Alan Jackson to Help Honor 9/11 Victims and Heroes

The Washington National Cathedral has announced plans for "A Call to Compassion," and officials have called on Alan Jackson to help.

During a three-day commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the horrific September 11 terrorist attacks, the historic church in Washington, D.C. will host a special concert to honor the victims, their families and those who became heroes on that fateful 2001 day. On Sunday, September 11, Alan will perform alongside R&B legend Patti LaBelle and famed opera singer Denyce Graves at the Cathedral's "Concert for Hope," which will also address the continued need for healing, a decade after the worst terrorist attack in American history.

It was the events of 9/11 that inspired Alan's poignant tune, 'Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).' He wrote the song in the few days after the attacks and performed it live for the very first time just a few weeks later at the November 2001 CMA Awards. The song earned Alan CMA, ACM and Grammy wins the following year.

"People were rethinking their lives and what was important to them," Alan recalls of his lyrical inspiration. "That song shared a lot of those emotions and feelings. But I was nervous about putting it out. I thought we'd just perform it for a while and then it would go away. I didn't feel like people would want to keep thinking about that. But even today, I still see people (in my concert audiences) waiting on that song, and they'll still be on their feet several minutes after finishing the song. It's about what's important ... so it's gone beyond the tragedy a little bit.

"If anything good came out of 9/11, to me, was that people were so cynical about the world -- all you hear about on the news is all the bad stuff everyday," the singer/songwriter continues, "but what was refreshing to me was after that, you saw how many good people there are out there. For every one bad one, there's a thousand good ones."

Alan will most likely perform 'Where Were You' at the National Cathedral, which was used ten years ago as a gathering place for mourners in the wake of 9/11. The concert, along with many events associated with the "Call to Compassion," will be broadcast live on the Pentagon Channel, so that service men and women stationed around the world can tune in. The "Concert for Hope" will also air on many ABC affiliates on September 11, starting at 8:00 PM ET. (Check local listings.)