NASHVILLE, TN (Sony BMG Music Entertainment) – Superstar Alan Jackson adds a pair of 2005 Country Music Association award nominations to his credit this week, bringing his career CMA nominations to an amazing total of 72, which to date have earned the three-time Entertainer of the Year a total of 16 CMA trophies. Nominated for Male Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year, Jackson is in the midst of his highly successful What I Do Tour, as his latest single, 'USA Today,' continues as one of the most added new singles at country radio for the past three weeks.
From his Platinum-certified collection, What I Do, 'USA Today' has brought wide praise, with the Los Angeles Times raving, 'His 'USA Today,' an up-tempo 'story of heartbreak and pain [and] a picture of the loneliest man they claim in the USA today,' has the makings of an instant jukebox classic.' In a four-star review, the New York Post celebrated, 'For the best songs on the disc, look for the ones written by Jackson himself, including … 'USA Today,'' while People magazine toasted the track as 'the best periodical tribute since Kinky Friedman's 'The People Who Read People Magazine.'' Pegged by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as 'a playful turn about being famously unlucky in romance, reminiscent of Buck Owens' old 'Act Naturally,'' the song brings a bit of Jackson humor to love gone wrong, as he stated, 'I thought that was kind of a different way of looking at it, for a change.' With the tune's tale of a man whose heartbreak made headlines, Jackson surmised, 'If he's 'bigger than the latest crime,' that's pretty bad.'
In a feature that ran in, well, USA Today, on the day of the album release, Jackson admitted he didn't plan to write a song about the paper, as he said, 'It was about a guy who was the loneliest guy in the whole country. The story kind of grew into that paper thing after I said 'USA today.''
In the midst of his 2005 What I Do Tour, the Georgia native has turned his attention toward relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with proceeds from his September 8 concert in Columbus, OH benefiting the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. The Red Cross will find further support as Jackson performs on Country Reaches Out: An Opry Benefit for the American Red Cross, to be held September 27 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. The commercial-free event will air live beginning at 9 PM ET on GAC – Great American Country and its sister networks DIY and FINE LIVING.
Jackson's Philadelphia-area concert on September 10 will serve as a further fundraiser for relief efforts, as management at show venue the Tweeter Center, along with Jackson and Beasley Broadcast Group's 92.5 WXTU-FM Philadelphia, join together to donate $1 each for every ticket sold at the 25,000-seat venue.
Also on September 10, Jackson will join the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Usher, the Dave Matthews Band, 3 Doors Down, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, and an array of remarkable artists pooling their talents for the Katrina-inspired ReAct Now: Music & Relief. A four-hour concert event, the broadcast will air simultaneously and commercial-free beginning at 8 PM ET/PT on CMT, MTV, VH1, and across all of the MTV Networks.
