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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August 25, 2025 @ 6:38 pm
Alabama treated Mark like shit! I lost all respect for the rest of the band when this happened. I have heard that Randy Owen is a huge asshole!
August 25, 2025 @ 7:09 pm
Yep. I remember Randy saying something to the effect that ”Mark was just an employee, not a member of the band, everyone knew that.” The fuck they did. I can’t be the only one who thought he was a full band member. I mean, dude was on all the album covers, in all the videos…such self-serving bullshit.
August 26, 2025 @ 3:58 am
Mick Jagger once called the Stones “his band”.
After the show, Charlie Watts knocked on Jagger’s door and threw a drummer’s punch straight into his face. According to Keef, he almost fell out of the open hotel window.
Mick never called them “his band” again.
August 26, 2025 @ 8:08 am
The story actually is that Mick and Keith had been out drinking, and afterward Mick wanted to talk to Bill and yelled “Where’s my drummer?” Bill shows up, tells Mick “I’m not your #@! drummer! You’re my #@! singer!”
August 26, 2025 @ 12:07 pm
Nah, that’s another story.
“My” story is from Keef’s autobiography. Keef said he had to grab Mick by the jacket as he slid across the table toward the open window.
But yes, Mick suffered from “the way too big ego” syndrome for awhile, and had his run-in’s.
Without good ol’ “peacemaker” Ronnie Wood the Stones would be history by now.
August 26, 2025 @ 9:13 am
It’s all about contracts and legal status. Take the Eagles for example: Don Henley is the only “real” Eagle left, in the sense that he (and probably Glenn Frey’s estate) are the only shareholders and make the decisions. All the others you see on stage, including Timothy B Schmit and Joe Walsh are hired hands, employees. Don Felder was a real Eagle who tried to invoke his status and was fired, sued Don and Glenn and got a very favorable settlement.
Anyway, I’d be curious to hear Herndon’s view on what he perceived his status to be regarding the band.
August 28, 2025 @ 10:29 am
Oh yeah, I’m aware of all that in general. What I’m saying is not everyone knew that Mark was just an employee as opposed to a full band member with shareholder privileges or whatever.
August 26, 2025 @ 9:46 am
After doing a little research, I see that Herndon won the suit brought against him by the other guys. So, at least in the eyes of the court, at least for that farewell tour, Herndon was a full member of the band. Even though Herndon admitted that he was working on a contract basis from tour to tour before that. Interesting.
August 26, 2025 @ 10:05 am
i think the lawsuit was about tour payment(s), not whether or not he was a full member of the band. it was during that lawsuit that an attorney “leaked” some organizational info about Alabama and then Randy had to clarify that he, Teddy, Jeff owned Alabama – that Mark was not part of that structure.
August 26, 2025 @ 10:15 am
From what I have read, the Herndon suit filed because he was mistakenly paid a full member’s share of merch revenues. So, his status as a full member or not was central to the claim.
August 27, 2025 @ 2:43 am
@Harry– Herndon makes clear his book that he was never a full member of Alabama and that he always knew it, and that his salary remained rather low even after Alabama hit the music stratosphere. But in a widely-quoted line, he admits: “Nobody put a gun to my head.” I.e, he accepted the treatment.
He actually seems quite honest and self-aware.
August 25, 2025 @ 6:44 pm
First George Strait getting a Kennedy center honor and now the Bama band back together….. Turning out to be a great year.
August 25, 2025 @ 7:03 pm
All right, Rev. Ricky Lee Phelps, how about doing a show with your brother and the rest of the Kentucky HeadHunters and make it a trifecta?
August 25, 2025 @ 7:14 pm
Herndon didn’t perform on the studio records, but a bunch of Nashville studio cats are credited with playing guitar and bass on every single one of their albums.
August 26, 2025 @ 12:58 pm
They all played at least some on the records. Mark played the song, “Mountain Music”, for sure.
August 27, 2025 @ 9:27 am
My whole point was that Alabama belittling Mark’s contributions for not playing on the album cut is undermined by how they relied on studio musicans to play guitar and bass.
August 30, 2025 @ 3:32 pm
We Opened for Alabama 11n 1981, the day before their 1st awards. After that time had passed I heard that they toured so much, they didn’t have time for the studio so other musicians laid the music and they stopped in when possible to do vocals.
August 25, 2025 @ 8:09 pm
“The hatchet with Alabama has been buried.”
But I think they may have left the hangle sticking out. (A la Garth.)
Per the reports, Herndon appeared for just one song, “Mountain Music,” the finale.
Nothing about him coming back for good. Evidently, Alabama has a drummer, and nobody said he’s leaving.
Seems like Alabama–Gentry and Owen–were taken aback by the negative reaction that the split with Herndon engendered and surprised at how it has lingered for decades. Making public peace with Herndon is certainly a nice gesture by Alabama and a good idea for all of them, but that doesn’t mean their differences have been ironed out and they’re all pals.
August 26, 2025 @ 1:03 pm
Mark is a corporate airplane pilot now. He plays in a band with his wife.
Seems to be pretty happy to me. He might enjoy doing it again. He did an interview on the Andrew Pope podcast (as an addendum to a pre-recorded event scheduled to air when everything happened) the day after this happened. He said he loved the feel of playing in front of the big crowds, so who knows?
August 26, 2025 @ 5:38 pm
I understand that he comes from a pilot family and has a license, but I’ll take it with a grain–or a dumptruck full–of salt that Mark Herndon or any other 70-year-old professional musician/drummer is a corporate airline pilot now.
August 25, 2025 @ 10:02 pm
I remember hearing in the 80’s that Mark Herndon was not considered a member of the band. I took that to mean he was basically a contract employee who didn’t have ownership in the band. Seems like that was the case. Can’t blame him for taking that deal if that was the case. Drumming for the biggest band in country music at the time; sign me up.
As an aside, they sounded terrible in the attached YouTube video. There have been rumors about Randy Owen dealing with health issues. Hope he’s healthier than he sounds.
August 26, 2025 @ 8:35 am
Glad to see them getting along again, but this story has always irritated me. I think the assertion that Mark Herndon was never part of the band is false, and was a petty result of the lawsuit. You don’t need four members on album covers for appearances…what???. He was given the same awards that the other three received, and accepted with them.
And…I highly doubt he never played on their albums. I just randomly pulled an Alabama album off the shelf (“Mountain Music”) and the credits are on the back. Under “Drums,” Herndon is listed, along with other studio drummers. Owen, Cook and Gentry are listed the same way under their respective instruments (none of them are listed first) So. under their logic, apparently…NONE of them played on their albums. Herndon was horribly treated, but hopefully this leads to more appearances together.
August 26, 2025 @ 9:04 am
“and was a petty result of the lawsuit.”
This is what I’ve always believed. For whatever reason, the band probably had a falling out with Herndon after the final tour. Then it became a legal dispute. Then to win that legal dispute, they needed to establish some sort of legally-defined benchmark that required them to publicly downgrade his contributions until they had lost sight of all reality, and were alienating their own fans.
August 27, 2025 @ 12:01 pm
Reminds me of the Cheap Trick dispute with Bun E.
August 29, 2025 @ 5:45 pm
REO Speedwagon with Gary Richrath, Styx with Dennis DeYoung.
This seems to happen a lot when a lot of money is involved.
August 26, 2025 @ 1:05 pm
Definitely played the song, “Mountain Music”. Randy evensaid so at that show Saturday.
August 26, 2025 @ 8:46 am
Thanks for covering the news, Trigger! As a lifelong Alabama fan, this moment is truly monumental, especially after the numerous attempts to erase Mark from the band’s history. Hopefully, this will be the end of gaudily cropping him out of old band photos and videos, and let’s hope he will play more shows with them.
August 26, 2025 @ 9:41 am
Well, good for Mark, to play a legendary song from his legendary career again, with those two guys who smeared him and announced he wasn’t a member of *their* band. I was a 20 year super fan and fan club member, and I lost all interest in Alabama, aside from a nostalgia dip into a few songs, when this happened to Mark. Randy’s sound bites about Mark were ridiculous.
However, for the sake of a truce, or perhaps to their exhaustion of being asked about this situation, to allow Mark on stage with them – ok, good – whatever level of reconciliation or polite media posturing this could be.
August 26, 2025 @ 5:10 pm
Folks, it’s a fact that Herndon was a hired hand. The actual band were the other three. I heard this from Mark himself in an interview years ago. It was a label thing regardless of one’s thoughts about how their relationship ended. I imagine the band wearied with the facade perpetuated by the record label.
August 26, 2025 @ 5:17 pm
Agree that Herndon was shafted.
Glad they made some amends.
Saw Alabama on tour two years ago, it was highly enjoyable but missed seeing Mark and Jeff. Tremendous band. Randy is aging. It happens.
Original band was called Wildwood Country. Those couple albums they released under that name are now collector items. Nearly impossible to find. If memory serves me, I don’t think Herndon was a member of Wildwood Country.
August 26, 2025 @ 5:57 pm
WildCountry, not Wildwood. My bad.
Look up those albums to hear what they sounded like before My Homes in Alabama.
August 27, 2025 @ 9:26 am
I managed to find one a few years ago at Phonoluxe in Nashville. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to it though
August 27, 2025 @ 3:58 pm
Phonoluxe! Mike Smyths shop. Been there.
August 27, 2025 @ 5:53 am
trevistrat,if Rev. Ricky Lee Phelps and the rest of the Kentucky Headhunters re-united,that would be sensory overload for us Country fans !!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 27, 2025 @ 4:19 pm
So, they say that Mark Herndon never played on the album cuts, eh? Well, I as a longtime fiddle player, came to the conclusion back in the day that Jeff Cook didn’t play on the record, “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas,” because whoever played the fiddle on that cut was better than Jeff Cook. I say this because I had heard Cook play live and he barely mastered the basics of primitive sawing in the key of A, much less anything more complicated like real bowing technique. After all these years, I still say that somebody else did the fiddling on that cut.
August 29, 2025 @ 7:51 am
I’m going to chalk this up to really poor ticket sales for Alabama’s current tour. It’s an effort to generate some enthusiasm for a tour no one asked for, by a band that most people under the age of 50 have never heard of.
August 29, 2025 @ 4:22 pm
I was thinking the same thing. Is it just me or has Alabama not really reaped anything from the 90s Country revival? I understand that their biggest success came in the 80s but they still were pretty popular in the following decade. No matter how you slice it the Mark Herndon fiasco made them look like assholes.
August 30, 2025 @ 3:13 am
I had a chance to see them last October, but turned it down. They had been my favorite band since they hit it big. Saw them many times over the years. Without Jeff & Mark and Randy’s singing not as strong seeing his age. I didn’t want to see this. I will remember the band that tore down the arenas.
August 31, 2025 @ 2:37 pm
Having played drums in only a few cover bands, I can nonetheless empathise over this “hired hand” status thing. It’s very disappointing.