Page 39 - ION Indie Magazine SeptOct 2023

Alabama is the band that changed

everything. They reeled off twenty-one
straight #1 singles, a record that will probably
never be equaled in any genre. They brought

youthful energy, sex appeal, and a rocking
edge that broadened country's audience and
opened the door to many self-contained

bands from then on, undertaking they a
journey that led (seventy-three million
albums later) to the Country Music Hall of
Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The band produced more than 40 No. 1 hits

including “Tennessee River,” “Why Lady
Why,” “Love in the First Degree,” “Dixieland
Delight,” “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler),” and
“If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta

Have a Fiddle in the Band).”

The band released twenty-six studio albums,

fifteen of them certified platinum and double-
platinum (one million in sales) and put out
seventy-four singles.

Although the band is now missing one
original member, Alabama came into town

roaring up a storm at the AVA Amphitheater
in Tucson, Arizona. Randy Owen and Teddy
Gentry had everyone singing all through the
night…song after song; hit after hit.

Admittedly my eyes were mostly on the
beautiful violinist, Megan Mullins. She
performed and tributed her playing to Jeff

Cook, the original guitarist and fiddle player.
He helped establish the country supergroup,
along with cousins Randy Owen and Teddy

Gentry. Cook passed on last November from
Parkinson's. He was seventy-three.