2025 has been the utmost insane year for Country Music in so many ways, I mean I have all of the Waylon Jennings celebration going on, three major festival jobs and year end stuff going. I am so inundated with older articles I wanted to touch on, and this was indeed one of them. But when I saw and heard this I HAD to talk about this one, this brings back memories. And let me tell you when Mark Herndon returned, he did it RIGHT! He put on the sunglasses and came out to greet the audience in his trademark headband and tank top that made him a staple of Country Music for decades.
This means the world to me, that the remaining three members Randy Owen, Jeff Cook and Teddy Gentry and Mark would look past their old issues and become FAMILY again. I say that because the remaining three members are cousins. They started out as Wild Country and morphed into Alabama in the late 70’s. The Hall Of Fame band that became a juggernaut in the arena circuit and even began their own festival!
However in 2003/2004 the three cousins sued Mark for 200,000 in overpayments from the farewell tour. When they reunited in 2013, Mark was left out, but when they were inducted into the HOF, he was included on the plaque. Apparently, according to the other three members, Mark wasn’t originally supposed to be a permanent member, and did not play on studio albums..a plethora of things were said really.
It was a volatile time for music back then as a whole, it’s not like they could jump on the internet and sort out anything or who did what and when? Billboard charts were in these things called magazines and books and the world operated by mail and telegrams. For me, it was a GREAT TIME to be a teenager in the 80s. My world was music, and the Outlaw/Nashville Sound movement stopped and in came the 90’s Country, and through all that change Alabama remained a staple fixture.
But on August 23rd in Huntsville Alabama, the song ‘Mountain Music” began with that kickdrum we all immediately recognize and that pedal was being used by Mark, who also played all of the old solos in the song. I am going to include a video on here, and I am extremely hopeful that in the future we have more of the original three members on stage for a full show?
I know most of you are thinking about things like riding around in dad’s truck with the Alabama tapes playing or uncle or whatnot. Most Country from 1965 – 1995 is what was interesting me back then, and I was HEAVILY into them in the 80’s, and right now I am VERY HOPEFUL there will be more.
