(AP) History was made at the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday night (August 23) when iconic country band Alabama surprised the SOLD OUT crowd with a very special guest appearance. Before the last song, lead singer Randy Owen welcomed Mark Herndon, the band's original drummer, to the stage.
Herndon was invited by the band to perform on "Mountain Music," complete with his trademark drum solo, marking his first appearance with Alabama in over two decades.
"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."
In the late 1970s, Herndon joined Alabama's Owen, Gentry and the late Jeff Cook as the band's full-time drummer. He performed with ALABAMA for nearly 30 years before departing after the band's Farewell Tour in 2004.
Alabama continues to bring its legendary sound to fans across the nation. Owen and Gentry are currently performing nationally on their Live In Concert 25 Tour with 14 more live concert dates scheduled before the year's end.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]