Remember When Alan Jackson Released a Gospel Album? Alan Jackson was a dozen studio albums into his successful country music career when he decided to do something he'd never done before: release a gospel album. Precious Memories -- what turned out to be the first of two projects by the same name -- arrived 15 years ago, on Feb. 28, 2006. Jackson had previously released two Christmas albums in addition to his string of Top 5 country records, but Precious Memories was a particularly personal project; in fact, it was never intended to be heard widely. The country star originally recorded the tracks as a Christmas gift for his mother, Ruth, but an executive at his record label, Arista Nashville, heard the recordings and persuaded Jackson into releasing them to the public.