"Old Alabama" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Brad Paisley Bradley Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting with his 1999 debut album ''Who Needs Pictures'', he has released eleven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashvil ...

, featuring guest vocals from the band

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. It was released in March 2011 as second single from Paisley's 2011 album '' This Is Country Music''.

Content

When writing the song, Paisley thought that the bridge to Alabama's 1982 single " Mountain Music" would fit well with the song. Instead of sampling that song, he asked Alabama band members

Randy Owen Randy Yeuell Owen (born December 13, 1949) is an American country music artist. He is best known for his role as the lead singer of Alabama, a country rock band that saw tremendous mainstream success throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Alabama became ...

Jeff Cook Jeffrey Alan Cook (August 27, 1949 – November 7, 2022) was an American country music artist. He was best known for being a founding member of the band Alabama, in which he contributed to lead vocals, guitar, fiddle, piano and other musical ins ...

and Teddy Gentry to join him in the studio and record a piece of it. Paisley wrote the song with Owen, Dave Turnbull and

Chris DuBois Charles Christopher DuBois is a songwriter and music publisher based out of Nashville, Tennessee. DuBois began his music career as ASCAP Nashville Director of Membership in 1993. He left ASCAP in 1999 to form Sea Gayle Music with business partne ...

. "Old Alabama" incorporates into its lyrics the titles of several of Alabama's classic songs, including " Why Lady Why," "

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...

," "

Feels So Right ''Feels So Right'' is the fifth studio album by American country music band Alabama, released in February 1981 by RCA Nashville. It was their first #1 on the ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums chart. On the all-genre ''Billboard'' 200 the album ...

," " Love in the First Degree" and "

Dixieland Delight "Dixieland Delight" is a 1983 song written by Ronnie Rogers, and recorded by American country music band Alabama. It was released in January 1983 as the lead-off single from their album '' The Closer You Get...'', which was released in March of the ...

." A man's illustration of his idea of spending time with a desirable woman on a Saturday night, the song references the names of Alabama songs that the couple are listening to on their way to an unnamed rendezvous. In the song's bridge, Owen, Cook and Gentry sing the bridge of " Mountain Music," in fact the same parts they did on their original 1982 hit. The song ends with a fiddle-heavy reprisal of "Old Alabama"'s refrain, which is musically in the vein of "Mountain Music."

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of Roughstock rated the single three-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that the references to Alabama songs were "cleverly intertwined" and that the appearance of Alabama gave the song a "nostalgia" factor. Blake Boldt of Engine 145 thought that the tributes to the band Alabama were "admirable", but criticized the melody for sounding similar to his 2007 single "

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" and thought that it "leans heavily ��on song mentions and recycled production."

Music video

The music video was directed by Jim Shea and premiered in May 2011. It features the group Alabama plus clips from their music videos, and appearances from

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

drivers,

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author, former national television broadcaster, and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series dur ...

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

, and team owners

Rick Hendrick Joseph Riddick "Rick" Hendrick III (born July 12, 1949), nicknamed "Mr. H", is an American businessman. He is best known as the owner of the NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports. He is also a co-owner of JR Motorsports and founder of the Hendrick Au ...

and

Kelley Earnhardt Miller Kelley King Earnhardt Miller (née Earnhardt; formerly Earnhardt-Elledge; born August 28, 1972) is an American businesswoman. She is the Chief Executive Officer of JR Motorsports which she co-owns with her brother, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and she is ...

. The video was filmed in and around

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

Chart performance

"Old Alabama" entered the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts at number 44 on the chart dated for the week ending March 26, 2011. It has since become Alabama's first new number one hit since " Reckless" in 1993. It is also the seventeenth number one for Paisley.

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Alabama (band) 1990-2011 singles 2011 singles 2011 songs Brad Paisley songs Alabama (American band) songs Songs written by Brad Paisley Vocal collaborations Song recordings produced by Frank Rogers (record producer) Arista Nashville singles Songs written by Chris DuBois Songs written by Randy Owen Songs written by Dave Turnbull Songs about country music