Initial pressings of GREATEST HITS VOLUME 2 included a bonus CD.
Personnel: Alan Jackson (vocals, guitar); Jimmy Buffett (vocals); Bruce Watkins, Greenwood Hart (acoustic guitar); Brent Mason (electric guitar); Paul Franklin, Lloyd Green (steel guitar); Stuart Duncan (mandolin, fiddle); Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano); Glenn Worf (electric bass); Eddie Bayers (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); John Wesley Ryles (background vocals).
Recorded at Emerald Entertainment's Tracking Room, The Sound Station, East Iris, Nashville, Tennessee; Shrimpboat Sound, Key West, Florida; McClear Digital, Toronto, Canada.
"It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Country Song. The song was also nominated for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals.
Anyone who earns a second volume of GREATEST HITS has obviously learned a thing or two about staying power and consistency of artistic vision. Such is the case with Alan Jackson, who appeared in the 1990s as mainstream country's alternative to the dominance of King Garth. His sound was still eminently accessible, but the faux-Springsteen drama of Kiss fan Garth's rock manque was eschewed for a more roots-oriented (though hardly traditionalist) sound. Things kick off nicely with the Cajun-flavored smash "Little Bitty," then giving way to the introspective, fiddle-laced country ballad "Everything I Love." Along the way, there's the pleasantly chugging, upbeat "It Must Be Love," the much-publicized post-9/11 song "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," thankfully absent of Toby Keith's contemporaneous jingoistic rancor, and the Jimmy Buffett-assisted party anthem "It's Five O' Clock Somewhere." Add a couple of unreleased tracks and a bonus disc of more obscure material, and you've got as good an introduction to Jackson's work as his first GREATEST HITS COLLECTION.
