A John Wayne Movie Inspired One of Alan Jackson’s Early Hits

In 1990, Alan Jackson had his second Top 5 single, with “Wanted”. Written by Jackson and Charlie Craig, “Wanted” appears on Jackson’s debut Here In The Real World album. 

A song about wanting another chance with a woman he loved and lost, “Wanted” says, “Wanted / One good-hearted woman / To forgive imperfections / In the man that she loves / Wanted / Just one chance to tell her / How much he still loves her / He can’t be sorry enough.”

Jackson wrote “Wanted” early in his career, long before he realized he would become a country music superstar.

“I was playing this bar in Pine Bluff, Arkansas,” Jackson tells The Boot. “Back then, we’d play the whole week. We’d play every night, five or six nights, from about seven or eight at night until about two in the morning. It was our first night there, and I was wore out. I had driven the van. I was kind of peculiar about my van; I wouldn’t let any of my boys drive it. So after I drove the van, set up, did the soundcheck, I went back to the hotel, took a shower, and we did the set. By the time we got through, I had been awake for 43 hours or something like that. But I was young, and I liked Mountain Dew a lot.”

How a John Wayne Movie Inspired Alan Jackson to Write “Wanted”

Jackson might have been tired, but he wasn’t too tired to be inspired to write a song. 

“I woke up the next day, and it was pouring down rain,” Jackson remembers. “I was in this motel in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. With nothing to do, I thought I’d try to write a song. I was sitting there with my guitar, kind of strumming around. I had the TV on, and this old John Wayne Western was playing. The dude walked into this bar, saw this poster was over his head, and I started singing this chorus, ‘Wanted’.”

“Wanted” follows “Here In The Real World”, which became the first single Jackson released to hit the Top 5. His first single, “Blue Blooded Woman”, failed to chart. But once Jackson found success, he spent the next two decades with hit after hit at country radio. In 1991, Jackson had his first No. 1 hit with “I’d Love You All Over Again”.

In 1991, Jackson became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. In 2017, Jackson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Photo by David Corio/Redferns

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