Music Friday: 'True Love Is a Golden Ring,' Sings Country Star Alan Jackson

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you inspirational songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, country music legend Alan Jackson uses bridal jewelry to express the euphoria of finding a perfect soulmate in his 2010 release, “True Love Is a Golden Ring.”

In the song, a once-tormented Jackson admits that his search for true love had taken him “down a winding road with many turns, through fire and smoke and bridges burned.” But now, he looks into his lover’s eyes and finally sees the truth.

He sings, “True love is a golden ring / Like the vows we made it’s a precious thing / Sent from above on silver wings / True love is a golden ring.”

Later in the song, he also likens love to the “endless turn of a wedding band.”

Written by Jackson and Roger Murrah, “True Love Is a Golden Ring” appeared as the 11th track on Freight Train, the singer’s 16th studio album.

Freight Train was a major success for the "neo-traditional country" artist as it ascended all the way to #2 on the US Billboard Top Country Albums chart, #7 on the US Billboard 200 chart and #8 on the Canadian Albums Chart.

Born in Newnan, GA, in 1958, Jackson grew up in a modest home that started out as a one-room toolshed. Jackson’s dad, Joseph, expanded the home through the years to accommodate the births of Alan and his four older sisters.

Jackson didn’t pursue a music career until he was well into his 20s. He didn’t own a guitar as a child and nobody in his family was musically inclined. At the age of 21, he still hadn’t traveled north of the Georgia border.

“Nashville,” he said in his official bio, “seemed as far away as Japan to me.”

In 1980, after attending a concert, he told his wife, Denise, that he was interested in a music career. Three years later, at the age of 25, he started performing with local country bands and writing songs that drew on his life’s experiences.

Jackson got his big break when Denise, while working as a flight attendant, met singer Glen Campbell in an airport and mentioned that her husband was looking to break into the music business. Campbell referred her to his own Nashville music publishing company and told her that the they needed to move to Nashville — which they did.

His late start in the music business hasn't hampered his career. He has sold more than 75 million records, is a member of the Grand Ole Opry and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame by Loretta Lynn in 2017. He even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2021, Jackson revealed that he had been diagnosed with a hereditary, progressive neurological disorder that affects his mobility. A year later, despite the diagnosis, Jackson announced his "One More For The Road Tour," which launched in 2024 and continues through 2025. The next stops on the tour are Orlando, FL; Tampa, FL; and Milwaukee, WI.

Please check out the audio track of Jackson performing “True Love Is a Golden Ring.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“True Love Is a Golden Ring”
Written by Roger Murrah and Alan Jackson. Performed by Alan Jackson.

True love is a golden ring
Like the vows we made it’s a precious thing
Sent from above on silver wings
True love is a golden ring

Down a winding road with many turns
Through fire and smoke and bridges burned
I’ve held my share of stranger’s hands
Now holding yours, I understand

True love is a golden ring
Like the vows we made it’s a precious thing
Sent from above on silver wings
True love is a golden ring

Love is so much more than a one-night stand
Like the endless turn of a wedding band
Looking in your eyes I see the truth
After all this time I found you

True love is a golden ring
Like the vows we made it’s a precious thing
Sent from above on silver wings
True love is a golden ring
Oh, true love is a golden ring

Credit: Photo by Joe Bielawa from MInneapolis, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.