Alan Jackson Readies 34 Number Ones For Release Next Week

On November 22, country superstar Alan Jackson releases 34 Number Ones, a career-spanning, double-disc collection featuring all of Jackson’s #1 hits to date, including the recent chart-topping smash, “As She’s Walking Away,” with Zac Brown Band featuring Alan Jackson. 34 Number Ones also contains Jackson’s next single, “Ring of Fire,” a fresh take on a Johnny Cash classic. “Ring of Fire” is at country radio now.

With 37 songs in all, 34 Number Ones includes all 34 of Jackson’s previous #1 singles, along with “Ring of Fire,” “As She’s Walking Away” and “Look at Me” (previously available on the 2008 soundtrack to Billy: The Early Years.) Alongside Jackson’s first chart-topper, 1990’s “Here in the Real World,” are such enduring favorites as “Gone Country” (1995); Jackson’s poignant, GRAMMY-winning “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” (2001); the Jimmy Buffett duet “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (2003); last year’s “Country Boy,” and many more.

Delivered to radio this week, Jackson‘s cover of “Ring of Fire” is already gathering critical praise. Industry site All Access stated that, “If you are going to cover a classic, let alone a classic by the Man in Black, you better be ready to swing for the fences. Well, the ball is still sailing because Alan Jackson has given us what may just be the best single of 2010.” Roughstock said that “It’s hard to feel anything but reverence for this song and Alan Jackson himself . . .Very few artists could remake a song like this without drawing the ire of traditionalist fans but the vibrant vocal delivery and the tastefully updated production (even without the horns) should make ‘Ring of Fire’ a welcome addition to Alan Jackson’s catalog and country radio.”

Written by June Carter (wife of Johnny Cash) and Merle Kilgore, “Ring of Fire” was the biggest hit of Cash’s career, staying at number one on the charts for seven weeks in 1963. "Ring of Fire" ranked #4 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music in 2003 and #87 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.