Man Bites Dog: Estranged Drummer Mark Herndon Reunites with Alabama

Something most country music fans and fans of the Hall of Fame band Alabama though would never happen in our lifetimes transpired Saturday night, August 23rd in Alabama. Long time Alabama drummer Mark Herndon reunited with the living members on Alabama on the stage in Huntsville at the Orion Ampitheater during a sold-out concert.

Mark Herndon joined singer and guitarist Randy Owen, and bassist Teddy Gentry on stage for the first time since the band’s 2003-2004 farewell tour. Original Alabama fiddler and guitarist Jeff Cook passed away in 2022. Herndon performed on the band’s legendary song “Mountain Music,” wearing his signature sunglasses, along with a headband and sleeveless shirt.

“It just fell together,” Teddy Gentry said in a statement Monday morning. “The good Lord blesses us sometimes to do things that we can’t do. All we can do is kind of be in the wings and kind of hope for things. Like I said, we make plans, and he laughs. But there’s nothing he can’t do.”

“I felt like a little kid all day,” said Herndon. “It was so cathartic for everybody. I think it was on God’s time, I really do. It was magic all over again.”

The reason the reunification is so unbelievable is due to how the relationship between the drummer and Alabama ended. For years Mark Herndon has been photographed with the band for album covers, tour posters, T-shirts, and everything else. When the band was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019, Herdon was also included on the plaque. Statues of the band in Fort Payne include Herndon in the band.

Nonetheless, Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, and Jeff Cook were all cousins, while Mark Herndon had no familial relation. In 2008, the three other members sued Mark Herndon for $200,000, claiming overpayment during the farewell tour.

As the lawsuit unfolded, the other members of Alabama claimed that Herndon was never meant to be a member, and was simply a hired hand. Randy Owen would later say that management and labels insisted Herndon be included in photos since it gave the band four faces like the Beatles, and that Herndon never performed on the band’s studio records.

This characterization not only didn’t sit right with Herndon. It also did sit right with many of the Alabama fans. When Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, and Jeff Cook reformed Alabama in 2013, Mark Herndon was completely out of the picture. In 2020 when Herndon published a memoir called The High Road: Memories from a Long Trip, he addressed the drama, but as the title alludes to, tried to focus more on the good times and his happier experiences with the band.

Perhaps taking the high road eventually worked out for him. Time has a way of healing old wounds, and apparently that happened for Alabama.

First forming under the name “Alabama” in 1977, the group signed with RCA Records and were off to the races. 30 of the band’s next 32 singles all landed at #1, stretching from early 1980 into 1991, with the band continuing to mint #1s and Top 10s into the late 90s. Alabama became one of the most successful acts in country music history, and the most successful band from a commercial standpoint.

Mark Herndon reunifying with Alabama, if only for a song, speaks to how anything is possible when it comes to life and country music. At a moment when country music beefs seem to be the story du jour, it’s good to finally receive some heartwarming news.

No word if Mark Herndon will be performing any more with the band in the future. But it’s official: the hatchet with Alabama has been buried.

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