Alan Jackson Confirms He’s Played His Last Road Show — A Quiet, Emotional Farewell Years After His CMT Diagnosis.LC

linh chi3 hours ago

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Country music star Alan Jackson said he performed his last concert on the road last weekend, a few years after he announced he was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological condition.

“Y’all may have heard that I’m kinda winding down. In fact, this is my last road show,” Jackson told a sold-out crowd at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on May 17. “Y’all are gonna make me tear up up here.”

Jackson’s touring career appears to be coming to an end, but the singer told fans in Milwaukee he wanted to perform at one last show in Nashville next year.

“We just felt like we had to end it all where it all started, and that’s in Nashville, Tennessee — Music City — where country music lives. I gotta do the last one there,” he said.

Jackson, 66, told TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager in 2021 that he had been living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease after being diagnosed with the illness 10 years before.

“I have this neuropathy and neurological disease,” Jackson said. “It’s genetic that I inherited from my daddy. … There’s no cure for it, but it’s been affecting me for years. And it’s getting more and more obvious. And I know I’m stumbling around onstage. And now I’m having a little trouble balancing, even in front of the microphone, and so I just feel very uncomfortable.”

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a group of inherited disorders that cause nerve damage, mostly in the legs and arms, according to Mayo Clinic. The disease results in smaller, weaker muscles, and some people can experience loss of sensation, muscle contractions and difficulty walking.

There is no cure for the disease, but symptoms can be managed with physical therapy, orthopedic devices, surgery and medication, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

“It’s not going to kill me. It’s not deadly,” Jackson said in 2021. “But it’s related (to) muscular dystrophy and Parkinson’s disease.”

Jackson had been on the road for the “Last Call: One More for the Road Tour” since it began in 2022, and the singer donated a portion of the ticket sales to the CMT Research Foundation.

According to Jackson’s website, more than $2.25 million was raised from the tour, including donations, matching contributions and more.

“It’s been a long, sweet ride. It started 40 years ago this September,” he told fans in Milwaukee. “I’ve really lived the American dream for sure — so blessed.”