About half the 12 tracks on Alan Jackson's new album "What I Do" deal with lost love or loneliness. "It just happened that way," said Jackson, who speaks in the same lazy drawl he sings in. "It wasn´t anything planned. Even some of the lighter songs are about that same subject. But that´s always been my favorite kind of song anyway." "What I Do" is Jackson´s 14th album, and it follows the triple platinum "Greatest Hits Volume II" collection. Long after most of his contemporaries have faded, he remains one of Nashville´s biggest stars. He snagged a leading seven awards nominations last month from the Country Music Association, including one for Entertainer of the Year.

"Alan has a gift for capturing life in a song; he´s done it time and again," said Gwen Foster, music director at radio station KNIX in Phoenix. "He´s not a fancy guy. He´s not a dynamic or explosive entertainer by any means. The way he expresses himself through the songs is what grabs people."

The new album, for which Jackson wrote five of the 12 tracks, is often melancholy. He sings about a failing relationship in "You Don´t Have to Paint Me a Picture," learning to love again in "There You Go" and the pain of losing a loved one in "Strong Enough." They´re not all sad. The first single, "Too Much of a Good Thing," is about a couple so happily in love that he sings, "I should be scared, it´s so right." The song has reached No. 5 on Billboard magazine´s country singles chart. "It´s a bit of a shadow of what my life is really like," said Jackson, who´s been married to his wife, Denise, for almost 25 years.