"I'll Try" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson

Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

. It was one of two newly-recorded tracks on his 1995 compilation album The Greatest Hits Collection

The Greatest Hits Collection (Alan Jackson album)

The Greatest Hits Collection is the first greatest hits album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. Released on October 24, 1995, it includes the greatest hits from his first four studio albums, as well as an album cut from his 1989 debut Here in the Real World and two new tracks — "Tall,...

, and like "Tall, Tall Trees" (the other newly recorded track on that compilation), it was a number-one hit for him on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks. It also reached number 5 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.

Background and writing

Jackson told Billboard magazine that "Everybody kept telling me, 'You need to come out with a positive love song.' I've had a lot of sad ballads, but I have a hard time writing those [positive love songs] because there's a tendency to get real sappy with them so they're not real. That's the way most of them come off to me. I wanted to write one that was realistic, what i call a realistic approach to a positive love song."

Content

The song is a mid-tempo love ballad with the male narrator pledging his faithfulness to his significant other. Alan called it a "realistic approach to a positive love song." The line "Both know damn well it's not easy together," from the first verse, was changed to "Both know too well..." in the radio edit.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying "How refreshing--an honest love song. Instead of promising the moon and stars, Jackson has penned a song that simply says, "I'm not perfect, just another man/But I will give you all that I am/And I'll try to love only you/And I'll try my best to be true/Oh darlin' I'll try." What more could a woman want? Honesty is the best policy, and this realistic look at love is destined to be a hit with country music lovers everywhere."

Chart positions

"I'll Try" debuted at number 67 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of December 30, 1995.

Chart (1996)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	5