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Alabama
Jun 18, 2011 17:52:45 GMT -5
Post by Mallrat on Jun 18, 2011 17:52:45 GMT -5
Alabama Reunites for Bama Rising
06/15/11, 1:00 pm EDT
Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook of Alabama reunited for the Bama Rising fundraising concert in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday night (June 14). The band invited numerous country artists, including Rodney Atkins, Brad Paisley and Martina McBride, to perform at the sold-out event. Proceeds will go to recovery efforts from area tornadoes on April 27. "This is not about us. It's about the people. We're very, very humbled that the response has been like it is," Owen said before the show. "I've been amazed -- and I'm sure that Teddy and Jeff have, too -- at the quality and how big these stars are. They've come down here to be a part of this. I think the response speaks for itself and the people of Alabama." Alabama's farewell tour took place in 2003.
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Alabama
Feb 29, 2012 15:30:13 GMT -5
Post by grg_straitfan on Feb 29, 2012 15:30:13 GMT -5
Alabama opens RodeoHouston with hit songs from glory days02.29.12 | 06:46 am
Mutton Bustin' is undoubtedly a tough act to follow on opening night of the 2012 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, but legendary Southern rock band Alabama did its best. As 10-year veterans of RodeoHouston, the group knows how to put on a show. Overhead lights at Reliant Stadium flickered out one by one as the livestock left the field, and after a flurry of fireworks and lasers, the opening notes of the first song rang through the dark stadium: "If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You've Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)." For whatever reason, "Song of the South" began with a series of hip gyrations (courtesy of Owen) and ended with a fond reminiscence of his families' truck loyalties. "Now ladies and gentlemen, we came here tonight for one reason and one reason only. We came here to have a party with y'all tonight," said Randy Owen, the band's guitarist and lead vocalist. At 62, Owen is still graced with a full head of hair, a statement mustache and a spry body adept at kicking and jumping along to the music. Wearing a personalized Texans jersey and enlivening the crowd with claps and yells, Owen certainly commanded the stage, but bassist Teddy Gentry's fancy fretwork and Jeff Cook's dexterity on both his guitar and electric fiddle didn't go unnoticed. Bolstered by a five-piece backing band, Alabama dipped into an arsenal of hit songs from the glory days of the '80s throughout its hour-long performance. "Tennessee River" (the single that first brought the band to the top of the country music charts) made the set list, followed by "Dixieland Delight," a tale of love in the backwoods. For whatever reason, "Song of the South" began with a series of hip gyrations (courtesy of Owen) and ended with a fond reminiscence of his families' truck loyalties. Soon after, the tempo slowed with the love ballad "Feels So Right," then picked up again with "She and I" and "Closer You Get" before a heavy dedication to the veterans and the military men and women still serving overseas with "Angels Among Us." "Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)," "My Home's in Alabama" and "Lady Down On Love" rounded out the show, and by the time the closing song — the epic "Mountain Music" — came on, the stadium's crowd had largely thinned. Still, Owen, Gentry and Cook left the stadium to thunderous applause. Exiting in the bed of a Ford pickup, bathed in a beam of light, Alabama left a longing for simpler times and an appreciation of Southern values. 
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