Coming back to Alabama, again and again

Sometimes, you just feel like listening to a musician or a group. You don't always know why, but something clicks, and suddenly, you are playing a group's songs over and over. There doesn't have to be a reason. It's just a feeling, seemingly out of nowhere. That's what has happened with me and the country band Alabama recently. It's been about 30 years since the band released its song "Cheap Seats," a lovable tune about "the middle-size town in the middle of the middle-west," with a minor league baseball team that has a small group of loyal fans. Ostensibly, I was going to write about Alabama because it's been 30 years since I first heard that song. But really, I just wanted to write about the country band — perhaps the first real and best country band — of all time. Alabama was a country group that reached worldwide popularity in the late 1970s and 80s. In some respects, they were the first country and western band that was in the image of a rock and roll band. Their live shows were often lit and presented that way. And my goodness, were they great. And popular. Personally, I've always admired the brazenness of any artist that named themselves after a city or state. It seems like a lot of pressure. By taking on that name, you're practically representing them. But with 41 No. 1 records and over 75 million albums sold, it seems the group that started in Fort Payne in 1969 has suited its state just fine. Alabama the band seems as much a part of the state as the Crimson Tide football team and Bear Bryant. The group — when it was at its commercial peak — consisted of three cousins: lead singer Randy Owen, lead guitarist Jeff Cook and bassist Teddy Gentry. Drummer Mark Herndon played and toured with the band for much of its history — he was photographed on the album covers and in the music videos--but whether he was an actual member of the group or just a hired session player has been debated. Regardless, it's hard to imagine Alabama without Owen's powerful and soulful vocal leading the way. His voice — to me, anyway — sounds like an old friend, It's probably why I come back to the band's songs so often. I know there wasn't a group like Alabama before. There were certainly country rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Marshall Tucker Band, but they were more rockabilly and leaned more toward a rock sound. Alabama, at its core, was a country group. It could rock and incorporate pop elements — "I'm in a Hurry" could have been a major pop hit with another group, for instance — but it was a southern music group and flat out told you that. "Mountain Music," Dixieland Delight" and "If You Wanna Play in Texas" sent the message loud and clear. The message clearly resonated with fans, and still does. The group disbanded in 2004 after a farewell tour, but came back together in 2010, sans Herndon. Cook died in November of 2022, but the band continues to tour. That's good to know. Alabama is always good to listen to. Zach Baker is the sports editor for The Courier.