1999 album

Alan Jackson, the 1990s' preeminent tradition-based singer, kicked up a fuss at the 1999 CMA Awards over the Country Music Association's cavalier treatment of George Jones. That same deep, abiding reverence for the past clearly inspired this collection of oldies, all of them Jackson's personal favorites. Many choices aren't surprising, such as the 1967 Jim Ed Brown barroom anthem "Pop a Top," Merle Haggard's "My Own Kind of Hat" and "The Way I Am," Don Williams's "It Must Be Love," the 1963 George Jones hit "Revenooer Man," Hank Williams Jr.'s "The Blues Man," and Gene Watson's "Farewell Party." The performances are competent enough, yet something's missing. Passion, normally a given on Jackson's recordings, surfaces only on Charley Pride's "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'." Given Jackson's undeniable love for the material, his delivery seems detached, even clinical. More out of place is his duet with Jimmy Buffett on Buffett's shopworn "Margaritaville," which seems less of a stand-alone performance than an entry in a future CMA "Vocal Event of the Year" sweepstakes. --Rich Kienzle