July 2025

At 66, Alan Jackson stands barefoot in the dew-covered grass behind his old home in Newnan, Georgia, the morning mist curling around his ankles like a memory come to visit. No soundcheck. No guitar. Just him — and the stillness of the place that raised him. He looks out at the rusted clothesline, the cracked swing set, the porch where his mama once called him in for supper. So much has changed, but somehow, this ground still feels like truth. He presses a hand to his heart, eyes misting, and says quietly, “I’ve sung about where I’m from my whole life… but I think I forgot to come back and feel it.”

When it comes to telling honest stories about working folks and where they come from, few artists do it better than Alan Jackson. In “Where I Come From,” released in…

Marty Robbins’ childhood in Glendale, Arizona was not easy. However, he found a great source of encouragement and inspiration in his maternal grandfather, “Texas Bob” Heckle. Mr. Heckle was a gifted storyteller and a former Texas Ranger. The stories of the Wild West, of gunslingers and adventures that his grandfather told, instilled in the young Marty a passion for cowboy culture. Years later, it was these memories that gave birth to the classic album “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs” and the famous song “Big Iron.”

Introduction By the mid-1950s, Robbins had established himself as a Grand Ole Opry star with hits like “Singing the Blues” and “A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)”. He…