The Greatest Oldies Music

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Alan Jackson spent ten years living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease before explaining publicly why he was having trouble keeping his balance onstage. By the end of his touring career, he was using his farewell to help fund research into the condition. Diagnosed in 2011, Jackson had inherited the degenerative nerve disorder from his father, Eugene. His grandmother and older sister were also affected. As it weakened his lower legs and feet, moving around during concerts became more difficult. He disclosed the diagnosis on *Today* in September 2021, concerned that audiences might mistake his unsteadiness for drinking. He continued performing, launching *Last Call: One More for the Road* in 2022. The arena tour concluded in Milwaukee in May 2025. Along the way, he adapted: singing from a tall stool or using the microphone stand for support. Even as his fingers became less nimble, he kept signing cowboy hats and tossing them to fans near the stage. On June 27, 2026, more than 50,000 people gathered at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium for his final full-length concert. Jackson was 67. Luke Combs, Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Jon Pardi and Lee Ann Womack joined the celebration. The evening also supported the CMT Research Foundation. One dollar from each ticket went toward its work, with anonymous donors contributing another two dollars per seat. After decades of touring and 35 No. 1 country hits, Jackson stepped away from full-length concerts to spend more time in Tennessee with Denise, their three daughters and their grandchildren. His last stadium audience had helped support research into the disease that made leaving the road necessary. More below follows the final *Last Call* tour and the Nissan Stadium celebration, alongside one of Jackson’s classic performances.

ALAN JACKSON SPENT TEN YEARS HIDING A NERVE DISEASE THAT TOOK HIS BALANCE — THEN CLOSED HIS TOURING CAREER BEFORE MORE THAN 50,000 FANS IN NASHVILLE.

On June 27, 2026, 67-year-old Alan Jackson walked onto the stage at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium for the final concert of his touring career. Billed as *Last Call: One More for the Road — The Finale*, the sold-out evening brought more than 50,000 fans together to celebrate over three decades of traditional country music.

Rather than treating the stadium date simply as a retirement party, Jackson turned the night into a major benefit for the CMT Research Foundation. One dollar from every ticket sold went directly toward researching Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, with anonymous donors matching an additional two dollars for every seat in the venue.

By the time he reached that Nashville stage, Jackson had been living with the degenerative nerve disorder for fifteen years. First diagnosed in 2011, he inherited the genetic condition from his father, Eugene Jackson, and watched it affect his grandmother and older sister as well.

For a full decade, he kept the diagnosis entirely out of the public eye while continuing to record and tour. He finally spoke about it during a September 2021 appearance on the *Today* show, explaining that the nerve damage in his lower legs was making him stumble and he did not want fans thinking he was drunk on stage.

Behind the scenes, keeping his touring promise between 2022 and 2026 required a decade of quiet adjustments as the illness progressed. Jackson openly admitted that he sometimes forgot how to play certain parts of his older songs on guitar, and he gradually gave up his habit of roaming from one end of the stage to the other.

During those final runs of arena dates, he relied on a tall stool at center stage or stood in one place with a hand resting firmly on the microphone stand to maintain his balance. Even as the condition slowly reduced the dexterity in his hands and fingers, he refused to give up his longtime closing ritual, still taking a marker at the end of each night to sign cowboy hats and toss them to fans near the front row.

Before Jackson took the microphone in Nashville—and following a brief stadium evacuation when summer weather delayed the schedule until after nine o’clock—a lineup of younger artists stepped up to honor his catalog with seventeen tribute performances. Luke Combs sang “Hard Hat and a Hammer,” Carrie Underwood delivered his 1997 hit “Everything I Love,” and Miranda Lambert performed “Dallas”.

The opening segment also featured Eric Church singing “Someday,” Cody Johnson covering “Job Description,” Jon Pardi taking on “She’s Got the Rhythm,” and Lee Ann Womack performing “Between the Devil and Me,” before the guest roster joined together on “Pop a Top”.

When Jackson finally stepped out under his white cowboy hat for his own twenty-five-song set, he opened with “Gone Country” and made it clear he did not want a somber atmosphere. Looking out at the stadium crowd, he joked that they did not need to dwell on sad farewell talk because he was still very much alive.

Halfway through the set, Jackson welcomed his longtime friend George Strait to the stage to sing “Designated Drinker” for the first time since 2017, followed immediately by their classic duet “Murder on Music Row”.

The most personal stretch of the evening arrived when Jackson paused to recognize his family seated inside the stadium. Speaking about his wife, Denise, and their nearly five decades together, he noted that they were happier than ever and getting ready to welcome their fifth grandchild before singing “Remember When” for the final time on tour.

After closing his main set with “Chattahoochee” and returning for an encore of “Mercury Blues” and “Where I Come From,” Jackson stepped away from the road to spend his days in Tennessee with Denise and their growing family. The nerve condition had taken away his ability to walk the stage the way he did in the nineties, yet he still stood at the microphone long enough to finish the journey on his own terms.

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Jerry Reed filled “Amos Moses” with things listeners weren’t supposed to believe. The one-armed poacher, the father who used his son as alligator bait, the sheriff who vanished in the swamp—all belonged to a tall tale. The law pursuing Amos, however, had a real reason to be there. When the record arrived in October 1970, alligator hunting was illegal in Louisiana. Reed had set his story roughly 45 minutes southeast of Thibodaux. Louisiana had closed its alligator season in 1962 after a steep population decline, and the ban remained in place. A limited legal hunt would not return until September 1972, when 59 hunters were permitted to participate in a single parish. The storyteller himself came from Georgia. Born in Atlanta in 1937, Reed spent seven childhood years in foster homes and orphanages and taught himself to thumb-pick guitar on a porch in a cotton mill village. By 1970, he was an established Nashville session musician, and Elvis Presley had recorded his songs. “Amos Moses” gave Reed a character as distinctive as his guitar playing. Country radio took the single to No. 16, while its bigger audience came through pop: it reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1971 and sold a million copies. No documented real-life Amos has emerged behind the story. Reed nevertheless kept the fictional poacher close. In 2005, when asked to choose three songs he could sing for the rest of his life, he named “Amos Moses” first.

Waylon Jennings arrived at the Ryman Auditorium in a wheelchair on July 3, 2001, to say goodbye to Chet Atkins. Diabetes had made walking difficult, but he had returned from Arizona to honor the producer who signed him—and with whom he had so often argued. Atkins brought Waylon to RCA in 1965 and produced his early hits. Their disagreements grew from the records themselves. Chet favored Nashville’s established session musicians; Waylon wanted to record with his own band and follow the sound he heard onstage. In 1972, Waylon secured creative control. The following year, he made *Honky Tonk Heroes* without Atkins. Nearly three decades later, those battles remained part of the friendship he remembered outside Chet’s funeral. Listed among the honorary pallbearers, Waylon called him a genius. He recalled arguments that left them furious with each other, followed by sessions that produced records he was proud of. He also told a local television reporter about an earlier moment, when he was new in Nashville. Faced with someone in the studio who doubted him, Chet had announced that he had found himself a star. Waylon and Jessi Colter had already sold their Nashville home and moved to Arizona. His health was deteriorating, and five months after the funeral, doctors amputated his left foot. He died at home on February 13, 2002, a little over seven months after Chet’s service. On that final visit to the Ryman, he had remembered both the man who challenged his musical choices and the man who believed in him before the hits arrived.

Before Toby Keith built OK Kids Korral, a grieving mother told him what it meant to arrive at a hospital with nothing—and find that someone had thought of what she would need. Her two-year-old daughter, the child of one of Toby’s bandmates, had been diagnosed with a tumor. Toby helped connect the family with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Doctors could not save her, but her mother never forgot the support she received: a room, meals at any hour, and gift cards for necessities, all without a bill. Toby wanted families in Oklahoma to have that kind of help. His foundation began supporting children with cancer in 2006. On January 7, 2014, it opened OK Kids Korral near the children’s hospital in Oklahoma City, offering free accommodation to families whose children were undergoing treatment. He described the place as “Ritz Carlton meets Disney World.” His golf classic raised more than $15 million to support it, and the Korral grew to welcome about 300 families each year. When Toby received his own stomach cancer diagnosis in 2021, he later said one of his early concerns was who would look after the Korral. He died in February 2024, at 62, having called it the best gift he ever gave the world. The idea had stayed with him because of one family’s experience. Years later, other parents could bring their children to Oklahoma City for treatment knowing that a place to stay—and help through the days ahead—was waiting for them.

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Country

Alan Jackson spent ten years living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease before explaining publicly why he was having trouble keeping his balance onstage. By the end of his touring career, he was using his farewell to help fund research into the condition. Diagnosed in 2011, Jackson had inherited the degenerative nerve disorder from his father, Eugene. His grandmother and older sister were also affected. As it weakened his lower legs and feet, moving around during concerts became more difficult. He disclosed the diagnosis on *Today* in September 2021, concerned that audiences might mistake his unsteadiness for drinking. He continued performing, launching *Last Call: One More for the Road* in 2022. The arena tour concluded in Milwaukee in May 2025. Along the way, he adapted: singing from a tall stool or using the microphone stand for support. Even as his fingers became less nimble, he kept signing cowboy hats and tossing them to fans near the stage. On June 27, 2026, more than 50,000 people gathered at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium for his final full-length concert. Jackson was 67. Luke Combs, Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Jon Pardi and Lee Ann Womack joined the celebration. The evening also supported the CMT Research Foundation. One dollar from each ticket went toward its work, with anonymous donors contributing another two dollars per seat. After decades of touring and 35 No. 1 country hits, Jackson stepped away from full-length concerts to spend more time in Tennessee with Denise, their three daughters and their grandchildren. His last stadium audience had helped support research into the disease that made leaving the road necessary. More below follows the final *Last Call* tour and the Nissan Stadium celebration, alongside one of Jackson’s classic performances.

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Jerry Reed filled “Amos Moses” with things listeners weren’t supposed to believe. The one-armed poacher, the father who used his son as alligator bait, the sheriff who vanished in the swamp—all belonged to a tall tale. The law pursuing Amos, however, had a real reason to be there. When the record arrived in October 1970, alligator hunting was illegal in Louisiana. Reed had set his story roughly 45 minutes southeast of Thibodaux. Louisiana had closed its alligator season in 1962 after a steep population decline, and the ban remained in place. A limited legal hunt would not return until September 1972, when 59 hunters were permitted to participate in a single parish. The storyteller himself came from Georgia. Born in Atlanta in 1937, Reed spent seven childhood years in foster homes and orphanages and taught himself to thumb-pick guitar on a porch in a cotton mill village. By 1970, he was an established Nashville session musician, and Elvis Presley had recorded his songs. “Amos Moses” gave Reed a character as distinctive as his guitar playing. Country radio took the single to No. 16, while its bigger audience came through pop: it reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1971 and sold a million copies. No documented real-life Amos has emerged behind the story. Reed nevertheless kept the fictional poacher close. In 2005, when asked to choose three songs he could sing for the rest of his life, he named “Amos Moses” first.

Country

Waylon Jennings arrived at the Ryman Auditorium in a wheelchair on July 3, 2001, to say goodbye to Chet Atkins. Diabetes had made walking difficult, but he had returned from Arizona to honor the producer who signed him—and with whom he had so often argued. Atkins brought Waylon to RCA in 1965 and produced his early hits. Their disagreements grew from the records themselves. Chet favored Nashville’s established session musicians; Waylon wanted to record with his own band and follow the sound he heard onstage. In 1972, Waylon secured creative control. The following year, he made *Honky Tonk Heroes* without Atkins. Nearly three decades later, those battles remained part of the friendship he remembered outside Chet’s funeral. Listed among the honorary pallbearers, Waylon called him a genius. He recalled arguments that left them furious with each other, followed by sessions that produced records he was proud of. He also told a local television reporter about an earlier moment, when he was new in Nashville. Faced with someone in the studio who doubted him, Chet had announced that he had found himself a star. Waylon and Jessi Colter had already sold their Nashville home and moved to Arizona. His health was deteriorating, and five months after the funeral, doctors amputated his left foot. He died at home on February 13, 2002, a little over seven months after Chet’s service. On that final visit to the Ryman, he had remembered both the man who challenged his musical choices and the man who believed in him before the hits arrived.

Country

Before Toby Keith built OK Kids Korral, a grieving mother told him what it meant to arrive at a hospital with nothing—and find that someone had thought of what she would need. Her two-year-old daughter, the child of one of Toby’s bandmates, had been diagnosed with a tumor. Toby helped connect the family with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Doctors could not save her, but her mother never forgot the support she received: a room, meals at any hour, and gift cards for necessities, all without a bill. Toby wanted families in Oklahoma to have that kind of help. His foundation began supporting children with cancer in 2006. On January 7, 2014, it opened OK Kids Korral near the children’s hospital in Oklahoma City, offering free accommodation to families whose children were undergoing treatment. He described the place as “Ritz Carlton meets Disney World.” His golf classic raised more than $15 million to support it, and the Korral grew to welcome about 300 families each year. When Toby received his own stomach cancer diagnosis in 2021, he later said one of his early concerns was who would look after the Korral. He died in February 2024, at 62, having called it the best gift he ever gave the world. The idea had stayed with him because of one family’s experience. Years later, other parents could bring their children to Oklahoma City for treatment knowing that a place to stay—and help through the days ahead—was waiting for them.