Reba McEntire Honors Alan Jackson With Lifetime Achievement Award – And His Speech Left Everyone Silent
The room was lit with gold, but all eyes were on one man—Alan Jackson.
As Reba McEntire stepped forward, her voice warm and steady, the moment turned electric. “Alan, you know we love you.” Simple words, but weighted with decades of admiration. Then she handed him the ACM Lifetime Achievement Award. What came next wasn’t a rehearsed speech. It was a slow exhale from the heart of a man who’d once walked into Nashville with nothing more than a crumpled sack of songs and a prayer in his pocket.
“I came here with a paper sack full of songs and a crazy dream,” Alan began, his voice cracking between humility and disbelief. “And now… this.”
He could’ve stopped there. But he didn’t.
Jackson then got emotional, thanking God and his family.
That’s not the only reason for ramping the career down, though. The singer has been dealing with a rare genetic condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. It is a chronic neuropathy condition that affects a person’s balance and ability to walk, and it apparently runs in his family. He cited that, too, while explaining why he was retiring this year.