Rod Jackson gave up on Nashville but is making a comeback right at home

There was a point inRod Jackson's life when he had it all.

A house, wife andtwo kids, great job andablossoming career as acountrysinger, complete with managers, awards and musicvideos. He evenhad plans to takeNashville by storm, hoping to become somethinglike the Garth Brooks of Newfoundland.

But then it all fell apart.

"I said, doI really want to travel to some hotel room in god-knows-where, and not be able to see my daughter going to class in the mornings?" Jackson told Here & Now's Debbie Cooper.

"I couldn't do it."

So Jackson went quiet fornearly a decade, retreating toa more conventional life as a sales manager with kids to raise andhanging up his cowboy hat, seemingly for good.

But in recent months, the Grand Falls-Windsor native joined a new band and plotteda holidaytour.This time around although dreams of Nashville have fadedhe's more excited than ever, Jackson said.

Unplanned stardom

As just one more country singer vying for stardom, Jackson's greatest hook was arguably his backstory.

A working-class Newfoundlander whose mother died young, he overcame his struggles, he would say, comfortedbyhis late mother's memory.

It was asentiment captured in his song She Still Guides Me.

Jackson also grappled with chronic illness, diagnosed with arthritis in his early 20s.

But the bad newsled to hisfirst stage performance foran Arthritis Society fundraiser. Histalent eventually landed himspots on festival lineups, nabbed him biggertours, and generated lots of exposure. "All of a sudden, all these wonderful things were happening," Jackson said.

MusicNLdubbed him country artist of the year in 2005.

"That was all great," he said, smiling, "but after you've had managers for a few years, telling you where to go, and how to get there, and how to sing, and what shirt to wear,Isaid, I'm too independent. I'm too stubborn to put up with that."

Quitting, but not for good

Showbiz,Jackson said, required an element of egomaniaand didn't suit him. So hesettled into family life instead, happily giving up on the country music dream.

"It just stopped being fun for me. Ididn't have the joy that I had had in the beginning, to perform and to play," he said. "Inever regretted it. Not one bit."

Jackson put out a gospel album in 2009, avoiding the spotlight but still wrangling another MusicNLaward.

Over a decade after retreating from the industry, Jacksontook to the stage once again, this time with a crew of musicians just as eager to play right at home.

Rod Jackson and the Perfect Strangers played Grand Falls-Windsor's Salmon Festival earlier this year.

Now that the kids are grown and Nashville is off the table, Jackson says, he can focus on fun.

"I always knew I would be back," Jackson said."I never put it away forever."

Rod Jackson and the Perfect Strangerskick off their December circuit with Christmas songs borrowed from country music favourites, including Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton.

The Christmas in the Countrytourstops in Corner Brook, Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor and St. John's.

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