Alan Jackson Reveals How Justin Timberlake Inspired His New Song 'Back'

Alan Jackson's new album, Where Have You Gone, features a song called "Back," and according to the country star, it was inspired by Justin Timberlake. During a recent interview with Kelleigh Bannen on Today's Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen on Apple Music Country, Jackson revealed that he got the idea to write his song after hearing Timberlake's 2006 hit "SexyBack."

"Well, it started as a joke, really, I don't know, several years ago," he recalled. "I don't know about the other music so much, but my kids were talking about that Justin Timberlake had this 'Bringing Sexy Back' song and they were just laughing and talking about it. And I hadn't even heard it and they were just laughing, and I said, 'Well, I think I'm going to write one about I'm going to bring country back.'" Jackson told Bannen that he was "just teasing" when he made the suggestion, but his three daughters "kept asking me about it every now and then so I ended up writing it."

"But I didn't write it from a position that I'm going to bring country back," he explained. "I think it was just more of a fun song and I ended up taking all these memories, visual memories of things that I remember growing up in the South in a small town, which is so relatable to country music."

The song is a laundry list of Jackson's memories of country life including gardening, football on Sundays, line dancing and driving a John Deere tractor. "Back, I'm bringing country back," he sings in the chorus. "Back where it belongs / Back on track / Yeah, I think ole Hank would like it like that / I got my boots, I got my hat / I'm bringing country back."

Jackson's daughters also inspired their dad to write two additional songs on the album — "You'll Always Be My Baby," which Jackson wrote for his oldest daughter, Mattie's, wedding, and "I Do." "It was the first big wedding, and she wanted me to write one," he told Hits Daily Double. "You can't really say 'No,' but when it was done, I told 'em, 'This is for all of you. I'm not writing each of you a separate song.'" As for "I Do," the 62-year-old said that the song "just came out one day; I don't really know how. I wasn't trying, but there it was."