Alan Jackson went to the 56th Country Music Awards (CMA) on November 9, 2022, where he received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. The star said that he had lived the American dream as he accepted the award.
The event was hosted by Peyton Manning and Luke Bryan. Alan’s big win was also celebrated by a performance by Jon Pardi, Dierks Bentley, Carrie Underwood, and Lainey Wilson.
The artist, who was 64 at the time, talked about the award and what it meant to him. He said, “I’m still living that honky-tonk dream.” The Grammy winner also gave an emotional speech in which he talked about how a movie about Hank Williams made him want to move to Nashville, Tennessee.
Alan only had “three chords and a prayer” at the time, but his mother always told him he was lucky. The country musician talked about how he had a great team and great songwriters throughout his career.
He talked about how lucky he was to have had all the help he needed to get this far. The singer said he couldn’t thank everyone who had been in his life, but he thanked his wife, Denise Jackson, especially, telling how they met when they were teenagers. He then said,
“I’m probably not always the easiest person to love, but she’s been there for me and helped me through hard times. And we’ve had a lot of fun together.”
Alan talked about the bad, good, happy, and sad times they’d been through and said, “We’ve survived a lot.” He turned to his wife, who was standing in the crowd, and told her he wanted to thank her because she’d been his best friend and helped him through the years.
He also said that Denise had helped him build a “wonderful family.” Charley Pride, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and a lot more artists have also won this prestigious award.
Alan’s rare tears when he talked about his long-term wife didn’t come as a surprise. The couple had been together for 10 years and had been through a lot together. His wife’s faith was a big part of that.
Alan Jackson and his wife have been happy for 43 years.
Denise told Today in 2007 about her relationship with Alan, which had been going on since 1979. She showed that life wasn’t a fairy tale even when a person had a perfect partner. The singer’s wife told people that their partners shouldn’t be their “all-in-all.”
Denise also made it clear that the “Him” in the book’s title was God, not her husband. The star’s wife told a story about a time when she was driving home and started crying to God that she couldn’t take it any longer.
She told God that she couldn’t believe that He wanted her family to break up, and she gave Him the problem. Denise thought that God would take care of her. Things didn’t change right away, but she felt a “sense of peace.”
Alan’s wife realized how controlling she had become and how she had come to take that stance. Denise talked about her husband and said that he had a strong personality and that she felt less safe as his career grew.
The star’s wife began to merge with her husband’s world, 10/4/0rld, and her dreams turned into his. She told Alan that everything was about him and his plans, but she didn’t pay attention to herself.
Alan Jackson said that his father gave him neuropathy and a disease of the nerves.
The couple went their separate ways for three months, and Alan’s career kept going up when they got back together. He became a popular musician, and his song “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” about September 11 won him awards.
Alan wrote the book’s introduction and pointed out how much of it was private. The star sang “It’s All About Him,” a song he wrote for his wife’s book, on Today. He then said with pride:
“I think she wanted to show people that you can get through a lot.”
The couple had some problems in their marriage that kept them apart for a while. They also had some health issues. Denise was always there for her husband when he had a health scare.
What happened with Alan Jackson’s health?
Alan told the Today show in September 2021 that he had been fighting Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease for ten years. His ability to walk and perform on stage had been getting worse as his nerve disease got worse.
He said that he had been hesitant to come out in public, but that he had been feeling more and more uncomfortable while performing on stage. So he wanted his fans to know what was going on when they came to see him.
Alan told his fans that he didn’t want them to think he was drunk because he had trouble walking and keeping his balance. He said that he got the nerve disease and neuropathy from his father.