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VIGNETTES R Alabama Rocks COUNTRY MUSIC LEGEND RANDY OWEN CELEBRATES FORTY YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP // BY Jac Chebatoris RANDY OWEN IS COMING through the mountains from a trustee meeting at his alma mater, Jacksonville State University in Alabama, heading back home to his cattle ranch in the Little River Canyon, when his phone starts to cut out. "I'll call you back," he says. He does, and as it is brought to his attention that he must have done thousands of interviews at this point in his lifetime, seeing as Alabama is the biggest country music band pretty much ever, the superstar lead singer and songwriter/ most regular guy on the planet pauses and says: "You know what," the soothing Southern slide of his vowels dripping like honey off a spoon, "I count it as an honor to do an interview, because I remember when nobody cared." It's hard to think there ever was such a time. Alabama's harmonious, straight-up 'n' strong country music propelled the band to superstar status with over 73 million records sold (21 of those gold, platinum, and multiplatinum, with 43 number-one singles), over 150 music industry awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. So if there ever was a time that "nobody cared," it may have been when Owen, now sixty-three, and his cousins Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook were starting out, playing for money in the tip jar from 1973 to 1980 at the Bowery bar in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina—and that's probably because the patrons 22 Tempus-Magazine.com . Fall 2013 were too busy slugging it out after slugging back more than a few mugs of beer. "It was defnitely a fghting bar," Owen says. "Oh yeah, every night. We'd just be playing and all hell would break loose. You learn to play "Rocky Top" for ffteen to twenty minutes or "Long Train Running" for ten or ffteen minutes, because if you ever quit playing, the fght just got worse." Those are some songs worth fghting for, though. Countless classics like "Dixieland Delight," "Tennessee River," and "My Home's in Alabama" helped pave the way for the Country Music Television (CMT) takeover of America—and beyond. This year, the group celebrates forty years since they frst banded together, and they released S I N G O R SW I M YOU MAY JOIN AL ABAMA & FRIENDS FOR A SPECIAL MUSIC FESTIVAL AT SEA ALABAMA IS CELEBRATING ITS FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY WITH MUSICAL FRIENDS BY SETTING SAIL ON THEIR FIRST EVER MUSIC CRUISE TO NASSAU AND GREAT STIRRUP CAY IN THE BAHAMAS IN OCTOBER FOR INFORMATION, VISIT ALABAMAFESTIVALATSEA.COM a new album in August called Alabama & Friends (Show Dog–Universal Music) with appearances by some of the other biggest names in country music (Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Trisha Yearwood, and more) singing songs from the Alabama canon, including two new songs: the aptly titled "All American" and "That's How I Was Raised," which Owen says is a special song for him. "My Grandma and Paw Paw Teague sang gospel music, and