Title Track from the Country Icon’s Critically Acclaimed #1 Album
Honors Country Music’s Rich Heritage
Video Finds Jackson Joined “Onstage” By a Host of Country Music Legends
Nashville, TN – Country music superstar Alan Jackson releases a new music video later today – the very special piece created for “Where Have You Gone,” the title track from his acclaimed new album, premiering Thursday evening (September 23) at 6:00pm CT – watch HERE.
Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium provides the setting for the Peter Zavadil directed video. Filmed in black-and-white, creating an instantly dramatic and cinematic feel, Jackson can be seen alone on the stage of the Mother Church of Country Music. The Country Music Hall of Famer is surrounded by instruments – a fiddle, steel guitar, banjo, upright bass, acoustic guitar, simple drums – all just waiting to be played.
The lone figure strums his favorite guitar as he sings the mournful lament on the famous stage, his eyes drawn to the light from windows high above the building’s pews. As the song unfolds, Jackson is joined behind the Ryman’s footlights by the ethereal-but-very-real images of bonafide legends who made history on that very same stage: Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Hank Williams and Tammy Wynette.
“This is Alan’s idea…capturing all of this incredible history that’s happened here,” Zavadil shares. “The goal was to make the Ryman as much of a character in this as Alan is the artist onstage,” he adds. “This is a magical place.”
“The song kind of starts out like it’s a lost love,” Jackson says. “I love what I call ‘real country music,’ and I just see it fading away more than I ever have,” he explains. “I just wanted to say that.”
“Where Have You Gone” is just the latest music video by Jackson, who embraced the medium with his debut single and has gone on to create and star in nearly 60 music videos (including such career-defining clips as “Chattahoochee” and “Midnight in Montgomery,” both CMA Video of the Year winners and “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” an ACM Video of the Year). In 2014, the CMT Music Awards recognized Jackson’s unparalleled music video history by presenting him with the inaugural Impact Award.
“Where Have You Gone” – written by Jackson – is the title track from the 2021 album that HITS calls “the quiet superstar’s rebuke to those who would forget the roots of where this music comes from.” American Songwriter notes the project “finds him wielding his poet’s perspective to weave together a masterful love letter to country music,” while Billboard cites Jackson’s “penchant for writing honestly,” adding, “the new album continues that tradition.” Where Have You Gone topped the country album chart upon its debut and became Jackson’s 15th Top 10 on the all-genre Billboard Top 200. It also topped the country charts in the UK, Canada and Australia.
Jackson is set to wrap his 2021 tour schedule with a “hometown concert” Friday, October 8 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.