Where Were You? Ten Years Ago

“Where were you when the world stopped turning…on that September day?”  If you ask the man who wrote those words, Alan Jackson, his story sounds very much like his song.  “I think I was probably like most people. You know, everybody was glued to the news and television and I think it really affected a lot of people – their perspective on their lives and their jobs and their families and where they were and what they were wanting to do and how they looked at things. And I guess…I mean, that’s what I was thinking, too. And I just pretty much visualized a lot of those scenes and stories I’d heard and seen on television or heard people talk about. The song came out of nowhere in the middle of the night – the chorus did. Just a gift. And I got up and scribbled it down and put the melody down so I wouldn’t forget it, and then the next day I started piecing all those verses together that were the thoughts I’d had or visuals I’d had, and…that was about it. I think it was just really…I had so many people tell me that there’s always a line or something in there that they did, whether it was go to church or pick up their Bible or go see their mother or watch a sunset – I mean, just a lot of things in there people told me that they had actually done those things, so…I guess I was like everybody else, just feeling those same feelings.”

Here at Country Countdown USA, we were getting ready to do the show.  We had a new artist coming in to co-host for the very first time.  He had just had his very first #1 with a song called “Austin,” and was excited to debut his brand new single.  That artist was Blake Shelton.  We saw him this past week, and got his memories of that day ten years ago: “I was at my apartment outside of Nashville.  I woke up, turned on the news, and I saw it on TV.  I saw the second plane hit the building, and the news anchor say, ‘That wasn’t a replay.’  It gives me chills talking about it now.  It was one of the most important moments in my life, all of our lives, and you don’t forget those.”

  

Darius Rucker: “[On] 9-11, I was playing golf with a friend early in the morning. Had an apartment in New York, and I lived in New York kind of at the time. If you looked out my bedroom window, we saw the World Trade Center. I was on my way back home. I was playing a 7 o’clock round of golf, and then I was catching a noon flight, and when I was finishing up, we stopped in to get a drink and I looked and we saw the second tower come down. It was a vicious day.”

Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley: “It was my birthday believe it or not. Yeah. 9/11. So, I was in college, and yeah, it was wild. I mean, woke up, was getting ready to go to class. And I had a roommate come in and say, ‘Man, turn on the TV. Classes are canceled. You won’t believe…’ He had had an earlier class, and he comes in and says, ‘Turn on the TV.’ And we all got up and watched it. It was just wild. So, it’s hard to put into words. But it is funny, that it’s still and I can remember it and everybody can. It had such a huge Effect on everybody.”

Jake Owen: “I’ll never forget, man, I was in school — I was taking a critical reasoning and thinking class, right off of the Landis Green in Tallahassee at Florida State University. And I remember sittin’ down that morning in class, and on the big projector, he had the news on, and he was like, ’Ah, some idiot,’ our teacher said, ‘Some idiot just flew his plane into the World Trade Center.’ And everyone’s like, ‘What?’ We couldn’t believe that. And then, it was right then, man, where all of a sudden, they started saying it was a terrorist act, and the next thing you know, they said, ‘There’s another one coming! There’s another one coming!’ And it was just…man, to sit there and watch that was one of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen with my own eyes.”

Jason Aldean: “I was like everybody else, man. I was stunned and shocked and scared and didn’t know what was goin’ on. I called my dad ‘cause he’s ex-military, he’s retired from the Air Force and I’m like, ‘Dude, do you see what’s going on?’ And I was like, ‘What should I do? I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I should stay here or if I should come home.’ And he goes, ‘Man, if I was you, I’d pack up and get outta there now.’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ He goes, ‘Well, they’ve hit the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon, I’m sure Music Row is next on their list.’ And I just kind of…It kind of put it in perspective for me how stupid I was being and I was like, ‘OK.’ But, it was scary man.”

 

Ironically, Garth Brooks was actually in New York City on the morning of September 11th.  He was scheduled to receive the Golden Note award that night from the American Society of Composers and Performers (ASCAP).  The dinner was to be held in Washington DC.  Of course, with all airspace shut down, and all planes canceled, Garth was stranded in New York, and the Capitol had been evacuated and Washington was under a state of alert.  The dinner that night was canceled.

Tags: alan, Blake

Category: NEWS