Country Super Group Alabama to Release New Christian Album
Alabama, the legendary country band that has 32 No. 1 Billboard singles, has announced the release of its follow-up Christian album titled Songs of Inspiration II.
The group’s previous album, Songs of Inspiration, was its first release in over five years and found great success by having a No. 1 debut on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart, Top Christian/Gospel Albums Chart, and Top Current Contemporary Christian Chart.
The success of their past Christian effort is largely due to their large fan base in addition to their lyrics. The band attempts to do the same with their next series of inspirational songs.
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“This project is about performing these songs and just laying your heart and soul on the line vocally,” explained vocalist and rhythm guitar Randy Owen in CMCentral. “Some of it with tears and some with so much feeling that it takes all you can to get the words out. That is all compiled in this project and it’s truly special.”
Alabama has had a long tradition of achievement in their three-decade existence.
Besides winning several Grammys, they have accumulated more American Music Awards than any other artist in history, with 23 wins, including the Award of Merit.
The Academy of Country Music (ACM) has given them several credentials including the ACM "Entertainer of the Year" award each year from 1981-1985 as well as naming them the "Artists of the Decade" for the 1980s.
In 1999, Alabama was recognized as the “Country Group of the 20th Century” by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The band was also the first band to popularize country bands, rather than soloists, into the mainstream as well as being the most commercially successful country group in the 1980s.
Their crossover into Christian music has had equally positive results, rising to No. 1 on the charts immediately.
Songs of Inspiration II will include mostly traditional hymnals, but will have two original creations: “When It Comes My Time,” written by Teddy Gentry, and “One Life,” written by Buck Moore and Eric Todd. Hymns featured are classics such as “Down By the River Side” and “The Star Spangled Banner.”
“The music is more about traditional, inspirational songs that I grew up listening to as a little kid and that have been handed down,” Owen said in CMCentral. “These are songs that my mother, grandmother and grandfather, some who have gone and some who are still with us, would like.”
The album will be released on Mar. 27 by two publishing companies: RCA Records, which will go to traditional retailers, and Provident Music Group, which heads toward Christian retail outlets.
Randy Owen can also be found in the new season of the reality TV show, “USA’s Nashville Star.” He will serve as one of the celebrity judges for the show.
