Album Review: Southern Drawl by Alabama



It's been a long time - 2001, in fact; fourteen long years - since Alabama, one of the most influential and best-selling groups in the history of any musical genre, gave us a collection of new material, but 2015 finds the band enjoying a new surge of popularity, and, thanks to their re-emergence from the cold, as it were, a new album hit the shelves this week, and, to the relief of many, I'm sure, there's plenty of that old Alabama magic.

Perhaps you were worried that the now three-piece outfit from Fort Payne, Alabama, helmed by lead singer Randy Owen, had sold out, and would be dabbling in EDM, rap or hard rock, as so many other country artists have done of late? Well, worry not. The band sounds pretty much the same as they did on their last studio album, When it All Goes South, and on so many classic recordings before that.

Which isn't to say that Owen and band-mates, Jeff Cook and Teddy Gentry don't remind us that they were probably the first country group to experiment with pop, rock and even gospel sounds in their music, way back when. The title track, one of my favourites, is a hard-driving song with plenty of guitar and heavy drums, the sort of arena-friendly anthem that is going to sound great live. Sure, it's a formulaic song in a way, going through all the things that make the South great, but it's so damn good to hear the boys back at it that you kinda don't care. It's also a track that Jason Aldean would be proud of.

Perhaps the best part are the slow songs, epic and sprawling ballads, which allow the three-piece harmonies to shine, and remind us of vintage Alabama, when the band were at their peak, cranking out #1 hits like there was no tomorrow. Alison Krauss' appearance on 'Come Find Me' is a welcome one. She's as good a female singer as there is in bluegrass-country.

The silly 'Hillbilly Wins the Lotto Money' is a low-point for me, but there are few weak songs on the album, and the penultimate track 'Footstompin' Music' allows for an epic fiddle solo. It's a song that evokes memories of 'Mountain Music' or 'Song of the South' and it's fun.

Sure, there's no 'Dixieland Delight' equivalent here, but considering the band has been studio-dormant for more than a decade, the thirteen-track Southern Drawl is a more than acceptable return. Here's hoping we don't have to wait another fourteen years for some new Alabama music.