Introduction
Alan Jackson leaned on a wobbly jukebox decades ago in a truck stop lounge in Virginia. It irritated his bass player, but no one knew when the music skipped; it actually got him one step closer to his position in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Jackson, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017, charted his second No. 1 song with “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” on July 22, 1991.
“We were just playing bars and things . . . playing in a truck stop,” Jackson told his label, Sony Music Nashville. “It was the first night, and you always get loaded in and play, and then you take a break, and then you’re just kinda checking things out there in the club.”
It was at this point that Jackson walked over to the jukebox and met his bass player, Roger Willis, who was already at the machine looking at the selection. Jackson said one of the legs wasn’t completely broken off, but there was something wrong with it. When the singer leaned on it, Willis reacted.
Alan Jackson: “Bam! There’s That Song”
“Roger said, ‘Don’t rock the jukebox,’ and I said, ‘Bam! There’s that song,” Jackson said. “That’s where it came from. You never know where those song ideas will pop up.”
The Georgia native wrote the song with Keith Stegall and Roger Murrah. Lyrics include: Don’t rock the jukebox/ I wanna hear some Jones/ ‘Cause my heart ain’t ready/ For the Rolling Stones/ I don’t feel like rocking/ Since my baby’s gone/ So don’t rock the jukebox/ Play me a country song
“Don’t Rock the Jukebox” was also the title track to his second album, which also included hit songs “Someday,” “Dallas,” “Love’s Got a Hold on You,” and “Midnight in Montgomery.” And while “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” never won any CMA Awards, Jackson is really proud of the song’s video.
“It had George Jones in it because it mentions him in the song,” Jackson said. “Then we got one of my favorite Andy Griffith characters in it, Otis. Hal Smith played Otis, the drunk, on The Andy Griffith Show, and he came and played his part in that video. That was such a big deal for me to have him there. He wore the same jacket and hat that he wore in those episodes in the ’60s. That’s always been a fun song.”
Alan Jackson Cast George Jones
“Don’t Rock the Jukebox” was also a stepping stone for Jackson’s entry into the Grand Ole Opry and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Billboard ranked him as one of the Top 10 Country Artists of All-Time, and he received the Heritage Award as the most-performed country songwriter-artist of ASCAP’s first 100 years. Jackson has sold nearly 60 million albums worldwide and released more than 60 singles. He’s had 50 Top 10 hits and 35 No. 1 songs.
The Academy of Country Music recently presented Jackson with its Alan Jackson Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his 17 competitive trophies and five special awards, starting with 1991’s Top New Male Vocalist. Jackson revealed he had been diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in 2011. CMT is a degenerative nerve condition that impacts the nerves connecting the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body, causing muscle weakness and atrophy, especially in the extremities.
“It’s been affecting me for years, and it’s getting more and more obvious,” Jackson told “TODAY” show’s Jenna Bush Hager in 2021. “And I know I’m stumbling around on stage. Now I’m having a little trouble balancing even in front of the microphone, and so I just feel very uncomfortable, and I just want people to know that’s why I look like I do.”
Final Show Announced
He played his last show of his finale tour in May and revealed plans to cap his performing career in Nashville in 2026.
“It started 40 years ago this September,” Jackson told fans in May. “My wife and I drove to Nashville with an ol’ U-Haul trailer and chased this dream. It’s been a crazy ride. I’ve really lived the American dream, for sure. So blessed, and I thank you all for supporting the music, coming to these shows. It’s amazing how timing and all that stuff works in life