NEED TO KNOW
About 21 years after drummer Mark Herndon last played with Country Music Hall of Fame group Alabama, he stealthily slid behind the drum kit at Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama, Saturday night, in an unannounced — and unplanned — return more than two decades in the making.
Herndon, wearing his signature bandana wrapped around his head, watched from the shadows side stage for more than 90 minutes Saturday night. His former bandmates Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry wowed the enthusiastic sold-out crowd of more than 8,000 with many of their 43 No. 1 hits. Fans danced and sang along with “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band),” “Roll On,” “Tennessee River” and “Dixieland Delight.” Owen, at 75, proved age is just a number, bouncing up and down and running from one side of the stage to the other, engaging every corner of the audience.
Backstage, the band’s crew whispered amongst themselves and shared knowing smiles, privately acknowledging the history that was about to be made. The reunion was both years and only hours in the making.
“I felt like a little kid all day,” Herndon said. “It was so cathartic for everybody. I think it was on God’s time. I really do. It was magic all over again.”
Herndon was Alabama’s touring drummer from the late 1970s through the end of the band’s farewell tour in 2004. He played every concert, appeared with Owen, Gentry, and now-deceased guitarist Jeff Cook on awards shows, and was pictured on album covers. As far as fans knew, Herndon was an official band member with equal ownership in the name. But the group’s business end wasn’t structured that way. Owen, Gentry, and Cook were an existing unit for years before hiring Herndon to play with them.
“We went through several drummers, and we were playing over at one of the few places we ever got fired from,” Gentry recalled after the show. Herndon’s mother worked at a nearby hotel and overheard the band say they were looking for a drummer.
“She said, ‘Well, my son plays drums,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Sure,'” Gentry said. While he was skeptical, he still told the woman to send her son to meet him. Alabama got fired from the club gig during that meeting.
“[Herndon] told me later, ‘I’m thinking, these guys can’t even keep a job at the Thunderbird. I don’t want to work with them,'” Gentry said.
One month later, Alabama was still struggling to find a drummer, and Gentry called Herndon. The band had tried several drummers who didn’t bother to show up. Herndon arrived and had his drum kit completely set up 30 minutes early.
“He wasn’t very good, but he was on time,” Gentry remembered. “We used to sit down and talk. He said, ‘I’m ready to go anywhere. I ain’t got no ties.”
Josh Weichman
That was 1979, and Alabama — Owen, Gentry, and Cook — signed with RCA Records about one year later.
Herndon didn’t buy into the group in the beginning because Alabama wasn’t making much money, and financially, it wasn’t a priority. By the time the band was successful, he couldn’t afford it.
Over the years, anger, frustration, and legal woes developed among some of the official members and Herndon. When the group got back together in 2013 for a reunion tour, Herndon didn’t join them — much to the chagrin of the band’s fans.
Friends and family trickled into Gentry’s dressing room Saturday night as he emotionally explained how he always hoped to play with his friend on stage again.
“I don’t burn bridges,” Gentry said. “Me and Mark continued to be friends over the years.”
Josh Weichman
The men met for lunch about two weeks ago, and Gentry invited Herndon to come hang out at one of the band’s shows. Saturday morning, he called Herndon to tell him the group was playing nearby in Huntsville and invited him to come up. The drummer and his wife were just leaving Birmingham, Alabama, and thought they could make the trip in time.
“It just fell together,” Gentry said. “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.”
Herndon stayed hidden for almost the entirety of Alabama’s concert. After the group finished the first song of their encore, “I’m in a Hurry (and Don’t Know Why),” their touring drummer climbed out from behind the kit. Herndon carefully maneuvered through the wires and gear and got into place. The crowd didn’t notice him behind the kit near the back of the stage.
As scenes of 1980s-era Alabama flashed on the screen behind the stage, Owen quickly told the audience Herndon was back behind the drums. Most of them didn’t catch it. Herndon started “Mountain Music” on the drums just like he did 40 years ago. While fans may not have known, the band’s crew crowded into the side stage areas, phone cameras raised, knowing the reunion many thought was impossible was happening.
When Herndon hit the final beat of the song, he gingerly climbed out from behind the kit and joined Alabama at the front of the stage for the show-ending bow. He exuberantly put his arms around his former bandmates’ shoulders and kicked his feet in the air as the audience cheered wildly.
“It was a very special night,” Gentry said. “Mark was with us through thick and thin over the years. You’ve got to have some grit to stay together through those years when you ain’t making no money, and it seemed like your career is going nowhere sometimes. But at the end of the day, that’s really all we had was each other. Sure, we miss Jeff. But having Mark back there tonight was real special.”
