Country icon Alan Jackson details grueling 15-year health battle ahead of final concert
Country icon Alan Jackson is gearing up for his retirement concert, “Last Call: One More for the Road – The Finale.”
Read more Inside country icon Alan Jackson’s triumphant finale concert
The finale concert, which will be held Saturday night at Nissan Stadium, will take Jackson, 67, back to his Nashville roots as the city that launched his career.
Joining him onstage will be a star-studded lineup including Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson, Little Big Town, Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen, Jon Pardi, and Lee Ann Womack, per NBC.
The show will also be filmed for an NBC primetime special titled, “Alan Jackson: The Last Show,” and will hit Peacock for streaming the following day.
Jackson and NBC announced his official retirement performance earlier this month — years after the country crooner revealed he had been diagnosed with Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease in 2021.
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is defined as a “group of inherited conditions that cause nerve damage,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
The disease is known to cause “smaller, weaker muscles. It also may cause trouble walking, and loss of feeling in the legs and feet.”
Jackson was originally diagnosed in 2011, but kept his diagnosis hidden for a decade before he publicly told his story.
Read more New York native killed, 4 seriously injured after two boats collide on Lake Michigan
“It’s been affecting me for years,” he said in his 2021 appearance on the “Today Show.” “And it’s getting more and more obvious. I know I’m not going to be able to tour like I have.”
He went on to share that he inherited the neurological disease from his father, who died in 2000 of a ruptured aorta.
“I know I’m stumbling around on stage. And now I’m having a little trouble balancing, even in front of the microphone,” he shared.
While he continued performing for years despite the difficulty, the country star admitted at the time that his balance issues were causing him problems onstage.
“I don’t feel comfortable,” he said of performing while managing his condition. “It’s going to disable me eventually.”
Jackson, a Georgia native, has earned 35 Number 1 hits and 50 Top 10 singles throughout his prolific career. He sold more than 75 million records worldwide.
Read more Aaron Lewis speaks out after record label uses his album as packing paper for Taylor Swift merch
A two-time Grammy award winner, Jackson also holds 16 CMA Awards, 17 ACM Awards.
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017.
