Alan Jackson: 16 Biggest Hits

Album Review

Legacy continues its 16 Biggest Hits packages with this volume by Alan Jackson, an artist who has remained on the charts throughout the 1990s and well into the beginning of the 21st century. The other volumes in this series, by everyone from Roy Orbison to George Jones, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Alabama, are by artists whose tenures with the label are over, making this one an anomaly. Jackson has made it through the "neo-traditionalist" and "new country" movements unfazed and unscarred. He's ridden the charts consistently — in 2007 he scored a Top Ten album with Like Red on a Rose and a number one single with the title track — simply by doing what he does best: make great honky tonk records people can dance to or relate to lyrically. This set has all the big ones on it — as have other ones before, but there are 16 cuts here, from "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow" to his reading of the classic "Pop a Top," from "Midnight in Montgomery" and "Don't Rock the Jukebox" to "Who's Cheatin' Who" and "Summertime Blues." This is a solid package, top to bottom.