Alan Jackson Gives His 9/11 Anthem One Final, Emotional Turn

Alan Jackson is revisiting one of the most important songs of his career-and this time, the performance comes from the country legend's final full-length concert.

Jackson has released a newly recorded live version of "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The performance was captured on June 27 during his sold-out farewell concert, Last Call: One More for the Road-The Finale, at Nashville's Nissan Stadium.

The release gives the deeply personal anthem an especially poignant new setting. Jackson wrote the song after awakening before dawn in October 2001 with its melody and lyrics on his mind. He completed it later that day and introduced it during the CMA Awards that November.

"Doing 'Where Were You' for the first time was so emotional for me," Jackson recalled. "I was proud I did, though...and it's one I feel like a lot of people want to hear."

Jackson admitted that he never expected audiences to continue requesting the song 25 years later.

"I thought we would perform it for a little while and then it would just go away," he said. "I didn't feel like people would want to keep thinking about that. But ever since, I see people waiting on that song in the crowd...and I know I have to do it for them."

Unlike some of the angrier songs that followed the attacks, "Where Were You" confronted the nation's shock with questions about family, prayer and faith. Its closing appeal to "faith, hope and love" draws directly upon 1 Corinthians 13:13, offering a Christian response to tragedy that refuses to let hatred have the final word.

Now, a quarter-century after America stopped turning-and as Jackson steps away from touring-the song has become more than a 9/11 remembrance. This farewell performance sounds like the country icon's final prayer for a grieving nation.