
Jackson—a former American Idol contestant (he originally competed using his first name, Alan, rather than his middle name, Corbette) and newly signed artist with Nielson, who’s best known for his group the Lost Trailers—had just finished a concert in Carrollton when a high school friend texted asking for help. Would Jackson sing at a benefit to support her twenty-six-year-old brother’s young family, who were facing a dire prognosis? The doctor, she texted, said he has the heart of a champion.
Jackson couldn’t get her words out of his mind. The next day, he and Nielson sat on the studio floor and wrote the song in just forty minutes. “It’s almost like you didn’t even write it,” Jackson recalls. “It just came out.” Days later, Jackson met the Landreaus for the first time.
The two men talk often now—Chris on chemo, Jackson on tour. Both seem stunned by their story’s impact. Says Jackson, “It’s an undescribable feeling when you get onstage and you see the people singing back your music.”
Photograph by Jacqueline Pilar

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