In 1976, a young Alan Jackson sat in a friend’s living room in Newnan, Georgia, and watched a high school cheerleader rehearse her dance routine. The song she was dancing to was “Still the One” by Orleans. Fifty years later, Alan Jackson walked into a recording studio and sang that same song for her.
The cheerleader was Denise, and she has been his wife for more than 46 years.
The Day He First Saw Denise
Alan Jackson has told the story himself. Denise was a cheerleader at Newnan High School, and one day he ended up at a mutual friend’s house while she was practicing her dance routine for the cheerleading squad. The routine was set to “Still the One,” a Top 5 pop hit that Orleans had released that summer.
“I sat there and watched her, and three years later I ended up marrying that girl and she’s my wife today.”
They married on December 15, 1979. Alan Jackson later called the song “one of our fond memories of our starting-out days.”
A Birthday Gift 50 Years in the Making
In the spring of 2026, with Denise’s birthday coming up and 50 years gone by since that day in Newnan, Alan Jackson decided to give her something only he could. He went into the studio and recorded “Still the One” again, his own way.
“I went in the studio and re-recorded that pop song with a little country seasoning on it.”
He gave the recording to Denise as a gift. He also left a few personal touches inside it. Right at the start, before the first verse, he says, “This is for Nicey – 1976!” Later in the track he slips in a few more affectionate words for her.
When he shared the song with fans, he summed it up in one line on Instagram: “Nearly 50 years later, she’s still the one.”
Released Two Days Before His Final Concert
The timing made the song even more meaningful. MCA released Alan Jackson’s “Still the One” on June 25, 2026. Two days later, on June 27, he played Last Call With Alan – The Finale at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, billed as his last concert.
Alan Jackson had been slowing down for years. In 2021 he shared that he lives with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a nerve condition that affects balance and coordination and made performing harder. So as he stepped away from the road, one of the last things he released was not a new hit for radio. It was a love song for the girl he first saw dancing in 1976.
The Woman Behind So Many of His Songs
Denise Jackson’s place in her husband’s music goes far beyond one cover song. After the couple moved to Nashville, she worked as a flight attendant. On one flight she met Glen Campbell and asked him for advice. He gave her his manager’s business card, which helped open the first door for Alan Jackson’s songwriting career.
Over the years, she inspired some of his best-loved songs, including “I’d Love You All Over Again,” which he wrote for their 10th wedding anniversary, and “Remember When.”
Still the One
Plenty of country songs promise forever. Alan Jackson spent 50 years living one, and then he went back to where it started: a living room in Georgia, a cheerleader practicing her steps, and a pop song on the radio.
Is there a song that takes you back to the day you met someone special? We would love to hear it.