‘Catch of the Day’ – Alabama – “Come Find Me” [AUDIO]

Today the spotlight falls on a trio that knows the spotlight well. With 32 #1 hits for the group, and 1 more in collaboration with Brad Paisley, they know a thing or three about Nashville and the country music chart, scoring a #1 hit every year from 1980 to 1993.

Despite being generally panned by critics early in their career for their "pop-country sound" Alabama is generally regarded as the most successful band in country music history. Beginning in 1981 with "Tennessee River" the band had a 14-year run where they scored at least one number one every year, a streak that also included 21 consecutive number 1 hits.

Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook began playing together, learning guitar and singing in church together around the age of 6. During the 60's, Owen and Gentry played together in several groups, and in 1969 they were joined by their cousin Cook and formed the group Young Country. The band began promisingly, winning a talent contest in their first appearance, but do to outside commitments, the group grew increasingly inactive.

In 1972 they began playing together again, added drummer Bennett Vartainian and changed their name to Wild Country and accepted a job at a near-by theme park where they would back established stats such as Jerry Wallace and Bobby Bare. After working days to support the band and playing at night, the group took the plunge to be come true professional musician, dropping their day jobs to tour, playing clubs throughout southern Alabama. Becoming increasingly discouraged at the inability to land a recording contract, they decided to self-finance and produce their own album to sell at shows. At this point Vartainian dropped out of the group, beginning a seemingly never-ending procession of drummers manning the drum kit.

Wild Country came to the attention of GRT Records in 1976, who signed them to a one-record contact. GRT was actually more interested in the trio as songwriters, and really didn't get behind the release of the recently rechristened Alabama's debut single "I Want To Be With You Tonight", which topped out at #78 on the country chart. The album, Deuces Wild, failed to make an impact. The company filed for bankruptcy right after the release of the album, but due to a hidden clause in the contract, Alabama was prevented from recording for another record company.

The band self-recorded and self-promoted their third album, Alabama No. 3, hiring independent radio promoters to contact radio station across the nation and push the single "I Wanna Come Over". The song reached the top-20 on the country charts and got them an invite to the "New Faces" show at the annual Country Radio Seminar. This performance caught the attention of several record labels, including RCA Nashville, who signed the trio in April of 1980.

Alabama would remain with the label through 2001, releasing 16 studio albums, 3 Gospel albums, 2 Christmas albums, 2 live albums and 16 compilation albums, of which 4 would be certified gold and 16 would receive platinum (or better) certification. These albums produced 50 top-10 hits; 32 of those would reach the top of the charts. But in 2002 the group decided to call it quits, announcing their farewell tour at that years CMA Awards. Leader Randy Owen stated that there were many reason for the decision, but simply after 20 years, the band was exhausted. The band would not perform together again until 2011, when they reunited for a benefit concert in Birmingham, for residents whose homes were destroyed by a series of tornadoes.

After the reunion, Teddy Gentry was quoted as saying that the time they has spent together "wasn't as bad as we remembered it being". The spark was re-lit. The cousins toured in 2013 in celebration of their 40th anniversary, also performing on the "Alabama & Friends Festival At Sea", a cruise to the Bahamas. They also made a surprise return to the stage at the CMA Awards, playing alongside Brad Paisley on what became their 33rd #1 hit single "Old Alabama". In 2014 they signed with BMG Chrysalis Records and on September 18, 2015, released their first album of new music in over 14 years, Southern Drawl.

The second single from that album is in our spotlight today. Alabama and "Come Find Me" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you're going to want to hear it again.