Alan Jackson is one of the best-selling artists in the history of country music.
But there are still some things that fans don’t know about the legendary artists.
And Alan Jackson revealed one secret about his career that left fans stunned.
Alan Jackson reveals why he always wears his signature cowboy hat
A cowboy hat has become a signature part of country music legend Alan Jackson’s look on tour and in music videos.
He famously wore his cowboy hat along with red cowboy boats water skiing for the music video to his 1992 smash hit “Chattahoochee.”
But his iconic cowboy hat dates back to before his country music career.
Jackson told GQ Magazine in an interview that he began to wear his hat to cover up a scar he had on his forehead from when he was younger.
“I tell you, I started off really when I was a teenager. I had a—and I still have it—a big scar on my forehead from when I ran through a glass door when I was little,” Jackson said. “And I was always self-conscious, so when I started singing in high school it kinda bothered me.”
“It was bigger and bolder then; I guess it’s kinda worn down over the years,” Jackson added. “I first started wearing a hat when I was about 17, my old brown cowboy hat. That’s the hat I wore to Nashville when I came.”
The “Chattahoochee” singer said only a few photos are circulating of him without his signature hate.
“There’s a couple of them around where I’d raised my hat to say something, or I’m waving goodbye,” Jackson recalled. “My wife and people in the office have shown me some of those—some of them look pretty rough and some of them look pretty good. But yeah, I’ve just kinda gotten used to wearing them.”
Alan Jackson talks about the inspiration he got from Hank Williams and Gunsmoke
Jackson told GQ that he’s particular about his cowboy hat, which he said was inspired by country music greats like Hank Williams who wore them as well as the characters in Western TV shows.
“I wanted to wear a hat because I felt like a lot of the artists that I grew up loving wore hats,” Jackson said. “Hank Williams. And Haggard wore one more of his life. Gosh, there’s so many of them. It always seemed like it made sense to me. I grew up a cowboy fan, watching Bonanza and Gunsmoke and The Rifleman when I was a little boy, and I always loved them guys in hats.”
Jackson has been a longtime critic of the pop sound that’s taken over country music.
He and fellow country legend George Strait released the song “Murder on Music Row” ripping the pop-country trend.
That’s why he said that he came to Nashville to make “real country music.”
“I came to Nashville because I wanted to make real country music,” Jackson explained. “In the early ’80s, it had kinda gotten away from that. Some of it was more pop than the stuff they’re making now! And I was a young guy that loved the real traditional Conway Twitty and Charley Pride and George Jones and Merle Haggard.”
He lamented that the country charts have been taken over by pop country.
But he singled out Chris Stapleton for being the closest thing to the real deal in the modern era, even though he’s strayed some from the genre.
“I mean, even Chris Stapleton—I love Chris, he’s authentic. A real writer. Musician. He opened for me for a while before he hit so big. I’m a big fan of his. He was a bluegrass singer and has written bluegrass stuff. But what he’s making now really isn’t real country: It’s more like bluesy, Southern rock kinda stuff. I love it, it’s great, but he’s the closest thing to country out there,” Jackson explained.
Alan Jackson is one of the last stars in Nashville that’s a link to the traditional country music sound.
