‘Last Call’ at Rupp for Alan Jackson, a country music traditionalist of his generation

All you have to do to let the title of Alan Jackson’s latest concert tour sink in to sense someone — himself, maybe, or perhaps his audience — is turning a corner.

“Last Call: One More for the Road.”

The most immediate assumption is also the most obvious — that the Georgia-born country music star who has sold over 43 million albums in the United States (a figure that jumps to roughly 75 million worldwide) is retiring from active duty as a performing artist. After all, why not? His Sept. 9 show at Rupp Arena will be his 10th concert at the facility over a three-decade run. He first played there as an opening act for Randy Travis in November 1991.

What else has he delivered in that time? Try a string of 25 albums that breaks down into 16 studio records, two gospel collections, a pair of Christmas releases, a bluegrass project, a box-set anthology and three greatest hits packages.

Regarding the latter, Jackson, widely regarded as the most commercially prominent country music traditionalist of his generation behind George Strait, has hit No. 1 on the Billboard country singles charts 26 times. Tack on another 20 if you want to include songs that landed in the Top 5. His tally of chart-topping albums sits at 14.

All in all, an active three decade-plus year, one that also encompassed an unfathomable level of roadwork. So why shouldn’t Jackson kick off his touring boots and enjoy the country without having to travel to every corner of it each year to perform. After all, the mighty Strait was 62 when his two-year farewell tour (which, at one point, included Jackson as a show-opener) concluded. Jackson turns 64 next week.

Just to add a thick slice of irony to all of this, one of the sponsors for Jackson’s current tour is AARP. No, we’re not making that up.

But this “Last Call” isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. Despite the undeniable sense of finality that surrounds the tour’s title, it’s not a goodbye or a foreshadowing of retirement. It is, though, a very purposeful way of slowing the wheels on a performance career that has run steadily and reliably since the dawn of the 1990s.

Alan Jackson battling disease

Jackson, who seldom grants interviews anymore, gave one to the Today show last year at this time. There, he told Jenna Bush Hager that he had been living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease for the past decade. The disease is genetic condition that has affected Jackson’s balance and ability to walk.

“I know I’m stumbling around onstage,” he told Hager. “And now I’m having a little trouble balancing, even in front of the microphone, and so I just feel very uncomfortable. I was starting to get so self-conscious up there. So if anybody’s curious why I don’t walk right, that’s why. I just wanted the fans and the public to know. I don’t want them to think I’m drunk onstage because I’m having problems with mobility and balance.”

“I’m not saying I won’t be able to tour. I’ll try to do as much as I can. I don’t want people to be sad for me. It’s just part of life. I’ve had a wonderful, beautiful life. I’ve been so blessed. It’s just good to put it out there in the open. In some ways, it’s a relief.”

If all of this sounds dignified, that’s because it is. That’s very much in keeping with how Jackson has conducted his entire career. Much like Strait, he has been a gimmick-free artist who has championed a promoted a brand of country music free from almost all commercial fads, one that nods generously to country tradition.

As country went frat party, Jackson remained regal reserve

Yet Jackson’s music has never been a museum piece. The artistic and stylistic philosophy he espoused on 1990’s “Here in the Real World,” his second single as a major label artist and his first Top 5 hit, set the stage for nearly every subsequent record Jackson released. His singing was confident, clear and conversational. His writing (Jackson has penned or co-penned most of his songs) is equally forthright. The entire thrust of “Here in the Real World,” in fact, is not letting the level of everyday escapism that country music has increasingly embraced through the years eclipse life’s starker realities. Sure, songs like his 1993 hit “Chattahoochee” proudly celebrate the charms of smalltown life. But as contemporary country heightened its frat party feel through the passing decades, Jackson remained resolute, sticking to almost regal country reserve.

Credit a lot of that to Keith Stegall, who has served as a producer for nearly all of Jackson’s career, from “Here in the Real World” through to Jackson’s most recent album, 2021’s sprawling, 20-song strong “Where Have You Gone.” Enforcing the fact that the Jackson/Stegall collaboration remains potent today, the latter record became not only a No. 2 country hit but a Top 10 entry on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.

The only time-out for the team: 2006’s “Like Red on a Rose,” which enlisted Alison Krauss as producer. Stegall was back in the producer’s chair for 2008’s “Good Time.”

So don’t expect surprises as Jackson heads back to Lexington, where he will add to a country legacy that has inspired an entire generation of younger artists. Just ask “American Idol” 10th season runner-up Lauren Aliana.

“In times of my career when I wasn’t having tons of success and was really trying to figure what I was going to do and just trying to get through the hard times, Alan Jackson would take me out on the road.” Aliana said prior to opening a January 2018 Jackson show at Rupp. “He really helped me in a time of need.”

“Alan and I are really different performers. I’m someone who runs around on the stage and talks a lot and tries to get the crowd to interact and all that stuff. Alan is proof that you don’t have to always do that. That was a really valuable lesson for me, to pull back and have these intimate moments. He has built an entire career on intimate moments. I’ve been able to take in a lot from watching him.”

Alan Jackson

What: Last Call: One More for the Road Tour concert

Where: Rupp Arena, 430 W. Vine

When: 7 p.m. Sept. 9

Tickets: $40.50-$210.50 through ticketmaster.com.