Artist:  Alan Jackson
Title:  Freight Train
Label:  Arista Nashville

Jackson lets that lonesome whistle blow his blues away ...

Long before singer/songwriter Alan Jackson spent the past two decades recording 34 No. 1 country hits, selling 50 million albums, and winning a truckload of awards, the Newnan, Georgia native preferred to sing about one thing: The Almighty.

Jackson not only spent much of his childhood singing in church, early on, he only enjoyed listening to gospel music. That is until he became a fan of "drinkin' and cheatin' songs." While there have been occasional lyrical references to his faith over the years—as in his 2002 crossover hit "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"—it wasn't until four years ago that Jackson released his first gospel album, Precious Memories.

Then Denise Jackson, his high school sweetheart and wife of 30 years, penned the 2008 book It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life, which chronicles the couple's renewed Christian faith and how that faith defines their lives. Naturally, many fans began to wonder how this recommitment might influence Alan's music. Would the prolific writer's lyrics continue to be defined in large part by self-gratification, recklessness and emotional affliction? And would his songs become more faith-evident

Jackson's 16th studio album, Freight Train, arrives with both boxcars of precious cargo and a few empty flatcars. Longtime producer Keith Stegall (Randy Travis, Sammy Kershaw) reunites with the singer, who has writing credits on 8 of the album's 12 tracks. Musically, the album is classic Jackson—pop-oriented honky tonk and country ballads with occasional forays into bluegrass. Lead single "It's Just That Way" (currently No. 17 on the country airplay charts) is a slow, easy-going love song conveyed perfectly by the singer's smooth baritone voice. Jackson invites the ever-emotive Lee Ann Womack to join him on another standout ballad, the classic "Til the End," originally performed by Vern Gosdin and Janie Fricke in 1977. Meanwhile, it's the bluegrass-infused title track which best captures the album's hoedown potential.

Lyrically, Freight Train celebrates the blue collar worker ("Hard Hat and a Hammer"), longs for life at sea ("That's Where I Belong"), and ponders a daughter's coming of age ("After 17"). But, more than anything, the album features snapshots of romantic relationships in different situations and places of commitment—from shallow reflections on lost love ("Taillights Blue," "Every Now and Then") to declarations of rock solid devotion ("True Love is a Golden Ring," "The Best Keeps Getting Better").

If Freight Train is a signpost for Jackson's future, the lyrical absence of careless drinkin' and cheatin' is promising indeed. As for The Almighty? He makes brief cameos when Jackson sings, "God bless the working man" one moment and "God has dealt me a winning hand," contemplating his wife another.


**This review first published on April 15, 2010.