Alabama Welcomes Mark Herndon On Stage For First Time In Two Decades

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Mark Herndon. Photo: Josh Weichman

Alabama surprised the sold-out crowd at the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday night (Aug. 23) with a very special guest as the band’s former drummer Mark Herndon returned to the stage to join in on the final song of the night.

Lead singer Randy Owen welcomed Herndon on stage to perform on “Mountain Music,” complete with his trademark drum solo, marking his first appearance with Alabama in over two decades. Herndon first joined Alabama’s Owen, Gentry and the late Jeff Cook as the band’s full-time drummer in the late 1970s, and performed with the award-winning group for nearly 30 years before departing after the band’s “Farewell Tour” in 2004.

“It just fell together,” Alabama’s Teddy Gentry explains. “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,” says Herndon. “It was so cathartic for everybody. I think it was on God’s time, I really do. It was magic all over again.”

Owen and Gentry are currently performing nationally on their “Live In Concert 25 Tour” with 14 dates scheduled before the end of the year.

Lorie Hollabaugh
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