Superstar Alan Jackson returns to Amp on Friday after six years

Honky-tonk country star Alan Jackson returns to the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater for the first time in six years, at 7:30 p.m. Friday. His last Amp show, in September 2012, sold out, and Friday’s show was fast approaching those numbers, according to his management; some tickets may remain.

Since his first Top 10 hit in 1990  “Here in the Real World” Jackson’s sold 80 million albums worldwide with 35 No. 1 songs and dozens of others going Top 40. He’s a three-time CMA Entertainer of the year, and a member of the Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Hall of Fame, Georgia Music Hall of Fame and as of this year, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Jackson’s won a pair of Grammys, Awards, 16 CMA Awards, 17 ACM Awards and a number of others. He’s cut 14 platinum albums, 16 if you include two greatest-hits collections.

Born and raised in rural Newnan, Ga., Jackson endeared himself to old-school country artists by blending mainstream sounds with a traditionalist honky-tonk style. Last October, country music legend Loretta Lynn made a surprise visit, her first public appearance following a stroke, to help induct Jackson into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Lynn recalled meeting the young man backstage, decades ago.

“I told him he was going to be one of the greatest singers in country music,” Lynn said. “He hasn’t let me down. ... He’s the only one who could bring me here.”

Jackson’s chain of signature songs includes “Chattahoochee,” “Drive,” “Gone Country,” “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” “Don’t Rock the Jukebox,” and “Good Time.” This Tuscaloosa stop comes as part of his extended Honky Tonk Highway tour. In addition to the 2012 Amp show, Jackson headlined a 1998 University of Alabama homecoming concert at Coleman Coliseum.

The opening act will be Riley Green, a Jacksonville, Ala. native. He’s cut three EPs, and has been touring the Southeast for the past three years. His best-known song is an anthemic “Bury Me In Dixie.”