Album of the Month (July 2015): Alan Jackson, ‘Angels and Alcohol’

Alan Jackson says he's surprised that country fans still want to hear from him -- but clearly, he should stop being so humble. The Boot's readers voted his upcoming Angels and Alcohol record as The Boot's July 2015 Album of the Month, and by a landslide.

The country legend spent the latter half of 2014 and the the first half of 2015 celebrating his 25th anniversary in country music with a Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit and his Keepin’ It Country Tour, but the rest of this year will be all about new music. In early April, Jackson announced that Angels and Alcohol -- his first album of completely new material since 2012 (though he did put out a disc of bluegrass standards, which also included a few new tunes, in 2013) — would be released on July 17.

His 15th studio album, Jackson's new project was produced by Keith Stegall — the producer behind all of Jackson’s albums except Like Red on a Rose — and includes 10 new tracks, seven of which were written by Jackson. Well-known Nashville songwriters, including Michael White (who wrote Blake Shelton‘s “The Baby”) and Troy Jones (who is the mastermind behind two of Billy Currington‘s biggest hits, “Pretty Good at Drinking Beer” and “People Are Crazy”), contributed the other three.

“I’ve been [writing by myself] for a few years now,” Jackson says. “When I got started on Music Row, I would write with different writers. Then, once my career took off, I was gone all the time — playing a couple hundred shows a year. You weren’t home long enough to wash your clothes. I ended up writing a lot by myself, and it just kind of stayed that way.”

In mid-June, Jackson shared "Jim and Jack and Hank," Angels and Alcohol's sixth track. It's an uptempo tune with lyrics that tell of a guy who's not particularly broken up over a breakup -- after all, he's got his good buddies by his side.

“Take your string bikinis, your apple martinis / Take what’s left there in the bank / Take your flat iron and your curlers, your sparkling water / And that damn perfume I never liked,” Jackson sings. “Take your black Mercedes, that stuff for ladies / To me, you’re just a total blank / Go on and leave me, baby / I don’t need you / I got Jim and Jack and Hank.”

Jackson was also playing the record's title track live in concert. He calls it "not a happy Friday night song.”

Angels and Alcohol is available for pre-order via MyPlayDirect. Jackson defeated Jason Isbell, Ashley Monroe and Lynyrd Skynyrd, earning nearly 72 percent of votes in the Album of the Month poll.

Alan Jackson, Angels and Alcohol Track Listing:

1. “You Can Always Come Home”
2. “You Never Know”
3. “Angels and Alcohol”
4. “Gone Before You Met Me”
5. “The One You’re Waiting On”
6. “Jim and Jack and Hank”
7. “I Leave a Light On”
8. “Flaws”
9. “When God Paints”
10. “Mexico, Tequila and Me”