When Somebody Loves You (2012)

On his ninth album When Somebody Loves You, the last of the pure honky-tonkers, Alan Jackson, serves up a likable and relaxing set, as before, asserting his independence as a country artist and taking a defiant stand with steel guitar and scampering fiddles. But his repeated references to corn bread, chicken, and the simple pleasures of small-town life are beginning to sound too familiar, making this just another good record, not a great one. B