Alan Jackson is scheduled to perform during the 2026 National Memorial Day Concert on Sunday, May 24, airing live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, PBS said.
The broadcast will run from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. ET and will also stream on YouTube and PBS digital platforms, with the special remaining available on demand through June 7. PBS named Gary Sinise as host; Mary McCormack will fill in for Joe Mantegna, who has canceled for the second year in a row. The program will honor 250 years of military service and sacrifice and, according to reports, marks the 37th year the annual concert has been aired.
Performers scheduled include Mickey Guyton, Jamey Johnson, Andy Grammer, Laura Osnes and Blessing Offor alongside Jackson; Mary McCormack is listed as both host and a performer. The National Symphony Orchestra will play under the direction of Jack Everly. Appearances from Noah Wyle, Jonathan Banks and Melissa Leo are also on the bill. Saving Country Music said the concert is free and open to the public, with general admission gates typically opening at 5:00 p.m., and that the live performance begins at 8:00 p.m. ET and finishes at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Saving Country Music also said alan jackson is set to perform his final ever concert at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on June 27, billed as "Last Call: One More for the Road – The Finale," and that the June 27 show will likely be the last time he performs a full show. FilmoGaz will tape that sold-out Nashville finale June 27 ( The site reported Jackson has left open the possibility of making public appearances or playing a song at special events on occasion.
The appearance at the Memorial Day concert comes with a clear personal backdrop: Jackson has been living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. In a 2021 interview on the Today Show he said, "This disease is inherited from my daddy," and added, "There’s no cure for it, but it’s been affecting me for years." He previously announced that his current run of shows would likely be his last major tour.
The quick facts underline why this one-night broadcast matters now. It brings one of country music’s most familiar voices to a national stage while the artist is winding down a long touring career, pairs live television exposure with on-demand availability through June 7, and ties the entertainment to a yearlong national commemoration of military service. For viewers who cannot attend on the West Lawn, PBS and its digital partners will offer the only immediate national window into what organizers are presenting as a milestone edition of the concert.
The friction is obvious: Jackson is stepping back from full touring even as he keeps select public appearances on the table. Joe Mantegna’s second straight cancellation as host underscores a broader pattern of last-minute changes around an event that prides itself on ceremony and continuity. And while Saving Country Music frames June 27 as a likely final full show, it also notes Jackson might still appear for one-off events — which makes a high-profile, televised Memorial Day performance both a continuation of a storied career and a possible glimpse of how Jackson intends to manage his public appearances going forward.
Jackson’s participation answers the simplest question: he will appear on the Memorial Day broadcast on May 24 and viewers can watch live on PBS from 8 to 9:30 p.m. ET or stream the special online; the program will remain on demand through June 7. What follows — whether the Nashville finale on June 27 is truly his last full concert or the start of occasional, carefully chosen appearances on the nation’s stages — will be the measure of how a performer with a degenerative, inherited condition chooses the terms of his public life.
For now, Jackson walks on to the Capitol West Lawn on Memorial Day with a national audience awaiting a performance framed by service, history and the practical limits of a career he has said he is closing in on.
