Alan Jackson Performs Traditional Country Music in Arkansas for Perhaps the Last Time

by Julian Spivey

Alan Jackson brought his “Last Call: One More For the Road” farewell tour to Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday, September 28, for an evening of the kind of traditional country music that made him one of the biggest hitmakers in the genre from 1989-2010.

It’s a continuation of a tour that played to sold-out crowds from coast to coast in 2022 and now sees the Country Music Hall of Famer playing 10 more cities spread out over nine months between August 2, 2024 and May 17, 2025. These aren’t necessarily Jackson’s last 10 shows, as more could be added, but then again, they could be, as well.

For Jackson, 65, it’s kind of all up in the air after he revealed a diagnosis of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in 2021. This has led to balance issues that are obvious on the stage. Jackson needed help walking on and off of the stage and would lean on amps and speakers while gingerly moving around the stage — though he did move more than one might expect given the circumstances.  

Jackson began his show around 8:30 p.m. with an abbreviated performance of his 1994 No. 1 hit “Gone Country,” in which he only performed the chorus repeatedly.

This would be a disappointment for me throughout the night, as it was the previous time I’d seen him perform in St. Charles, Mo., seven years ago. Jackson does this annoying thing where he will only perform snippets of some of his biggest and best songs and would also do it during his set with “Here In the Real World,” “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow” and “Midnight in Montgomery,” which all likely fall in my top-five Alan Jackson songs. However, I should probably be grateful for any of “Midnight in Montgomery,” which he said he hadn’t performed in years and only did so because of a fan-held sign in the crowd.

I understand Jackson has a hall of fame’s worth of hits and it would be hard to get through them all in a 90-minute show – I wonder if he performed longer sets earlier in his career or if it’s become a thing since the CMT diagnosis – but I’ve never liked being teased with snippets or medleys at live shows.

Other than this disappointment, which I was expecting thanks to my previous time seeing him, the show was mostly great (performing “Country Boy” and “Good Time” over those abbreviated classics knocks a point or two off the total score).

Among my favorite performances on Saturday night were “I Don’t Even Know Your Name,” “Little Bitty” and “Don’t Rock the Jukebox,” all No. 1 hits for Jackson between 1994 and 1996.

Some of Jackson’s more touching songs, written and recorded throughout his legendary career, came toward the end of the set, like his tribute to his father, “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” his 9/11 remembrance, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),” and “Remember When,” a love letter to his wife and the challenges of a long relationship.

The festiveness would pick back up to end his set with “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” his 2003 No. 1 duet with the legendary Jimmy Buffett, “Chattahoochee,” probably the song he’s most famous for, and the one that certainly got the most significant crowd reaction from the Bud Walton Arena crowd, and “Where I Come From,” his 2001 No. 1 hit that wouldn’t crack my top 25 Alan Jackson songs but the crowd appreciated.

He would return to the stage for a one-song encore of “Mercury Blues,” his cover of an old blues song from the ‘40s that he took to No. 2 on the country chart in 1993.

Lee Ann Womack opened the show for Jackson, as she had done the last time we saw him in 2017. The two make a terrific concert pair with their unwavering dedication and loyalty to traditional country music, though both have chased more pop-country-leaning trends at least once in their careers.

The sound in the arena for Womack’s set was atrocious initially. It lasted until about her fourth song, which is incredibly disappointing as her opening set was only 10 songs, and Womack has one of the greatest voices in country music of any era. The sound difficulties made it harder to enjoy some of her best songs like “Never Again Again,” “Ashes By Now” and “A Little Past Little Rock” than it should’ve been.

Thankfully, by the time her performances of “The Way I’m Livin’,” “I May Hate Myself in the Morning” and “Last Call” came around, the sound mix was crisp, and she could easily be heard throughout the arena.

She finished her set with the biggest hit of her career, “I Hope You Dance." The song, a Grammy Award winner for Best Country Song, saw her chasing some of those early pop-country trends but remains a prime example of how to do pop-country properly.

I’d like the opportunity someday to see Womack perform a full headlining set, but she doesn’t seem to tour much these days. What I really need, as a fan, from her is a new album, which she hasn’t released since 2017’s The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone.