Alabama’s New “Southern Drawl” Song Couldn’t Be Worse
This story has been updated.
Alabama is getting ready to release what ostensibly is their first new studio album in nearly 15 years, yet the buzz around this upcoming project seems to be somewhere between muted to virtually non-existent. Over thirty #1 singles, three consecutive Entertainer of the Year awards back in the 80’s, and aside from the core fandom of the band, frankly nobody seems too excited, or even aware the new album is on the way.
Maybe that says something sad about where country music is today, or maybe it speaks to the mixed legacy of Alabama. The only reason Alabama wasn’t known as a pop country band in their day is because nobody really knew what pop country was during that era. Many of their hit singles were pretty simple compositions and concepts, and many were songs about songs, or music—“Song of the South,” “Mountain Music,” “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas.” But Alabama is also like the CCR of country; you start digging through their collected works and it’s just one song after another that was a super hit on radio, and reminds you of a by-gone time and a warm memory, just like a country song is supposed to do. They knew how to hone in on a good melody and put a popular sentiment behind it, and were as good or better than anyone at it in their era.
Alabama is easy to pick on and hard to hate, and they’re members of the Country Music Hall of Famers, and deservedly so. But I can’t imagine a more jarring and ill-advised way to end their 15-year recording hiatus than with the title track of their upcoming September 18th release, “Southern Drawl.” For the people who’ve been pointing to Alabama as the precursor of Bro-Country, well you just got a glowing piece of evidence toward your argument delivered to you on a silver platter, with fireworks shooting out of the centerpiece, sparklers lining the sides, and spotlights shooting straight down on it. “Southern Drawl” is a formulaic, aggressively laundry list, stereotypical Bro-Country song if there ever was one that is so embarrassingly pandering in nature it carries the unintended gift of accidental comedy.
From the “We Will Rock You” intro, to the obnoxious overdriven arena rock guitar, to the awkwardly and uncharacteristically non-synchronous performances by Alabama founding members Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, and Jeff Cook, “Southern Drawl” isn’t just bad, it’s something that makes you wish you could go back and completely erase it from your country music consciousness lest it run rampant through your memory and sully any rosy regards you had for Alabama’s past accomplishments. Yes, it’s that terrible.
If Maddie & Tae were standing to the side of the stage with their checklist, every square would be marked by the end of “Southern Drawl.” Beer, trucks, backroads, the interjected praising of the troops thrown in—it’s all here. Alabama even piped in a crowd cheering for them throughout the track. I mean the hubris of this thing. And listening to these guys trying to emulate the melody-vacant rhythmic pentameter of a modern Bro-Country song is like the country music equivalent of some 60-year-old original-era rappers coming out with clocks around their necks trying to perform modern hip-hop. Word to your mother. Alabama is just completely out of their element, and can barely keep up with the instrument track.
If you needed any more evidence that 2015 is the year of selling out in country music, this is it. Alabama waited 15 years to premier this? And the thing about selling out is that you better be successful with it because otherwise you alienate your core fans and still don’t reap the rewards of a commercially-successful move. This is the unfortunate place so many country artists who entered 2015 with their dignity still in tact are finding themselves in, and you can add Alabama to the list. “Southern Drawl” was premiered by Billboard on September 3rd, and by the time of this review, still hadn’t received even 2,500 listens on SoundCloud. 15 years, and this is the amount of enthusiasm and anticipation Alabama can draw for this song.
“Southern Drawl” will be one of the worst songs to be released in country music in all of 2015. The album Southern Drawl can only be better than this first song, because it would be impossible for it to be any worse. “Southern Drawl” not only fails to create any bit of interest for their new album, it even fails to live up to even the most modest accounts of Alabama’s legacy.
Vomitous.
Two Guns Way Down! (0-10)
September 9, 2015 @ 9:33 am
Wow, that is just awful, and I have always liked Alabama. I grew up on them.
That song is stereotypical 2015 country radio crap. C’mon guys, you’re better than that.
September 11, 2015 @ 2:29 pm
You know what I think is DISGUSTING??? These guys have worked and are still AWESOME!! REAL FANS KNOW!! AND, those who know the reason that the greatest band in history (literally), that radio on their last album BLACKBALLED them….What is everything you hear on the radio now? Why because they don’t have women grinding and have their shirts off they suck now? WAKE UP!!! FANS CALL AND REQUEST!!!!!!! SHUT RADIO UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 12, 2015 @ 10:04 am
LIKE RANDY SAID PEOPLE LIKE TO MOCK ALABAMA 🙁 TRUE* IN LIFE PEOPLE ALWAYS MARK …AND BULLY THE BEST N NICEST PEOPLE <3
THEY ARE JUST JEALOUS OF THE BEST BAND EVER !!!!!!!!
September 13, 2015 @ 9:00 am
I accually like the song….it’s got a good beat and their voices are amazing what ever they sing ….
September 19, 2015 @ 1:40 pm
Just in case anyone is wondering, the commenter “Sally Gentry” is Teddy Gentry’s daughter–the same Teddy Gentry standing to Randy Owen’s left on the new album cover. Sally, it is obvious you have loyalty to your father since Alabama’s fame caused you to never have to finish high school or get a job, but this song is terrible.
September 21, 2015 @ 7:53 am
Dave, you’re an asshole. Judge the music all you want, but attacking Sally (or any other person for that matter) is completely out of line.
May 1, 2020 @ 8:13 pm
Dave was right to inform the readers of this biased comment. He may have saved some fans their hard earned cash.
January 11, 2022 @ 9:11 am
Thank you Michael,
Sally is a very kind,talented,strong and courageous woman,who’s been through and survived more b.s. than most people are aware of.
I’m like this about Sally.
Sally is Sally.
You either Love her or just stfu and don’t be talking trash about her.
People always talking trash about people nowadays.Where’s the humanity and love in the world?
Any one remember the Albama band ballgames?
September 24, 2015 @ 3:23 am
Dave, for the record, “just in case anyone is wondering”, I am not related to anyone in the band so I have NO family loyalty. I do, however, find your remarks completely offensive. Speak for yourself and not for Alabama’s real fans!! I would take the fact that you said “this is the worst (country) song to be released in 2015” as a compliment. Country music today sucks and is clearly playing to an audience of people with diminished mental capacity like yourself!!
September 26, 2015 @ 8:41 am
I guess irony is lost on you, but I would expect nothing less from some of the mental midgets defending this or any other crap masquerading as country music. Calling me an asshole while telling me I shouldn’t “attack” someone. That’s rich. I think it’s acceptable to point out when someone has an agenda. Calling what I said an “attack” simply represents this whole special snowflake mentality where no one can take criticism.
September 22, 2015 @ 9:39 pm
Why didn’t your dad or Jeff play on new album. They aren’t credited with having played guitar on it.
October 7, 2019 @ 1:46 pm
It’s sad because for ONCE in their career they had complete creative control. Yet, this was the best they could do? How about re-recording some of the great songs that never got a real shot like Tar Top or If It Ain’t Dixie? And, I don’t know how someone can go from writing Tennessee River,Why Lady Why, My Homes in Alabama, and then come up totally empty. Surely there are a few songs that maybe got cut from some first few albums that would be better than anything on their new album. OMG, it’s a money grab. That’s all it was. Didn’t like it at ALL. The worst part is Come Find Me was already recorded by Randy once on a solo record. Come on guys, there are hundreds of great writers in Nashville, use some of them. I have written 10 songs myself that would have been better suited for their new album. When daddy lets his son Heath Owen put a song on there it’s clear they weren’t interested in finding the best Alabama type songs out there. Shit, Rhett Aikens probably has a basement full of “So-So” stuff that would have been 100 times better than anything on this album. Or how about going back to a few of the writers from your previous hits? Come on guys. Really???
April 23, 2017 @ 9:24 pm
Wow….Alabama was trying a new creative outlet and this critical review almost sounds like a bully. I have the southern drawl album and it is very good. There are many songs that sound like ordinary alabama songs on this record however southern drawl is different from what they have done before. They are coming back because they love making music and its people like you that are so negative that you can’t see the good. Shame on you
May 1, 2020 @ 8:17 pm
Let me guess, you thought Shaggin’ on the Boulevard was a great song, right?
July 16, 2021 @ 7:52 pm
ordinary is the right word to describe this, and not in a good way.
September 9, 2015 @ 9:35 am
Sounds like Alabama wants money and someone told them their old sound didn’t make any so they gave them this shit. This ain’t my Alabama….file this one next to the new Lynyrd Skynyrd’s albums.
September 14, 2015 @ 8:59 pm
For anyone that thinks Alabama is doing this for money, so what if they are. Alabama has raised, donated, and supported more charities than I can name. They have probably raised more money for Charity than they have made in their whole career, and I seriously doubt that amount is just chump change. Randy Owen created the foundation Country Cares for St. Jude Kids and has raised over $600 Million dollars for St. Jude, and wants to reach a goal of $1 Billion http://tasteofcountry.com/randy-owen-st-jude-goal/. Other Country artist have branched out from the full name originally started by Owen and use the Country Cares part and support their own charities. BH
May 1, 2020 @ 8:19 pm
Start naming some of the charities, then I may believe you.
September 9, 2015 @ 9:36 am
Oh man this is bad……Guess they’re not gonna play in Texas anymore?
September 9, 2015 @ 9:44 am
This is 2015 bro. If you’re gonna play in Texas you better have a hick-hop DJ in the band. Ugh… I really wish I could erase what I just listened to from my mind.
September 10, 2015 @ 4:15 am
Hahaha. Well said. But as Trig points out this bro label is just the latest musical trend in a long running soap opera known as “country music”. It truly is nothing new, just a different twist on melodic vibes to get the masses to listen. It existed in the past 6 decades as artist have reliably looked to “country radio” as a way to the mainstream dollars. Forget the bro guys for a minute, look to bands like Lady A, Little Big Town, etc. …. There is nothing “country” to them. I have no problem with those bands but at the end of the day most of these arguments are hypocritical because there are very few true country music artist left. It’s been going on since the genre became popular and it’s not going to change. Let’s all just continue looking for good music and let others label it as they see fit.
May 1, 2020 @ 8:22 pm
I don’t know, man. This album makes Achey Breaky Big Mistakey sound like country.
September 9, 2015 @ 1:08 pm
Man, that is very very well said.
For what it is worth, up until the last few years, that song was always up on a pedestal as my “worst country song ever”. Now it has been left in the dust.
September 9, 2015 @ 10:51 pm
You don’t like, “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas”. That’s crazy. I love it.
This on the other hand….
September 9, 2015 @ 9:38 am
This song truly is an absolute pile of garbage and I am so disappointed. Legends like this who have a chosen a career path like they did are better off letting their legacy rest in peace rather than tainting it in embarrassment for one last attempt at relevancy because they think they’re cool again just because they are mentioned in today’s songs.
September 9, 2015 @ 9:48 am
Sad, horrible, awful, unnecessary, depressing, pathetic, awkward… just bad.
September 9, 2015 @ 9:54 am
Perhaps featuring on Brad Paisley’s hit “Old Alabama” triggered a knee-jerk depressive reaction among the band’s members along the lines of “B-b-but, we’re n-n-not o-old! We can be hip with the kids too! We’ll show ’em how New Alabama rolls!” -__-
From what I understand, they’ve already released the actual lead single, right? It’s remarkable that I’m not even sure if they have because I watch the charts closely and there’s no buzz whatsoever for Alabama on that front either! =X
September 9, 2015 @ 10:19 am
According to wikipedia “The album’s lead single “Wasn’t Through Lovin’ You Yet”, will be released to radio on September 15. The album will release on September 21, 2015 via BMG Chrysalis”
September 9, 2015 @ 10:23 am
Amazon is saying September 18th for the album release, which is a Friday. The 21st is a Monday, which doesn’t make sense. Not sure I would trust that Wiki info.
September 9, 2015 @ 11:59 pm
All new album releases are on Friday for 4 months now.
September 11, 2015 @ 1:28 pm
The release information to country radio stations like mine is that “Wasn”™t Through Lovin”™ You Yet” is indeed the lead single to impact radio 9/21 (the Add date for charting impact purposes). The album will be released 9/18 to shelves so the faithful can flock in.
The song stands in contrast to the above reviewed song, which is indeed bad. Power ballad reminicent of the long ago pop-flavored hits.
September 9, 2015 @ 12:32 pm
Well you got to remember that George Strait released a single a couple months ago that didn’t even make the top 40 and Alan Jackson released ‘Jim And Jack and Hank’ which was right in line with his past output style wise and it too didn’t make the top 40 so to think that a band that hasn’t been relevant chart wise since the 1990s would have any impact on the circa 2015 radio is asking a lot.
Really the McGraw, Urban, Chesney late forties age range is about as old as you can be in today’s environment. Sad times I’m afraid.
September 9, 2015 @ 3:52 pm
From what I have read, late 40s/early 50s has always been roughly the high end of country music career plateaus. As far as I know, Willie Nelson may have been the only prominent singer to buck this trend, since he reached his peak unusually late (in his late 40s rather than in his mid-to-late 30s).
September 9, 2015 @ 5:36 pm
Yes, you’re generally correct.
The last top ten country hits (as lead artist excluding featuring credits) for:
Eddy Arnold: 62
George Jones: 57
George Strait: 61 (currently 63)
Johnny Cash: 49
Conway Twitty: 58
Merle Haggard: 52
Reba McEntire: 56 (currently 60)
Dolly Parton: 45
Webb Pierce: 46
Willie Nelson: 56
Ray Price: 55
Buck Owens: 45
Marty Robbins: 57
Alan Jackson: 50 (will be 57 next month)
Hank Williams Jr: 41
Waylon Jennings: 53
Ernest Tubb: 49
Charley Pride: 50
Loretta Lynn: 47
Ronnie Milsap: 48
Kenny Rogers: 51 (11 year gap to second to last top ten)
Tammy Wynette: 42
Don Williams: 52
Vern Gosdin: 56
Tim McGraw is currently 48, Kenny Chesney is 47 and Keith Urban will be 48 next month.
Of course most of these artists continued to make more great music and sell lots of records but from a radio perspective these were about the ages when they started losing there relevancy. Also I think a big difference is that for most of the 70s, 80s and into the 90s a lot of these artists were charting at the same time well into their late forties and often fifties where as now there really are only the above mentioned three that are nearing this age range and still receiving airplay.
September 9, 2015 @ 6:26 pm
Interesting list.
There’s one mistake that I spotted. Kenny Rogers was 61 when he had a #1 hit with “Buy Me a Rose” in the late ’90s. And he broke the record for oldest-to-score-a-#1 that Hank Snow set with “Hello Love” in the ’70s, when he was around 60.
September 9, 2015 @ 6:34 pm
Yeah you’re right I made a math error on Kenny Rogers. He was 61 and ‘Buy Me A Rose’ is one of the biggest out of nowhere number ones in country music history. I thought of adding a few more like Hank Snow but I just decided to go with what would be considered about the top 20-30 solo artists in history and then throw in a few like Tammy Wynette and Vern Gosdin because they were on the extreme with Tammy’s run ending at the relatively early age of 42 and Vern not really hitting his radio stride until his early fifties. It’s inconceivable for that to happen in this youth obsessed era.
September 9, 2015 @ 6:57 pm
Thanks for the list.
Some surprises here. I did not realize that Willie’s last top 10 hit was when he was just 56, since that would be only about 7 years after his c. 1982 peak. Also, I am surprised that Hank Jr. did not have any hits into the 1990s.
September 9, 2015 @ 7:11 pm
Yeah his last top ten (as a lead) was ‘There You Are’ which peaked at #8 in early 1990. His first number one was ‘Blues Eyes Crying In The Rain’ in 1975 at the age of 42 after previously charting 27 country hits and having only two top tens back in 1962.
Hank Jr’s last top ten was ‘Good Friends, Good Whiskey, Good Lovin’ which peaked at #10 in 1990 and after that his highest peaking song reached #26 also in 1990.
This was kind of a fun little exercise and it’s interesting how some of these greats kind of petered out slowly and others just came to an abrupt halt. Several of them got caught up in the ‘Class of ’89’ housecleaning that saw so many great veteran acts become persona non grata at radio in almost a snap of the fingers. Willie, Merle, Conway, Pride, Milsap and Don Williams all went from a string of top tens to radio oblivion in just a few months to a year.
September 9, 2015 @ 7:38 pm
Crack research Scotty.
September 10, 2015 @ 7:35 am
“Buy Me A Rose” was not quite out of nowhere.
Rogers had been expunged from country radio during the Garth era, but he was suddenly enjoying a comeback and got back on the charts with a song about a little kid’s baseball fantasy called “The Greatest.” That record at least made the top 40 and did considerably better in a lot of markets. Rogers was riding the success of “The Greatest” when he came out with the more conventional love song “Buy Me a Rose.”
September 10, 2015 @ 8:14 am
Maybe it’s just semantics but yes he was having a little bit of a resurgence with ‘The Greatest’ (written by the great Don Schlitz writer of ‘The Gambler’, ‘Forever And Ever, Amen’ and ‘When You Say Nothing At All’ among dozens of other hits) but that song only peaked at #26 and it had been over a decade since he was in the top ten. And after that he never made the top ten again so I would still say it was a very out of the ordinary occurrence for country radio which seems to not reach back for aging acts that have been off the radio for years.
September 10, 2015 @ 10:34 am
I think the new Willie and Merle album is a great example of WHY aging acts lose their radio relevance. If we look at Porter Wagoner, Willie, Johnny Cash, and Don Williams, we can see it made pretty obvious that they recorded their best work later in life. The reason their best work isn’t successful at radio is because a lot of the people listening to the radio haven’t experienced enough in life to understand these aging artists. It’s the same problem we have today, the children haven’t grown up enough or lived enough life to even comprehend what the heck Jason Isbell is going on about… Heck MOST people under thirty-five haven’t even lived through the stuff on an Isbell record yet in their lives, of course he won’t appeal to them en masse.
September 12, 2015 @ 9:47 am
Well, it is funny that Waylon, Johnny Cash, Merle, and some others had hits right before they passed away.
September 13, 2015 @ 10:48 am
Well first of all Merle Haggard is not dead and secondly Waylon and Cash did not have radio hits right before they died. ‘Hurt’ certainly got a lot of attention and was a hit culturally but was a very minor hit on the country charts.
September 16, 2015 @ 4:52 pm
First of all I know who is living and who has passed away. I have lived a lot longer than you have. Just making a statement.
September 9, 2015 @ 10:06 am
Spinal Tap for country.
May 1, 2020 @ 8:35 pm
Don’t insult Spinal Tap like that!! Alabama were never able to turn it up to 11.
September 9, 2015 @ 10:07 am
God awful….30 seconds in and I bailed…..why,why not just look around you…Alan Jackson managed to release a very good album….copy from him…Hall of Fame or not…this is pretty awful…you are better than this….I think….
September 9, 2015 @ 10:12 am
This is worse than any of the bro songs you guys hate because of the level of degradation, desperation, and abdication of any effort to put a pen to paper and actually write anything lyrical.
September 9, 2015 @ 10:15 am
C’mon! Is anyone surprised? These are the guys that re-recorded an NSYNC pop hit, released it to country radio, and had the gall to performed at the CMAs with the boy band! These guys have been shamlessly selling out for years. They have no credibility with me.
And it’s a shame. When the first hit the scene, they were more southern rock than (pop) country. I remember riding around in my dad’s truck as a kid and ‘Bama’s Live album (1988) was always playing. Listen to that album or any of their first 8 studio albums and you hear more Lynyrd Skynyrd and Marshall Tucker Band than Shenandoah or Restless Heart (similar contemporaries on the radio in the late 80’s).
September 9, 2015 @ 6:14 pm
Amen hoptowntiger
September 11, 2015 @ 12:04 pm
Not to mention the awful country-rap attempt with “When It All Goes South.”
September 9, 2015 @ 10:16 am
If you click through the player link to the ‘alabamaband’ page on soundcloud there are 2 other songs that are much more like what I expect Alabama to sound like.
The awful title track must be some records execs demand to have a radio hit for the kids. I am curious to see who the songwriters are behind it.
September 14, 2015 @ 8:42 pm
The guys who started writing this song ”” Chip Davis, Damon Carroll and Ronnie Rogers ”” one of them is a trainer, not a songwriter, and he brought this chorus up as a joke,” Gentry explains. “They were talking about all the songs that talk about pickup trucks and stuff, and when I saw the title I thought ”˜What a cool title.’”
Owen eventually helped finish the track, although it may still see some revision.
“It already has a parody started,” Cook jokes. “It goes, ”˜I can”™t hear, I can”™t see / I can”™t tell when I pee.”™ We call that one ”˜Southern Drool.’”
September 9, 2015 @ 10:28 am
If you’re gonna get played on radio
You can’t have country in your song
September 9, 2015 @ 10:40 am
Just a friendly correction, Trig, they were inducted into the Country Music HOF in 2005.
But yeah, the song blows.
September 9, 2015 @ 11:26 am
Yeah, got my wires crossed in my fit of rage apparently. Apologies.
September 9, 2015 @ 10:42 am
My IQ just dropped, thanks for ruining my childhood.
September 9, 2015 @ 10:46 am
I played this and every sensor on my ship went to pot… and then black holes started opening everywhere!! this song is so bad it broke space!
September 9, 2015 @ 10:47 am
So sad. It reminds me of an old boxer coming out of retirement for one more fight to prove that he’s still the baddest dude in the ring, and so he waddles into the ring, out of shape, and gets flattened.
September 9, 2015 @ 10:51 am
Bless yall’s heart. That’s a polite way in the south to say your new songs is a sad piece of sh**.
September 9, 2015 @ 10:58 am
This song is a pile of shit. There was a time when I thought Alabama, like Garth Brooks, could do no wrong in terms of selling out tour dates and cashing checks. I never liked either of them, but I really thought that Alabama would just continue to sell albums (remember those?) and tour indefinitely, kind of like the Stones or Kiss. My how times have changed. I remember listening Tennessee River and Mountain Music as a kid. Adults I knew back then listened to that kind of stuff, even if they didn’t like country music (same with the Oak Ridge Boys,) but the benefit was that listening to that led me to better country music.. As a side note, I’ve always thought that they ruined almost all of their songs with some ridiculous gimmick about 3/4 of the way through. Some kind of change in tempo, vocal wanking, or drum breakdown, etc.
September 9, 2015 @ 11:14 am
“Alabama is easy to pick on and hard to hate, and here soon they”™ll be Country Music Hall of Famers, and deservedly so.”
Just an FYI – Alabama was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
September 9, 2015 @ 11:17 am
this is like when an old guy tries to show young people he is still cool. no substance! complete rubbish! Alabama has been a staple in my life and really my first exposure to country radio. Alabama led me to Garth, Alan, Clint Black, Travis Tritt, Mark Chesnut,, and 90s country in general. I did not even know George Strait was back then much less his 80s music. Thankfully, my grandfather introduced me to Hank Williams and Bob Wills. Alabama would have been better off just staying in retirement.
September 9, 2015 @ 11:26 am
I thought, “How could Alabama be THAT bad? Even their lesser material has been at least listenable.” … Yeah, it’s THAT bad. Embarrassingly bad; like Truck Yeah bad. Worse. I can’t decide if it sounds more like a parody of shit music or a desperate grab for attention by some nobody band trying to cash in on an already dead trend. It sure as hell doesn’t sound like Alabama. This is like your parents trying to write a “cool” song, and you just cringe. :/
Yeah the ‘Nsync thing was bad, but this is like if they’d recorded a song with ‘Nsync in 2005. Terrible AND past its expiration date.
September 9, 2015 @ 11:27 am
They could have saved everyone the time and just called this “St. Anger”.
Seriously, this is like a Cledus T. Judd song from the late 90’s. Jesus Wept.
September 9, 2015 @ 6:09 pm
I actually thought St. Anger wasn’t that bad, just a good idea that was very badly executed. (No Kirk Hammett solos, whaaaaat?)
This, though? Flaming disaster, all the way around.
September 9, 2015 @ 7:17 pm
funny reference. i, too remember that pile of shit. wtf was hetfield thinking?
September 9, 2015 @ 11:35 am
Is that a guitar or sick cow mooing in the beginning? Not a good song but they still sound better than the bro-country acts. Is this a serious song or sort of a parody of bro-country because this is what they said in Rolling Stone:
“Conversely, “Southern Drawl” plays up the strong Southern identity the band has always possessed, but filters it through a checklist of un-wussified truisms, blaring guitars and protest-like shouting. “We drive trucks, we drink beer / We shoot whiskey and hunt deer,” goes the chorus.
“The guys who started writing this song ”” Chip Davis, Damon Carroll and Ronnie Rogers ”” one of them is a trainer, not a songwriter, and he brought this chorus up as a joke,” Gentry explains. “They were talking about all the songs that talk about pickup trucks and stuff, and when I saw the title I thought ‘What a cool title.'”
Owen eventually helped finish the track, although it may still see some revision.
“It already has a parody started,” Cook jokes. “It goes, ‘I can’t hear, I can’t see / I can’t tell when I pee.’ We call that one ‘Southern Drool.'”
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/alabama-preview-the-mountain-music-of-southern-drawl-album-20150903
Hopefully it’s the worst song on the album. Wasn’t Through Lovin’ You Yet and Come Find Me are way better.
September 9, 2015 @ 11:36 am
My guess? They heard
Jason Aldean: Jammin’ to some old Alabama with ya baby layin’ right here, naked in my bed.
and
FGL: Alabama on the boom box baby! ‘Bout to get a little boondock crazy!
and thought: “Wow, these young guys are still singin’ ’bout us in their progressive hit songs! We’re still cool to the younguns! We should release a modern smash hit to show how hip and cool we still are! Country music is evolvin’ bros, so let’s prove we can evolve too!”
September 9, 2015 @ 11:38 am
jesus gaylord h christ……im absolutely positive that that is the worst song ive ever heard. fuck alabama, I was forced to listen to them growing up and I always thought they sucked. I always wondered how they were country music. this song is just awful in every way….I felt so awkard and uncomfortable listening to it…its so embarrassing for them too. they cannot keep up with the terrible music and sound like shit attempting to do the FGL style rapping. not to mention the lyrics are worse than Kick The Dust Up. these morons need to leave songs like this to FGL….they could probably make this piece of shit song sound at least half decent.
September 9, 2015 @ 11:55 am
That song truly could not have been worse or seemed like more of a desparation Hail Mary to get played on today’s radio.
Correct me if I’m wrong someone, but Alabama was always proud of the fact that they didn’t feature “drinking” in their songs. I’m trying to think of a song they ever had that glorified alcohol the way this one does, or even featured a character in the song imbibing.
September 9, 2015 @ 12:21 pm
“Cheap Seats” had a line about drinking beer at baseball games. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Certainly, redneck party culture was never a central element of their songs.
September 9, 2015 @ 1:20 pm
“Drinkin’ was forbidden in my Christian country home”
That’s an excellent point. I would have thought moonshine would have been consumed in their earlier songs, but can’t think of one.
September 9, 2015 @ 12:19 pm
I loved them as a kid and saw one of their farewell tour shows. Like most mainstream acts with a huge catalog, they had their share of clunkers and bad decisions, but I hold an overall positive opinion of them. Man, I’m just going to pretend that I didn’t hear this. Wow; just shockingly bad…and completely unnecessary.
If George or Alan ever put out something like this, I seriously quit.
September 9, 2015 @ 12:22 pm
LOL. They lost me at “drinking beer and shooting deer”. I had to stop the player. hahaha. I tend to be a “never get in between a man and a dollar” kind of guy, but this is just awful.
Trigger, you are correct, the rest of the album CAN’T be worse.
September 9, 2015 @ 12:28 pm
Now i’m sure. Alabama is more of a corporate group than a music band. I never liked the way they treated drummer Mark Herndon.I think they should have stop recording 25 years ago.After 1990 everything they recorded was garbage.
September 9, 2015 @ 12:37 pm
That whole deal with Herndon left a bad taste in my mouth also. For years and years he was on every album cover and in all the publicity and was portrayed as an equal member of the band and then one day it was ‘oh by the way Herndon was never really in the band he was just a glorified employee’. Looked really bad.
September 10, 2015 @ 7:49 am
This is the first I’ve ever heard of that whole business. I certainly thought for many years that Herndon was a full-fledged band member, especially considering that he had such a prominent position in the videos as well. )Of course, he was kinda hard to miss with the sunglasses & blond hair.) It’s a real shame how the other guys treated him.
September 9, 2015 @ 12:35 pm
Alabama sold out long before this song. Their list of boring pop songs goes back years.
GeriatriBro Country
September 9, 2015 @ 12:39 pm
Embarrassing. I don’t understand why it is so hard for some artists to just age gracefully. Vince Gill, George Strait and Alan Jackson have all done it. Patty Loveless, Marty Stuart, etc.
Furthermore, this sounds like a bad Trace Adkins track….and that dude’s career as a mainstream artist is pretty much done. If you are trying to pander to a younger audience, at least try to keep up with the trends.
May 1, 2020 @ 8:46 pm
Is there a good Trace Adkins track?
September 9, 2015 @ 12:56 pm
One word…….sad!!!
September 9, 2015 @ 1:06 pm
I think this song is terrific. I am really excited about this new direction that Alabama is taking.
September 11, 2015 @ 12:07 pm
I am really hoping this is satire.
September 12, 2015 @ 7:10 pm
Oh it is. This is my new standard response to everything that sucks. I am trying to be less negative.
September 9, 2015 @ 1:42 pm
Never considered them as a country band , more so southern rock and pop. It seems like George&Alan are the only two legends who get mainstream radio play these days. Once those two stop getting played competely , there is no hope.
September 9, 2015 @ 2:49 pm
“Jim & Jack & Hank” stalled and peaked at #50 on the Country Airplay chart two weeks ago, while George Strait’s most recent single “Let It Go” peaked at #48 earlier this year.
Even they won’t be getting mainstream airplay anymore! =(
September 9, 2015 @ 5:36 pm
Ummm….no they aren’t. George Strait and Alan Jackson are both ignored by country radio. “I Got A Car” is definitely the LAST single that George will ever release that will ever be heard on country radio. His new one, “Let It Go”, flopped so horribly that it was only on the charts for one week…..yes you read that right….ONE. DAMN. WEEK! Then it fell off the face of the earth….honestly makes me sick. Alan’s new one, “Jim & Jack & Hank” only made it to #50 and was only on the charts for a month. The single was so ignored that most sources that announce new music being released did not even have Alan’s single listed. I’m friends with an on air personality that works for a country radio station, he told me that George and Alan’s “radio run is over”. He said they are old news in other words. He told me that due to them not wanting to change their sound, that programmers will not even consider adding them to the station. He said that old styled country music like that causes the station to lose money as the audience is very low. He said they, as well as other country stations, play Sam Hunt, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, FGL, etc…because the audience numbers are through the roof and make the station money. Unfortunately, it is NOT country radio that is corrupt, ITS THE PEOPLE of this country that love people like Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt.
September 9, 2015 @ 9:47 pm
I do agree there is no hope for country music anymore George Strait, Alan Jackson, and Reba last singles flopped. #46, #50, and #28. Very sad; isn’t it.
September 9, 2015 @ 2:00 pm
Honestly, I am embarrassed for them it is so bad… Wow…… I can’t even believe they would release junk like this.
September 9, 2015 @ 2:05 pm
I didn’t like it when the New Kids on the Block released it as “Hangin’ Tough”
September 9, 2015 @ 2:40 pm
Sounded like a mediocre song by Trace Atkins, until I came to that God-awful “rapping” around 2:20.
September 9, 2015 @ 5:39 pm
I have never thought Trace Adkins is mediocre……
September 13, 2015 @ 1:15 pm
I think Trace Adkins has a great voice and has released some good songs, but he’s also released some awful, awful songs.
September 9, 2015 @ 2:45 pm
Sweeeeeet baby satan. Just about when this could not get any worse I got some oldwhitemanrapping action going, and boy was I wrong. This thundering ass-burp really ruined my evening.
September 9, 2015 @ 7:36 pm
“Thundering ass-burp” is not only my new favorite collection of words, but it’s a perfect way to describe this song.
September 9, 2015 @ 2:45 pm
Song is bad, but I like the message, nothing gets my goat as someone with a Boston area accent.
September 9, 2015 @ 2:45 pm
Just braved this again for a second listen, just so I can provide more specifics as to what makes this uniquely awful.
If there was ONE thing I can compliment about this track AT ALL, it would honestly be the use of honky-tonk piano during the solo. I miss hearing that instrument on mainstream country airwaves.
Beyond that, this is just a complete abomination.
Vocally, Owen sounds completely indifferent and uncomfortable here. It sounds more like he recorded his vocal track while lying recumbent on the couch, attached it to an e-mail by phone and sent it to their producer, and he instantly passed it on to the engineer. That’s how lifeless and rudimentary the vocal track sounds! =/
Lyrically, nothing is of saving grace here, but there were especially awful lines that stood out. Like giving up on trying to find a word that rhymes with “anendment”, so they insisted on rearranging it as “Amendment Two”. Hahaha, good one! (sarcastic eye roll). And shoehorning the obligatory shout-out to the troops in the bridge also came across as desperate.
Finally, the production is basically a reversion to where we were at in the late 2000s and early 2010s just before bro-country took off. That is, régurgitating of AC/DC-esque riffing and Bon Jovi histrionics spiced with modest country instrumentation. It reminded me of a mix of Chris Cagle’s “Let There Be Cowgirls”, Randy Houser’s “Whistlin’ Dixie” and Jason Aldean’s “She’s Country”……………..obviously bad news all around.
*
I just don’t understand who their target audience is here. Are they so tone-deaf to the extent that they think fans of Brantley Gilbert are going to lap this up? At least 80% of Brantley Gilbert fans have no clue what kind of music Alabama makes outside of hearing “Mountain Music” at karaoke nights.
September 9, 2015 @ 2:52 pm
FFS, keep AC/DC out of it, even bad Bon Jovi.
September 9, 2015 @ 4:04 pm
Of all the awful songs you have reviewed, this is the 2nd worst following kick the rust up.
September 9, 2015 @ 5:04 pm
I agree. I think Kick The Dust Up is the worse “country” song of all time.
September 10, 2015 @ 5:09 pm
Vacation is probably 10x worse than both of those songs. Friend Zone is right there with Vacation. Kick The Dust Up is tolerable lets be honest.
September 9, 2015 @ 4:20 pm
To say I’m blown away is my own personal understatement of my 37 years. I’m beyond disappointed and embarrassed for them. I saw them twice in their hayday, and I own every album they have ever put out with the exception of the Christmas albums. They were a quintessential bar band and payed far more dues than even most of the other artists from their day. I have and read Randy Owens autobiography and it’s fantastic.
That being said, this is one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. I’m truly and honestly embarrassed for them on their behalf. I can’t believe what I just heard. I thought that somehow, just some way they could be a new shining light for a resurgence of the actual country band. This to me just looks like our hollowed legends are throwing in the towel. I certainly didn’t expect Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook to go for this and actually be part of it. Teddy is the reason I started playing bass years ago.
I don’t know what else to say, it’s a truly sad time for Alabama and their legions of fans. All of these years we’ve been begging for another album – another album to sink our teeth into, add to our collections, and have a fresh taste of that Alabama sound. I can’t believe that this is what we get. We can only hope this single was released to get the kiddies to buy the album and maybe eventually discover the rest of their catalogue, and maybe – hopefully – the rest of the album will have some substance. Unreal guys, unreal.
September 9, 2015 @ 5:02 pm
I finally steeled myself to listen to a bit of it, and my first impression was: how the bloody hell can you sing a song called “Southern Drawl” without a Southern drawl? Honestly, maybe it’s just the overproduction but they don’t even sound Southern to me.
September 9, 2015 @ 5:07 pm
I’m not going to listen to it, but I will spin the black circle that is ’40 Hour Week’
Thanks for the warning.
September 9, 2015 @ 5:13 pm
This song had me thinking 2 things. 1. Who pissed off the gods this badly? 2. Wishing I could go on an Archer-style rampage on music row. RAMPAGE!!!!
September 9, 2015 @ 5:40 pm
I haven’t listen to their new song yet and or I haven’t buy their new cd yet which it will be out on the 18th of this month. I am not jumping on the conclusion to knock this cd yet or their new song and I really like Alabama.
September 9, 2015 @ 5:48 pm
We cut our teeth on Alabama’s music, and they are the quintessential country group of the 1980s. However, you could tell things were amiss when they released the underwhelming “When It All Goes South” and the accompanying album in 2001. Fortunately, their 2003 American Farewell Tour allowed them a way to gracefully bow out of an amazing career. Randy Owen’s solo act was quite fantastic when we saw it at the first BamaJam in 2008, and it was pretty much an Alabama concert except less busyness, less drunks, and with the extremely talented Megan Mullins playing fiddle.
Yet, not being content with pseudo-retirement, they decided to get the band back together… well, everyone except Mark Herndon, because despite being featured in all album art, all music videos, and having a life-size statue like the rest of the band, it’s just easier to Photoshop him out of everything and act like he never existed (granted, there’s the whole touring-only drummer/”contract employee”/lawsuit thing, but it’s clear that they considered him a full band member in better times). It was at this point that Alabama no longer seemed like Alabama to us. Dueting with Brad Paisley for a horrible cash-in song, touring again like the Farewell tour never happened, and treating Mark Herndon like Pasqually at Chuck E. Cheese’s showed the world a vastly different Alabama than the group that retired in 2003. We could catch the new Alabama on tour in our area, but PBS’s 4th of July special showed us all we needed to see of the new Alabama, including Randy’s neckerchief and Jeff Cook staring into space like a broken animatronic. “Southern Drawl” only furthers our resistance to the new Alabama.
September 9, 2015 @ 6:15 pm
“When It All Goes South” was EXACTLY what I thought of when I heard this song. Up till now I thought that was the worst Alabama song I’d ever heard.
September 9, 2015 @ 6:11 pm
Not only is the song a complete waste of time but the performance is absolutely unforgivable . There is no vocal syncing to the electronic tracks , the mix is lifeless and the vocals even worse. This isn’t even good karaoke , whatever THAT might be . Fake crowd applause , passionless delivery , generic everything . Wow …..embarrassing on all fronts .
September 9, 2015 @ 6:18 pm
Once again, just another God awful rock song of someone trying to tell us how country they are.
September 9, 2015 @ 6:36 pm
You guys need to get over it….this is 2015 and Alabama is doing what all the other artist are doing by trying to attract a new and younger audience because that’s where the money is. Even Waylon changed his music in the 90’s! In my book, they don’t need to prove anything to us or anyone else, just keep doing what they enjoy, and if this gets them back on the road and making money, then more power to them. I have always been and will always will be an Alabama fan!
September 9, 2015 @ 7:37 pm
I wish I could be convinced this is what Alabama wants to be doing. I respect and admire your loyalty, but I think you can love Alabama, but still have second thoughts about this song.
September 10, 2015 @ 8:06 am
The problem with this argument , Glenn , is that if the target market for country music was 6 year olds , would Alabama ( and all of these other market-chasing straw-graspers) record an album of nursery rhymes JUST to have sales ? Where do these guys draw the line when it comes to integrity ? And do you really believe there is a demographic of ANY age that could not see right through the desperate attempt of this band and this sad , sad excuse for a ‘song’ to stay ‘in the game’ ? I mean , yes …there IS a lowest common denominator that these tunes are designed to cater to but I cannot imagine the kind of folks who’d consider THIS a good song and an Alabama-worthy performance.I noticed , in your post , that although you are a fan even YOU didn’t indicate that you thought it was a good song . I think because no one in 2015 even with all the crap fed to us by radio , could possibly find THIS a good song .
September 15, 2021 @ 12:51 pm
Barbara mandrell once offered to record three blind mice if she thought anyone would buy it. Thank heaven she didn’t. She had every gift except one— taste. She didn’t always know a good song from a bad one. She retired with dignity though
November 13, 2021 @ 9:52 am
She didn’t and we didnt
September 9, 2015 @ 7:47 pm
What a fucking embarrassment this song is. And from Alabama! One of my childhood favorites. What a shame. It’s not even a song – it’s literally just a checklist performed to a monotonous beat. This makes me very sad. I need to stop caring about this shit. There’s no upside.
Edit: and I even live in fucking Alabama. So it’s like a double-fuck. So pissed. Yeah, they need to make money. I get that. Go back on tour with your legacy stuff that everyone loves. Don’t ruin your legacy. That’s all this is. Cheap. Common. Ruination.
I guess the takeaway is that nobody cares. Take the money because there’s nothing more beyond it.
The only fool here, I suppose, is the fan.
September 9, 2015 @ 8:05 pm
You gotta be freaking kidding me!!!!!!!! Talk about grasping….embarrassing!
What a laundry list ……wow. I’m in shock actually that they would try and go this route.
September 9, 2015 @ 8:55 pm
I heard first minute of it and it was terrible.
September 9, 2015 @ 9:17 pm
This is just sad to me. But I saw it coming. My wife is a huge Alabama fan. So in May of 2013 I was able to get her front row seats for their show at the Fox and Atlanta. I have listened to their bootleg shows from the 1980s and I have to say those shows were very entertaining. They were a mix of southern rock and country and part of the show even paid tribute to the roots of country music.
Their concert at the Fox was just plain cheesy. It really felt like they were just trying to hard. And on another note Jeff Cook has to be the creepiest fellow I have ever seen. Every time I would put my arm around my wife he would stare at me straight in the eyes. It was so bad that my wife was getting a little creeped out.
A few months later they released At The Ryman. I picked up the album because I thought maybe the show at the Fox was just a fluke. I was totally wrong by the way. I don’t understand why they felt they needed Jason Aldean Luke Bryan or FGL on the album. You would have thought that a band like Alabama could have stood on their own. I’m a huge Jamey Johnson fan but I even thought he should not have been on the album. I do have to say that his version of My Home’s In Alabama was the highlight of the album however.
So in my humble opinion they were already on the way to selling out in 2013. I feel like Alabama went to the record company and said we really want to release a new album. And the record company said that’s fine but the only way that you will be relevant and make money is to do what we tell you. But I think that if they would have stayed true to themselves they would’ve been relevant with the folks that mattered and cared for them.
September 13, 2015 @ 1:42 am
This just kills me. People on here are talking about the guys like they are has beens. They have been a part of my life for over 36 years and personally, I, a true fan, am not ready to give them up! All singers have a song that a lot of people don’t like, but if you love them, you will love their songs. I don’t say a lot, but when you talk about them like what is being said here, I can’t be quiet! They are older, they have medical problems, but they still put on an awesome concert and they truly love their fans. You can’t say that about many of the performers anymore. So, leave Alabama along. We are not through loving them yet!
September 13, 2015 @ 8:36 pm
Thank you, Jana! I was getting depressed reading all the mean comments about ALABAMA like they are has beens and old men. ALABAMA doesn’t need to do ANYTHING to be relevant. They have been a RELEVANT part of country music for years. Check out their list of awards all of you cruel commenting naysayers!! They can still sell out concerts! Their music is way better than the so called country that is being played now. Nothing I hear on the radio these days even resembles country music. ROLL ON, ALABAMA! You still have millions of fans out there that will support you no matter what these people are commenting on here.
September 14, 2015 @ 8:13 pm
For those that think they are doing this for money, so what if they are. Alabama has raised, donated, and supported more charities than I can name. They have probably raised more money for Charity than they have made in their whole career, and I seriously doubt that amount is just chump change. Randy Owen created the foundation Country Cares for St. Jude Kids and has raised over $600 Million dollars for St. Jude, and wants to reach a goal of $1 Billion http://tasteofcountry.com/randy-owen-st-jude-goal/. Other Country artist have branched out from the full name originally started by Owen and use the Country Cares part and support their own charities. BH
September 9, 2015 @ 9:35 pm
What the bloody hell was that?!
September 9, 2015 @ 10:04 pm
I got an advance copy of the album. Probably 3 or 4 throwaway songs, (not including the awful title track), but the rest of the album is pretty damn good. There’s a couple of ballads that Randy absolutely nails. The first single “Wasn’t Through Lovin’ You”, along with “This Ain’t Just A Song”, “Come Find Me”, and “I Wanna Be There” are just great. Very much like the classic Alabama records with some filler, and a few stellar songs.
September 10, 2015 @ 9:45 am
“Come Find Me” is a standout song and definitely has the Alabama love ballad vibe. We look forward to finding the other gems hidden among the static!
September 9, 2015 @ 11:09 pm
Is this “song” a parody? It sounds as idiotic as Bret Michaels’s “Girls on Bars”.
September 10, 2015 @ 5:20 am
Thanks. I had just recently managed to forget about that one…
September 10, 2015 @ 7:27 am
Nope, not even going to push play button on this one.
September 10, 2015 @ 7:38 am
If it is possible, the song is actually 100 times WORSE than Trigger’s review makes it sound. This is embarrassing. This is 70-year-old-man-in-skinny-jeans bad. Kind of funny that they don’t even sing the song “Southern Drawl” with a southern drawl. Love the drawn out “whole lotta better” breakdown at the end. Ouch. It makes me cringe.
Smothered in a whole lot of wrong sauce.
September 15, 2021 @ 4:18 pm
speaking of seventy year old men in skinny jeans, what is with lindsey buckingham he looks like he raids his daughters closet
September 10, 2015 @ 7:57 am
The title of this song was bad enough. I shut it off about 55 seconds in.
They had some clunkers, to be sure, but I was a big Alabama fan back in the day. I say every now and then that pop-country isn’t necessarily bad by default; it’s just that it used to be a whole lot better. Acts like Glen Campbell, Earl Thomas Conley, and Alabama are usually the examples I use to support that observation. I don’t know why they feel like they have to cheapen their legacy with this any more than they already have with songs like the *NSYNC duet and “When It All Goes South,” along with the whole Mark Herndon business. You’d think they’d have been set for life after their ’80s success.
September 10, 2015 @ 8:20 am
I agree I think their first 5 years or so featured a lot of really great pop country with a southern rock edge at times. Songs like ‘My Home’s In Alabama’, ‘Tennessee River’, ‘Feels So Right’ and ‘Dixieland Delight’ are just good stuff.
Plus it can’t be forgotten that they along with Hank Jr really drew in younger crowds at the time without totally selling out the genre like we are seeing now with some of these clowns.
September 10, 2015 @ 1:06 pm
Yep. I liked pretty much everything they released up until about 40 Hour Week. Everything between then and In Pictures was okay, but their earlier stuff was definitely the best.
February 14, 2022 @ 10:11 pm
40 hour week was just pandering. Roll on made money so why not make more with 40 hour week and squeeze the same demographic twice? They started to lose me with the closer you get. It was so slick it would slide right off the turntable
September 10, 2015 @ 8:12 am
I hate to say I called it… but I did. This is one of THE most disappointing sellouts I’ve ever been aware of. Everyone’s noting that Alabama were never the poster-boys for traditional country and have had other pop moments in the past, but never have they been SO utterly wrongheaded. They were so huge and well-rounded at their peak it’s hard not to like them, even if a lot of their music is shallow like you say. Yes, they covered *NSYNC and brought them to the CMAs, but whatever. That was 16 years ago, and merely a single track (which actually suited Alabama very well, as a matter of fact). THIS? This is pure garbage, and I only had to listen to the first few seconds to figure that out. I heard it last week and that’s what spurred me to ask if you would cover the album, Trigger. I knew it’d make waves, at least around here. It’s alternatively sad and relieving that no one else is paying attention.
September 10, 2015 @ 8:24 am
Two guns… to my ears… *bang bang*
September 10, 2015 @ 8:51 am
This reminds me of that POS that Bret Michaels released, “Girls in Bars” or something like that. This might even suck worse than that crap song.
I’m embarrassed for Alabama. And I bet they know this release is a turd too, but figured they’d give bro-country a shot.
This song makes my head hurt!!
September 10, 2015 @ 9:26 am
is there any cliche that wasn’t used? … tailgate has to be in there somewhere.
September 10, 2015 @ 9:50 am
holy shit. this is terrible.
“we drive trucks. we drink beer. we shoot whiskey.”
goddammit Alabama. Youre better than this.
September 10, 2015 @ 9:53 am
I blame Brad Paisley!!
September 10, 2015 @ 9:54 am
Grampbrah country
September 10, 2015 @ 2:12 pm
It can be bad, but I am not sure that it is the worst song of the year. I don’t think it can be as bad as Luke Bryan’s Kick the Dust Up, Sam Hunt’s Take Your Time, Old Dominion’s Break Up With Him, Cole Swindell, Chris Jansen, or in my opinion the WORST SONG EVER Michael Ray Kiss You in the Morning (unfortunately my CD player in the car and cassette player are broken so I am forced to listen to “country stations”). Alabama should have quit while they were ahead.
September 10, 2015 @ 5:56 pm
Man that is bad, but I just heard Shooters song called F*ck you (I’m famous), and that is real bad also.
September 10, 2015 @ 6:33 pm
Bless their hearts
September 11, 2015 @ 12:21 pm
I think it’s a spoof. I wouldn’t take it seriously.
September 11, 2015 @ 2:18 pm
Your full of bull shit i cant believe yoi would even have the guts to say somerhing as dang stupid as what yiou have said you dont know what coumtry music is about
You just need to shut the crap up and dont bash alabama On there feeaking worst day there betfer than your two bit bs you write
September 11, 2015 @ 2:32 pm
Good English.
September 12, 2015 @ 8:47 am
Come on Trig, be nice, he’s just trying to be like Lil Dale.
September 12, 2015 @ 12:19 pm
Yep I’m southern
September 12, 2015 @ 6:48 am
You are judging one song that I personally think is great. The CD has wonderful songs on it and I think you are barking up the wrong tree when it comes to Alabama fans. Alabama are just as good as they have ever been. Listen to Wasn’t through loving you yet, American Farmer, and Come Find Me. Wonderful country songs. You have some nerve writing this. You are writing about Alabama. They are the best band to hit the music scene and they are the best to their fans. Listen to more on the CD before you judge. And if you think you will not be proved wrong, think again. And do I like the country music today, no I do not. Maybe this one song sounds a little more like the music today but they sang their beliefs, and who in their right mind could judge what is in their hearts. They are Alabama, greatest ever.
September 12, 2015 @ 9:44 am
I didn’t say anything about their album except that I expect it to be better than this song. This was the first song the band put out there for the public to hear, and it’s the title track. If people judge the album off this song, that can only be expected. I for one will not judge the album until I hear it. And I didn’t say anything about Alabama’s fans.
Alabama being the greatest band ever is your opinion, not a fact.
September 12, 2015 @ 9:52 am
No, do your research. Wasn’t Through Loving you, Yet was the first song.
September 12, 2015 @ 10:11 am
Look, if you don’t want a song to represent your album, you don’t make it the very first song on the album, and the title track. I personally am not going to let the song sway my opinions on the album. I am going to wait for the entire album and judge it on its own merit. All I am saying is this is the song Alabama wants us to focus on. If not, they wouldn’t have put it first, and made it the title track. It was a stupid move that is alienating wide swaths of their fan base whether you want to see through your fandom to recognize that, or not. I don’t have a dog in this race. I’m a critic. The reason I criticized this song is so Alabama understands how many people feel about it. Laugh those opinions off all you want, but they’re not going to go away. Frankly, I think Alabama owes their fans an explanation.
September 12, 2021 @ 12:41 pm
Alabama is over the hill commercially and probably don’t have the creative control they used to. Probably their a&r department forced this dog of a song on them, named the album title, and then released it to radio. Now they have to pretend to like the song. Expect it to be dropped from their next tour
September 13, 2015 @ 1:47 am
Amen, Frances. They are the best then, now, and forever! You either love them or don’t! It’s been this way for them since they started. I fell in love with them when I was 9 years old and I still love them. They are the nicest, love their fans, and give their all! You can’t say that about any other acts, that is for sure!
September 16, 2015 @ 5:10 pm
I agree, Jana. They are such good guys with hearts of gold. Won more rewards than anyone can count and I am so happy they are touring and have a new CD. The fans love them and that is what matters most and believe it or not, it is the fans that matter to Alabama.
September 12, 2021 @ 12:43 pm
Lots of people are nice guys and they don’t belong on mainstream radio
September 12, 2015 @ 7:40 am
I think the songs on this album are amazing. There are many Albums from various artist that i didn’t care for a few songs, don’t let one song ruin an entire album. Alabama has always been an amazing group, and still have it!! Give it a chance
September 12, 2015 @ 8:04 am
Great song!! ALABAMA keeps bringing it. Cannot wait for the album
September 12, 2015 @ 9:19 am
And I might add if you think this is not country, everything is better, a whole lotta, lotta better with a Southern Drawl. You go, Alabama. We, the fans, have got your back, always.
September 12, 2015 @ 9:34 am
Oh and I might add everything’s better, a whole lotta better with a Southern Drawl. If that’s not country, I do not know what is!!!
September 12, 2015 @ 12:16 pm
Your freaking crazy.
Alabama was is and will always be #1.
September 12, 2015 @ 1:09 pm
ALABAMA paved the way for many of the country music artist today. They set the standards by which ALL country music artist should be judged by. Radio critics mean nothing and contribute nothing to album sales or fan base!!! They are just a product of a purchased opinions. ALABAMA music, the guys in the band, their history of multiple awards, contributions to charity and unselfishly giving of themselves to their fans AND their fans — cannot be *bought* with the silliness of a critics opinion. Have the history with this band that SOME of the fans have — then maybe… JUST MAYBE …. your opinion will mean something. Until then —- cue that station because ALABAMA is fixin’ to get some serious airtime if the fans have anything at all to do with it!!!! 🙂 Meanwhile, maybe you can just practice your *Southern Drawl*
September 12, 2015 @ 1:37 pm
“ALABAMA paved the way for many of the country music artist today.”
Boy you sure aren’t wrong about that.
You implying someone payed me to write this negative review? If I got paid for writing negative reviews, I’d be a millionaire. But you can delight in the fact that I am tragically, tragically poor.
September 12, 2015 @ 11:10 pm
Remember Toby Keith’s song, “The Critic” .lol
September 12, 2015 @ 3:42 pm
Wow if you wanna play in Texas you better have a southern drawl in the band. LOL! This is like Glam Metal act Poison holding to the dying genre in 1993. My god, this is awful… and they don’t look to great either.
Also it reminds me of the rambling listing Billy Joel did in “We Didn’t Start The Fire” only this is totally stupid and with no organization.
And the of course it an even dumber Big & Rich song with a dumb rap 3/4 the way through. Like, talk about a shopping list song that covers every stereotype of southern people known to man… Man oh man but hey these same cats put out “Mountain Music” and that duet with Lionel Richie (still more country than Sam Hunt) who won some lifetime achievement BS for his country music contributions.
And after ALL THAT audio atrocity it doesn’t even really have THAT MUCH southern drawl to my ears. LOL!
September 12, 2015 @ 3:52 pm
Listened again to make sure I wasn’t just going in hating it. But nope The Country Bears laid a stinker this time around. Did Toby Keith pass on this song back in 2003 or something? Like what… *shakes head* I don’t know, I’ll always like “Tennessee River” but (sigh) time for me to move on to another state. Maybe Kansas will put out some good new material. LOL!
September 12, 2015 @ 9:11 pm
Jerks! The longevity of their career. The respect in which they carry themselves, never selling out, no drama or paparazzi. They kept normal lives in AL AND always put their fans first! Write and sing their own music. Give back to world.
That is a real artist! A real person. A real family. Find someone that can beat ALL their attributes!!!!!!!
September 13, 2015 @ 8:41 am
i love it sounds just like the band
September 13, 2015 @ 8:40 pm
Maybe not their best work, but still better than most of the stuff that has been playing on Country radio since their last album. I enjoyed it, I think it’s a fun song. I do wish they were releasing “I Wasn’t Through Loving You Yet” first, though. It’s a beautiful song.
September 13, 2015 @ 11:58 pm
This is how a REAL critic reviews a New CD/Album while TASTEFULLY pointing out the good and bad. By Chris Parton September 3, 2015 Rolling Stone Country
Arguably the most influential country band in history, Alabama are set to return September 18th with their first album of originals in 14 years. Called Southern Drawl, the project finds the Country Music Hall of Famers “getting off the porch” with a sound that revives the magic of country in the Eighties and Nineties.
The band’s three core members (and cousins) ”” lead singer Randy Owen, guitarist Jeff Cook and bassist Teddy Gentry ”” see the album as a labor of love, and tell Rolling Stone Country they were inspired to make new music after realizing fans wanted them back.
“Getting out here and touring like we have for a few years, seeing the response from the crowd, selling the tickets that we are, we realized there’s still a lot of fan interest and support out there,” says Gentry. “When you’re away from it for 11 or 12 years, you start wondering if you’re still relevant or not. But I think after getting back out there, one step led to another.”
Their relevance should not have been in question, really. Alabama was the band that shook up the status quo of their day, much like their acolytes Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line are doing now. Playing instruments on their own records, incorporating a rock influence, wearing casual street clothes and essentially inventing the idea of a country band ”” along with staging massive concerts with lights and sound that would rival anything in any other genre ”” Alabama laid the groundwork for country’s mainstream explosion.
Those days were long ago, though, and the bandmates are frank about encountering some obstacles on their way back into the fold, like getting in shape vocally. Famous for their stunning three-part harmonies, the band had to dig deep to revive their signature sound. Plus, nothing will ever compare to the clout they once commanded.
“We had a deadline for this one,” Gentry explains. “That was one of the things we got used to in the Eighties and Nineties: we’d have an unlimited budget. We never had anybody say, ‘You’re on the clock. You gotta be through in an hour-and-a-half.’ That was tough on this album. . . But to me, we’re doing the same thing and taking the same approach as we did in the Eighties and Nineties, where you work hard to find the very best songs you can, and try to make a great record out of a great song.”
The band was given the chance to produce the album completely themselves, though, and they say their record label never heard a track until the whole thing was finished. They wrote about half of the songs and sourced the rest from outside songwriters on Nashville’s Music Row, coming up with a stylistically and emotionally diverse set of 13 tracks. With an undeniable air of Southern authenticity, Southern Drawl is at times charming, tender, lighthearted and defiant.
“Wasn’t Through Loving You Yet” is a very current-feeling, mid-tempo song, “Hillbilly Wins the Lotto Money” offers a splash of absurdity and “Footstompin’ Music” does its title justice with help from a stomp-clap beat. Cook and Gentry each sing lead on their own tracks, and the guys say they were never trying to capture a particular modern sound ”” just something true to each story.
In fact, many of the tracks fit right in alongside classics like “Song of the South” and “Mountain Music.” Written by Tim James, George Teren and Rivers Rutherford, “This Ain’t Just a Song” spells out the power behind the band’s biggest hits, brimming with those famous harmonies and full of emotion.
“It’s amazing to me; almost everybody we’ve talked to has picked out that song,” says Gentry. “The first time I played it for Randy, we talked about how it’s kind of an inside, songwriter’s song. We were a little skeptical about whether it was ready for prime time, but we thought, ‘It’s such a cool song, we”™ve gotta give it a shot.’ And I think our fans will get it, too.”
Conversely, “Southern Drawl” plays up the strong Southern identity the band has always possessed, but filters it through a checklist of un-wussified truisms, blaring guitars and protest-like shouting. “We drive trucks, we drink beer / We shoot whiskey and hunt deer,” goes the chorus.
“The guys who started writing this song ”” Chip Davis, Damon Carroll and Ronnie Rogers ”” one of them is a trainer, not a songwriter, and he brought this chorus up as a joke,” Gentry explains. “They were talking about all the songs that talk about pickup trucks and stuff, and when I saw the title I thought ‘What a cool title.'”
Owen eventually helped finish the track, although it may still see some revision.
“It already has a parody started,” Cook jokes. “It goes, ‘I can’t hear, I can’t see / I can’t tell when I pee.’ We call that one ‘Southern Drool.'”
The band is serious about the state of the nation’s farms, though. At a time when country music’s popularity is booming in the suburbs and less than five percent of the population works in agriculture, Alabama felt someone needed to speak up. A bumper sticker reading “No Farms No Food” was the catalyst for “American Farmer.”
“That’s who we are,” says Owen about the prideful anthem, penned by Dave Gibson. “Teddy grew up on a farm, Jeff’s a member of the FFA and 4H, and we feel like the most misunderstood and under-appreciated members of our society are the farmers and ranchers. We have the greatest famers in the world, and it seems like we do everything we can to discourage their creativity and productivity, and that’s bullshit. We need to make it cool to become a farmer or a rancher.”
And of course, there’s plenty of hot, sweaty romance for fans of classics like “Love in the First Degree” and “Feels So Right.” Alison Krauss lends her fiddle and harmony vocals to the delicate “Come Find Me,” while “One on One” (written solo by Owen) gives off the hazy aura of an Eighties music video, suddenly closing a door and dimming the lights on the listener. Owen starts the song off with a breathless, spoken-word promise to make his woman’s night the best of her life, and his adoration swells from there. It’s romantic in a way that country often isn’t anymore, almost to the point of being uncomfortable.
“Good,” Owen responds to the idea with a smile. “Have you heard of a guy named Conway Twitty?. . . That’s the thought. You look out here at these girls driving down the road, and this guy in the song wants to make her night beautiful so she’s got something to drive home to. When you sing, ”˜Look at me, don’t say a word / My heart is hearing, I’ll kiss where you hurt,”™ that’s maybe getting a little uncomfortable. But for me, that’s the kind of uncomfortable I like.”
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/alabama-preview-the-mountain-music-of-southern-drawl-album-20150903#ixzz3lh0dUdUx
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For those that think they are doing this for money, so what if they are. Alabama has raised, donated, and supported more charities than I can name. They have probably raised more money for Charity than they have made in their whole career, and I seriously doubt that amount is just chump change. Randy Owen created the foundation Country Cares for St. Judes Kids and has raised over $600 Million dollars for St. Judes, and wants to reach a goal of $1 Billion http://tasteofcountry.com/randy-owen-st-jude-goal/. Other Country artist have branched out from the full name originally started by Owen and use the Country Cares part and support their own charities. BH
September 14, 2015 @ 6:11 am
That’s not a review. It’s a feature article.
September 14, 2015 @ 7:39 pm
It may be a feature article, but it shows how to respectfully and tastefully point out good and bad views. Even if Trigger focused only on *SOUTHERN DRAWL* there is a tasteful way to critique something that someone or many people do not like. There is no reason for anyone to be this rude, tacky, or just flat out mean about anything.
September 14, 2015 @ 9:32 am
Wait–there are still Alabama fans? Who knew??
All things considered, the top 4 worst acts in Country Music are:
Kenny Chesney
Toby Keith
Alabama
Garth Brooks
As much as I want to be able to add a 5th name to the list, there are none that are notorious enough to even come close. I cringe whenever any of these come on the radio, and I just don’t do that when I hear anybody else. Disonorable mention: Reba
If those 4 CD box sets were all the music that was stranded with me on a desert island, I would hang myself from a coconut tree–even if I didn’t have a CD player.
September 14, 2015 @ 9:47 am
Tugg McGraw is pretty awful. He’s the David Beckham of cuntry music. His song “Southern Voice” is the most appalling, disgraceful song in the history of cuntry music.
September 14, 2015 @ 11:39 am
Praising the troops out of no where in these songs usually equates to “I’m so glad they went to war so that I didn’t have to.” Very rarely do you hear your artists who actually served taking the “raising my glass to those saving our ass overseas” stance. They usually take a more introspective look towards the “war is hell” side of things. Just my $.02.
September 17, 2015 @ 1:11 pm
Yeah…… I just don’t get this at all. I was listening to Alabama from the start. Used to be my favorite group. I just can’t hang with this. I’d rather them stay in retirement, dignity in tact, than be a dancing chicken for the Nashville freak fest.
September 17, 2015 @ 4:13 pm
Randy calls bullshit on how farmers are treated?
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think farming or ranching ain’t cool.
I don’t feel sorry for farmers. They’re the most protected species on the planet. Biggest welfare recipients too.
They live in the best homes and drive the best vehicles. They cry about how they’re going broke and they buy more ground and machinery. No sympathy here.
Here’s a little secret that most people already know……there are no more “family” farms. A small farm, in my area is 3000 acres. The average is 5000. It’s big and its fixing to go corporate one day…..already is in certain places.
Even if, someone wants to farm; they can’t, because the big guys have it hogged up. No land available.
I’ll tell you what bullshit is: all our jobs going overseas. Bullshit is having to drive a truck, never able to be home and still not being paid what your worth.
But, Randy doesn’t have that problem. Well don’t worry Randy my money won’t go to help you buy 57 Chevy convertibles or new farm machinery……..that’s bullshit!
September 17, 2015 @ 7:50 pm
Wow! I really can’t believe all the bashing on here! Pretty sad! I completely agree that Southern Drawl is a horrible song but to attack such songs as When It All Goes South and Song of the South is just crazy. Alabama paved the way for country music as we know it today. They brought the feel of southern rock into the genre to bring in younger fans. I personally don’t agree with how they have treated Mark Herndon but to bash them after listening to just one song is so wrong. So many times artist are forced to record songs they don’t really like by their labels such as in the NSYNC song so please listen to the album before calling them has beens. These supposed has beens are a heck of a lot better than most out there niw
September 22, 2015 @ 9:46 pm
Look at the album credits on new album. Jeff Cook nor Teddy Gentry so much as touched an instrument in ANY of the recordings. They sang some back-up, that’s it. After watching them on qvc, and watching Jeff horribly play air guitar while the guy behind him actually played the guitar parts, I was curious if Jeff even knew the material. So, curiosity took me to the album credits. What a horrible album. What they should have done is taken a handful of the stuff that they played live, yet never recorded or released as a single, like If it ain’t Dixie, I’m not that way anymore, Deep river woman, and they should have recorded those.
January 6, 2016 @ 11:39 am
I think you are very wrong. What you don’t understand is, in order for Alabama to keep being popular and to continue appealing to their audiences they have to eventually conform to the NEW type of country. Whether that “new” country be good or not, it’s true. Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan all sing ridiculous songs just like “Southern Drawl”. SO if you are going to point fingers at one of the most famous country bands, you are not a true country fan.
May 15, 2021 @ 8:48 pm
Alabama always reminded me of the down home cousins version of The Bee Gees minus the medallions in good ways and bad. This song is the latter. Wendi
September 11, 2021 @ 11:29 pm
You would think with so many good songwriters in Nashville Alabama would not stoop to recording junk like this. It’s hard to imagine four songwriters including randy Owen needed to write a simplistic song like this. One person could have done it with a checklist. Alabama may be willing to record anything for a piece of the publishing because that’s where the money is. The top writers in Nashville aren’t going to play that game so Alabama is left with the hack writers. Why do you think 3/4 of elviss songs were junk?