In 2018, John Anderson was facing something no country singer ever wants to imagine: a future without music.
After decades of performing hits like “Swingin’,” “Wild and Blue,” and “Seminole Wind,” John Anderson had spent much of the previous year struggling with serious health problems. At one point, John Anderson lost nearly all of his hearing. Even after beginning to recover, the possibility of returning to the recording studio seemed uncertain.
Then came an unexpected phone call from Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. That conversation led to a songwriting session in Nashville, where four men created a song that would eventually become the centerpiece of John Anderson’s final studio album.
Looking back after John Anderson’s death on October 21, 2026, the story behind that recording carries an extraordinary meaning.
The Illness That Nearly Ended John Anderson’s Career
Throughout 2017 and into May 2018, John Anderson endured a difficult period of illness and medical treatment. The problems affected John Anderson’s hearing so severely that playing music and singing became extremely difficult.
For a man who had built an entire life around a distinctive country voice, the experience was devastating.
John Anderson later explained that prayer, family support, and gradually improving health helped restore hope. Yet even as John Anderson began feeling better, returning to the music business was far from certain.
John Anderson wasn’t looking for another hit record. At that point, simply being able to write songs again seemed like a worthwhile possibility.
A Phone Call and a Song Written in 90 Minutes
Dan Auerbach had admired John Anderson’s music for years. After a mutual friend helped establish contact, Dan Auerbach reached out about getting together to write songs.
In June 2018, John Anderson joined Dan Auerbach, producer David “Fergie” Ferguson, and songwriter Pat McLaughlin in Nashville.
The first idea came from Pat McLaughlin. Together, the four musicians began working on a song about time, growing older, and understanding how quickly life passes.
According to John Anderson’s later recollection, the song was completed in approximately an hour and a half.
They called it “Years.”
John Anderson recognized that the song was special. But the original plan had been to write material, potentially for other performers, rather than launch a new recording project.
After hearing John Anderson sing during the songwriting sessions, Dan Auerbach and David Ferguson had another idea: John Anderson should record an entire album.
John Anderson initially doubted whether that was possible. But Dan Auerbach and David Ferguson believed John Anderson still had the voice that had made those earlier records unforgettable.
That encouragement helped turn a songwriting visit into a return to the recording studio.
The Music Video That Brought His Wife and Memories Together
On April 10, 2020, John Anderson released Years, a ten-song album produced by Dan Auerbach and David Ferguson.
The record included reflections on survival, faith, gratitude, and the passing of time. It also featured Blake Shelton on the duet “Tuesday I’ll Be Gone.”
But one of the album’s most personal moments came through the music video for “Years.”
Directed by Josh Bishop, the video featured Jamie Anderson, John Anderson’s wife since 1983, alongside photographs representing different chapters of John Anderson’s life.
Among those memories were images of John Anderson with longtime friends and country legends Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Merle Haggard.
John Anderson explained in a 2020 interview that John Anderson and Jamie Anderson had appeared together in earlier music videos, including “Money in the Bank” and “When It Comes to You.” This was their first music video together in nearly 30 years.
That detail made the recording more than a comeback. It became a way of looking back at the people who had shared John Anderson’s journey.
Why the Song Means Something Different Now
John Anderson lived to see another important honor. In 2024, John Anderson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, joining many of the artists who had inspired and befriended John Anderson throughout the years.
On October 21, 2026, John Anderson passed away at the age of 71.
In announcing the loss, John Anderson’s family remembered a loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend. Beyond the records and awards, the family emphasized the love and ordinary moments that made life together meaningful.
That family tribute gives “Years” an especially personal place in John Anderson’s legacy.
When the song was released in 2020, it represented a remarkable return for a singer who had once questioned whether recording again was possible.
Today, the same song can be heard as a reflection on an entire lifetime: the difficult days, the people who stayed, the friends remembered, and the years that disappeared more quickly than anyone expected.
John Anderson did find a way back to the microphone. And because that Nashville songwriting session happened in June 2018, country music received one more album from a voice that could never be mistaken for anyone else’s.
John Anderson is gone, but “Years” remains. What began as a song about the passage of time has become one more lasting reminder of the man who sang it.