Friday To-Do: Alan Jackson
ALAN JACKSON / BROOKS & DUNN
7:30 p.m., Alltel Arena. $42.50-$62.50.
Years back, in church in my hometown, during the children's service, the pastor took a few minutes to ask the little kids their favorite hymn. Not surprisingly, “Jesus Loves Me” got a lot of votes. “Amazing Grace,” too. But one little bespectacled kid chirped enthusiastically, “Chattahoochee!” And why not? Jackson's rowdy-but-sweet coming-of-age song has long been part of the canon, a secular hymn for the South: “Never knew how much that muddy water meant to me/But I learned how to swim and I learned who I was/A lot about livin' and a little, bout love.” Last year's “Precious Memories,” a hushed and reverent gospel album, is his latest studio album, but Jackson is sure to travel through his back pages, pulling out ballads and country-rockers, familiar to all. If that isn't enough, Brooks & Dunn, the biggest selling duo in country music (and second only to Simon & Garfunkel in the whole of pop music), also plays on the bill. Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn made their bones in the early '90s with hopped-up honky tonk built on danceable beats. (They drove the line-dancing craze of that era.) Sales have been on the decline over the last couple of years, but the boys have a new one, “Cowboy Town,” coming out in October. They'll likely try out a few new ones on Friday. Rising star Jake Owen opens the show.
