Alabama is the most successful country band in the genre’s history. After more than fifty years of hit music, the country music community gathered to honor them earlier this year. CMT Giants: Alabama was a star-studded event packed with performances and messages from some of the genre’s biggest names to honor the trailblazing band. Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen kicked things off by reflecting on the band’s history and where they are today.
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Owen started the night with gratitude and humor. “Thanks to all the artists who totally shocked and surprised me and Teddy,” he began. “I had no idea who was going to show up. I didn’t think there would be anybody in the audience,” he added as the camera panned to the packed Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and the crowd cheered. “I want to say thanks to my family and my wife of almost 49 years. I have all my grandkids here. They’re all very beautiful and very handsome because they look like Pop. All my children are here. Thank y’all for the love,” he added.
“I have cried, I have laughed, I don’t know if I’ll be able to sing anything or not if Teddy will help me. We miss our cousin and wish Jeff could be here tonight,” he said referencing the late Jeff Cook who passed in 2022. Owen then thanked the folks at RCA Records and everyone who came to the event. “Thanks for taking the time to acknowledge the blood, sweat, and tears that we’ve been through. Me and Teddy have been through a lot together.”
Teddy Gentry Recalls the Early Days of Alabama
Gentry, Owen’s cousin and longtime bandmate, noted that his grandkids were in attendance as well. “I know me and Randy haven’t got to spend a whole lot of time with our family over the years but that don’t mean we don’t love them more than anything in the world,” he said, choking up. “Like Randy said, things have been the same since Jeff passed away. The three of us, we put our beds in the same bedroom back in Gadsden, Alabama. Turn off the lights, and we’d sing until one or two o’clock in the morning,” he recalled. Then, he jokingly added, “It wasn’t no good then but it was getting better.”
“I remember walking across the field, coming back from school and Randy saying, ‘Hey, I found a new chord in this Beatles song here.’ And I said ‘Well, show it to me,’ and he did. That was our connection to the world from a little cotton field in Northeast Alabama was the music. And the music brought us here tonight,” he added.
Featured Image by Ozzie B/imageSPACE/Shutterstock
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