which had overseen his career up to that point, and switched to Gary Overton.^[7] His fourth album was titled Who I Am, and it contained four number one hits: a cover of the Eddie Cochran standard "Summertime Blues", followed by "Livin' on Love", "Gone Country" and "I Don't Even Know Your Name". An additional track from the album, a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Song for the Life", made number six. In late 1994, Clay Walker reached number one with "If I Could Make a Living", which Jackson co-wrote.^[8] Alan also appeared on an episode of Home Improvement, singing his hit song Mercury Blues in 1996, appearing on Tool Time to sing about his 1950 Mercury.

Mid-late 1990s[link]

"The Greatest Hits Collection" was released on October 24, 1995. The disc contained 17 hits, two newly-recorded songs ("I'll Try" and "Tall, Tall Trees"), and the song "Home" from "Here in the Real World" that had never been released as a single.^[9] These first two songs both made number one.

Everything I Love followed in 1996. Its first single was a cover of Tom T. Hall's "Little Bitty", which Jackson took to the top of the charts in late 1996. The album also included the number one hit "There Goes" and a number two cover of Charly McClain's 1980 single "Who's Cheatin' Who". The album's fifth single was "A House with No Curtains", which became his first release since 1989 to miss the top 10.^[6]

High Mileage was led off by the number four "I'll Go On Loving You". After it came the album's only number one hit, "Right on the Money", co-written by Phil Vassar.

With Jackson's release of Under the Influence in 1999, he took the double risk on an album of covers of country classics while retaining a traditional sound when a rock- and pop-tinged sound dominated country radio.^[10]

When the Country Music Association (CMA) asked George Jones to trim his act to 90 seconds for the 1999 CMA awards, Jones decided to boycott the event. In solidarity, Jackson interrupted his own song and launched into Jones's song "Choices" and then walked offstage.^[11]

2000s-present[link]

Jackson performing in 2002

After country music changed toward pop music in the 2000s, he and George Strait criticized the state of country music on the song "Murder on Music Row". The song sparked debate in the country music community about whether or not "traditional" country music was actually dead or not.^[12] Despite the fact that the song was not officially released as a single, it became the highest-charting nonseasonal album cut (not available in any retail single configuration or released as a promotional single to radio during a chart run) to appear on Hot Country Singles & Tracks in the Broadcast Data Systems era, beating the record previously held by Garth Brooks' "Belleau Wood." The duo were invited to open the 2000 Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMAs) with a performance of the tune.^[13] Rolling Stone commented on Jackson's style remarking, "If Garth and Shania have raised the bar for country concerts with Kiss-style production and endless costume changes, then Alan Jackson is doing his best to return the bar to a more human level."^[14] After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Jackson released "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" as a tribute to those killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The song became a hit single and briefly propelled him into the mainstream spotlight.

At the 2001 CMA Awards, Jackson debuted the song "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning". The performance was generally considered the highlight of the show, and Jackson's site crashed the next day from server requests.^[15] The song came to Jackson suddenly, and had not been scheduled for any official release, but the live performance began receiving radio airplay and was soon released as a single.

Jackson released a Christmas album, titled Let It Be Christmas, October 22, 2002.^[16]

Jeannie Kendall contacted Jackson to do a duet, and he suggested the song "Timeless and True Love". It appeared on her first solo album, released in 2003.^[17]

In early 2006, Jackson released his first gospel music album entitled Precious Memories. He put together the album by the request of his mother, who enjoys religious music. Jackson considered this album a "side project" and nothing too official, but it was treated as such. Over 1.8 million albums were sold.

Only mere months after the release of Precious Memories in 2006, Jackson released his next album Like Red on a Rose, which featured a more adult contemporary/folk sound.

Unlike his previous albums, Like Red on a Rose had a different producer and sound. Alan's main producer for his music, Keith Stegall, was notably absent from this album. Instead, Alison Krauss was hired to produce the album. She also chose the songs.

Despite being labeled as "country music" or "bluegrass", Like Red on a Rose had a mainstream sound to it, upsetting some fans, even making some of them believe that Jackson was abandoning his traditional past and aiming toward a more mainstream pop sound.

However, for his next album, he went back to his country roots. Good Time was released on March 4, 2008. The album's first single, "Small Town Southern Man", was released to radio on November 19.

"Country Boy", "Sissy's Song" and the final single from the album, "I Still Like Bologna", were also released as singles.

"Sissy's Song" is dedicated to a longtime friend of the Jackson family (Leslie "Sissy" Fitzgerald) who worked in their house everyday. Fitzgerald was killed in a motorcycle accident in mid-2007.

His sixteenth studio album, Freight Train, was released on March 30, 2010. The first single was "It's Just That Way", which debuted at #50 in January 2010. "Hard Hat and a Hammer" is the album's second single, released in May 2010.

On November 23, 2010, Jackson released another greatest hits package, entitled 34 Number Ones, which features a cover of the Johnny Cash hit "Ring of Fire", as well as the duet with Zac Brown Band, "As She's Walking Away".

On Jan. 20, 2011, it was announced that Jackson and his record label, Sony, parted ways.^[18]

On March 23, 2011, Jackson announced his new deal with Capitol's EMI Records Nashville. It is a joint venture between ACR (Alan's Country Records) and Capitol. All records will be released and marketed through Capitol's EMI Records Nashville label.^[19]

Jackson has since released two singles, "Long Way to Go" and "So You Don't Have to Love Me Anymore." Both videos were directed by Steven Goldmann. Both songs are to be included on his upcoming studio album for his own label, Thirty Miles West, which will be released on June 5, 2012.

Awards, nominations and induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame[link]

In 1989 he was nominated for a total of six Country Music Association awards (CMAs).^[4]

He was nominated for four 1994 CMAs, including Entertainer of the Year.^[2]

Jackson became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1991; he was inducted by Roy Acuff and Randy Travis.^[20]

Jackson was the most nominated artist at the 29th annual TNN/Music City News Country Awards that was broadcast June 5 from the Grand Ole Opry House. His six nominations included best entertainer, male artist, vocal collaboration, album, single, and video (two nominations in this category).^[21]

At the 2002 CMAs, Jackson set a record for having the most nominations in a single year – ten – many rising from the song "Where Were You". It also brought his career total up to the second number of most nominations ever, after George Strait.^[22] "Where Were You" also was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year. The song was also subsequently parodied in the South Park episode "A Ladder To Heaven".

At the 2003 Academy of Country Music Awards, Jackson won Album of the Year for Drive and Video of the Year for the video to "Drive (For Daddy Gene)."^[23]

Jackson was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame on October 22, 2001 in Atlanta.^[24]

Alan Jackson was selected to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010

Alan Jackson Collection at Cracker Barrel[link]

In 2009, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. started to carry the "Alan Jackson Collection" which included a special release CD available exclusively at Cracker Barrel, cowboy style shirts and t-shirts, baseball caps, home goods (candles, kitchen goods) including an old-fashion wooden rocking chair that has a metal plate of Alan's autograph on the headrest; toys, spices and BBQ sauces/rubs and a replica of his own personal cowboy hat.^[25]

Ford trucks endorsement[link]

Ford's agency J. Walter Thompson USA in Detroit, in 1997, worked out with Jackson a multimillion-dollar, multi-year contract for his sole endorsement of Ford trucks. In his video for "Who's Cheatin' Who" he was behind the wheel of a "Big Foot" Ford F-150 pickup truck, and Ford's five NASCAR vehicles (at the time) were prominently featured. Additionally, he changed the lyrics "Crazy 'bout a Mercury" of the song "Mercury Blues" to "Crazy 'bout a Ford truck" in a TV ad for the Ford F-series.^[26]

Touring[link]

Jackson headlined the 1995 Fruit Of The Loom Comfort Tour, a deal worth $40 million. It began January 20 in New Orleans and ran for a hundred dates.^[27]

Alan Jackson's 2004 concert tour launched January 23 in Fort Myers, Florida and was sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts in a deal that included Jackson's endorsement in TV spots. The tour included more than 50 U.S. dates. Martina McBride was the opening for some of the shows.^[28]

In March 2011 he visited Australia to perform for the CMC Rocks The Hunter music festival where he was the headline act for Saturday night.^[29]

Band[link]

Alan Jackson's backup band (since 1989) is "The Strayhorns". The current line-up of musicians is:

• Monty Allen – acoustic guitar, harmony vocals
• Scott Coney – acoustic guitar, tic tac bass, banjo
• Robbie Flint – steel guitar
• Danny Groah – lead guitar
• Mark McClurg - fiddle, harmony vocals
• Bruce Rutherford – drums
• Joey Schmidt – keyboards
• Roger Wills – bass guitar

Personal life[link]

Jackson with his family at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April 2010

Jackson married his high school sweetheart, Denise Jackson, on December 15, 1979. They are the parents of three daughters: Mattie Denise (born June 19, 1990), Alexandra Jane "Ali" (born August 23, 1993), and Dani Grace (born August 28, 1997). Although the couple separated for several months in 1998 due to the strains of Jackson's career as well as his infidelity;^[30] they have since reconciled. Their story is referenced in several of Jackson's songs, including "She Likes It Too" and "Remember When". Denise and their daughters appear in the latter song's video.

Denise Jackson wrote a book that topped The New York Times Best Seller list that covered her life with Jackson, their relationship, separation over his infidelity, and recommitment to each other, and her commitment to Christianity, the book was titled It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life, which was published in 2007. In May 2008 she released a Gift Book titled "The Road Home."

Jackson's nephew, Adam Wright, is also a country music singer-songwriter. Adam and his wife, Shannon, perform together as a duo called The Wrights.^[31] The Wrights co-wrote two songs and sang harmony vocals on Jackson's What I Do album.

Jackson is a cousin of Major League Baseball player Brandon Moss.^[32]

In June 2009, Jackson listed his 135-acre (0.55 km²) estate just outside of Franklin, TN for sale. The asking price was $38 million. The property sold in late May 2010 for $28 million, one of the highest prices ever for a home sale in the Nashville area.^[33] In 2010, after Alan Jackson said goodbye to Sweetbriar, his estate just outside of Franklin, the singer then moved into a slightly smaller but equally luxurious home in the same Nashville suburb. The singer and his wife paid $3.675 million for the estate in June 2010, but less than a year later, they’ve listed the home for $3.995 million. ^[34]

Jackson maintains a close friendship with fellow country singer, George Jones. Jones has been mentioned in songs such as "Don't Rock the Jukebox" (Jones also appeared in the video which accompanied it) and "Murder on Music Row". The song "Just Playin' Possum" is dedicated to Jones and talks of how Alan only wants to lie low and play possum, possum referring to George Jones. Jones can also be seen in the video for "Good Time". In 2008, Jones was a surprise guest at Jackson's "CMT Giants" ceremony, where he thanked Jackson for his friendship. He's also close friends with George Strait, who sang "Murder On Music Row" with him. Besides his associations with big stars, Alan also maintains his connections to his roots and old friends.^[35] From his early days of playing the guitar with his old high school friend and fellow musician David "Bird" Burgess, on the Burgess' family front porch, it was evident Alan was going to be Newnan's rising star.^[35] While Bird Burgess has left the country music scene to pursue other avenues, the two have remained friends.^[35] As further evidence to his strong connection to his roots, Alan has given back to the community of Newnan, and in response the city of Newnan dedicated a major thoroughfare the Alan Jackson Highway.

As of February 2012, Jackson's introduction paragraph along with the Early Life paragraph from this Wikipedia article are repeatedly printed in the showroom books in the IKEA store in the municipality of Tianjin in The People's Republic of China.

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

American Music Awards

• American Music Award for Favorite Country Single 1993; "Chattahoochee"
• 1993 Favorite Country Album – "A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love)"

Academy of Country Music

• 1990 Top New Male Vocalist
• 1991 Album of the Year – "Don't Rock the Jukebox"
• 1991 Single of the Year – "Don't Rock the Jukebox"
• 1993 Album of the Year – "A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love)"
• 1993 Single of the Year – "Chattahoochee"
• 1994 Top Male Vocalist
• 1995 Top Male Vocalist
• 2001 Single of the Year – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2001 Song of the Year – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2001 Top Male Vocalist
• 2002 Album of the Year – "Drive"
• 2002 Video of the Year – "Drive (For Daddy Gene)"
• 2003 Single of the Year – "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"
• 2003 Vocal Event of the Year with Jimmy Buffett – "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"

Country Music Association

• 1992 Music Video of the Year – "Midnight in Montgomery"
• 1993 Music Video of the Year – "Chattahoochee"
• 1993 Single of the Year – "Chattahoochee"
• 1993 Vocal Event of the Year - "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair"
• 1994 Song of the Year with Jim McBride – "Chattahoochee"
• 1995 Entertainer of the Year
• 2000 Vocal Event of the Year - "Murder on Music Row"
• 2002 Album of the Year – "Drive"
• 2002 Male Vocalist of the Year
• 2002 Entertainer of the Year
• 2002 Single of the Year – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2002 Song of the Year – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2003 Entertainer of the Year
• 2003 Male Vocalist of the Year
• 2003 Vocal Event of the Year with Jimmy Buffett – "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"

Grammy Awards

• 2002 Best Country Song – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2011 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals- "As She's Walking Away", with Zac Brown Band

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Alan Jackson website
• Official Music Videos
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0603581/