Alan Jackson’s Honky Tonk Heart

Alan Jackson performs at the Nightly Concert on the Vault Concert Stage LP Field Saturday, June 7 in Downtown Nashville during the 2008 CMA Music Festival. Photographer: John Russell / CMA

Aug. 13, 2008 — Alan Jackson will be celebrating a major milestone Wednesday when Arista Records honors him in Nashville for selling more than 50 million albums during his career.

"I'm just very proud of it and surprised as well that it's still going on after nearly 20 years," Alan told The Tennessean.

It’s a major accomplishment for anyone, but particularly for someone who doggedly records traditional country music, even when that sound is not in vogue. Alan was a fan of George Jones and Conway Twitty as he grew up in the 1970s and ‘80s, and he still listens to artists such as the Carter Family and Vern Gosdin on his bus.

"At the time, [traditional acts] were kind of secondary to some of the more contemporary pop stuff that was hot in country music," Alan said, recalling the music from his teen years. "I kept saying, 'Somebody young needs to carry on that sound. That is real country music.' Randy Travis came along before I moved to Nashville and opened the door for all of that. That is why I came to town; I wanted to carry that on."

When Randy first started making albums in 1985, Nashville executives generally assumed that traditional acts could only go gold at best, so when Randy started hitting multi-platinum levels by selling 2 million or 3 million copies of an album, he completely stunned the industry’s decision-makers. Nevertheless, Alan feels Nashville’s music community still tends to apologize for traditional music, concentrating instead on making music that has broader stylistic boundaries.

"It's hard for me to complain about any of that," he added, "because radio has played me all along."

Indeed, "Good Time" recently went to No. 1, becoming the 33rd single of Alan’s career to top the country charts. That’s another tradition he wouldn’t mind keeping alive.