Alan Jackson Announces New Album ‘Where Have You Gone’

Alan Jackson announced his first album in six years on Friday, April 2, sharing that his new album Where Have You Gone will be released on May 14. The project is Jackson’s 16th studio album and features 21 songs, 15 of which were written solely by the Country Music Hall of Fame member.

“It’s a little harder country than even I’ve done in the past,” Jackson said in a statement. “And it’s funny, I was driving and listening to the final mixes Keith sent me, and I started to tear up. I was surprised to get so overly emotional, but I just love this kind of music.”

The 62-year-old released the album’s title track on Friday, and other songs include “You’ll Always Be My Baby” and “I Do,” which were written for his daughters’ weddings, and “Where Her Heart Has Always Been,” which Jackson wrote for his mother’s funeral and includes a recording of her reading from the Bible.

“When I write, I visualize back home and growing up,” Jackson explained. “Real country songs are life and love and heartache, drinking and Mama and having a good time…but it’s the sounds of the instruments, too. The steel and acoustic guitar, the fiddle – those things have a sound and a tone…and getting that right, the way those things make you feel, that’s country, too.” See the full track list below and pre-order Where Have You Gone here.

1. “Where Have You Gone” (Alan Jackson)
2. “Wishful Drinkin’” (Alan Jackson)
3. “I Can Be That Something” (Alan Jackson)
4. “Where the Cottonwood Grows” (Alan Jackson)
5. “Way Down In My Whiskey” (Alan Jackson)
6. “Things That Matter” (Robert Keith Stegall, Michael White)
7. “Livin’ On Empty” (Alan Jackson)
8. “You’ll Always Be My Baby (Written for Daughters’ Weddings)” (Alan Jackson)
9. “Where Her Heart Has Always Been (Written for Mama’s funeral with an old recording of her reading from The Bible)” (Alan Jackson)
10. “The Boot” (Adam Wright)
11. “Back” (Alan Jackson)
12. “Write It In Red” (Alan Jackson)
13. “So Late So Soon” (Scotty Emerick, Daniel Tashian, Sarah Buxton)
14. “This Heart Of Mine” (Adam Wright)
15. “A Man Who Never Cries” (Alan Jackson)
16. “Chain” (Alan Jackson)
17. “I Was Tequila” (Alan Jackson)
18. “I Do (Written for Daughters’ Weddings)” (Alan Jackson)
19. “Beer:10” (Alan Jackson)
20. “The Older I Get”* (Hailey Whitters, Adam Wright, Sarah Turner)
Extra Track: “That’s The Way Love Goes” (A Tribute to Merle Haggard) (Lefty Frizzell, Whitey Shafer)