Cowboy hats, tight jeans and ice-cold beers were the accessories of choice Thursday night as Alan Jackson rolled through Ames on his nation-wide tour in support of his latest album, “Drive.”

Jackson kicked off his performance with “Gone Country.” The crowd roared when he stuck a quick “Ames, Iowa’s gone country” in the refrain.

The rest of Jackson’s set list spanned some of his biggest hits of the last few years.

The crowd responded enthusiastically at almost every turn, raising a glass to sing along to “Pop a Top” and “Little Bitty” or flick on a lighter when he ended with “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).”

Jackson himself seemed almost moved to tears as he closed the show with his hit tribute to those who died in the events of Sept. 11.

Marshalltown fan Kelly Smith said the song was very powerful for him.

“I thought it was a good song, especially in the short time it was written,” he said.

The tune may claim Jackson’s “not a political man,” but he displayed his own brand of small-town activism when he performed “Little Man,” a song about how large retail outlets have killed the local mom-and-pop stores in rural areas.

The high point in crowd reaction came during “Where I Come From.” The video monitor behind Jackson and his band played a montage of scenes from a trip through Ames earlier in the day as people cheered. The footage covered Ames landmarks such as Hickory Park, Hilton and the bars in Campustown.

Country music’s raven-haired answer to Mandy Moore, Cyndi Thomson, opened with a set of saccharine-sweet diddies, including a dead-on rendition of Trisha Yearwood’s “She’s in Love With the Boy.”

Smith said the crowd of more than 6,000 looked diverse.

“There’s a nice variety of people here tonight – all kinds,” he said.