Despite battling Charcot-Marie-Tooth illness, country music veteran Alan Jackson announces his farewell tour.
Legendary country music legend Alan Jackson has announced his “Last Call: One More for the Road,” final tour, promising fans a moving performance despite his ongoing neurological illness.
A Billboard story from 2021 stated that Grammy-winning musician Jackson had been living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth illness (CMT) for more than ten years. “It’s been bothering me for years, and there’s no treatment. And it’s becoming increasingly evident,” Jackson said to Today in a 2021 interview.
The Mayo Clinic reports that the condition damages nerves mostly in the legs, feet, hands, and arms. Muscular weakness, especially in the feet and ankles, and some individuals may also have some loss of sensation symptoms. Because CMT progresses slowly, most patients can still walk in the latter stages of the disease with the use of braces or canes.
“Fans know when they come to my shows, they’re going to hear the songs that made me who I am – the ones they love,” Jackson said, keen to give the fans a memorable farewell.
Jackson will give the CMT Research Foundation, a non-profit committed to finding therapies and a cure for CMT, $1 from each ticket sold. Summertime will be the start of the tour, which will stop in several American cities.