Mountain Music (song)
Encyclopedia
"Mountain Music" is the title of a song written by Randy Owen
and recorded by his band, Alabama
. It was released in January 1982 as the lead-off single and title track to Alabama's third album, Mountain Music
.
According to Randy Owen's book, Born Country, Mountain Music took three years to write. Randy wanted to put his childhood experiences into a song.
(in the song's third verse, where lead singer Owen trades off lead vocals with his bandmates).
Brad Paisley
's 2011 single "Old Alabama
" incorporates the bridge from "Mountain Music", again sung by Owen, Gentry and Cook.
chart - the same week the Academy of Country Music
named the group the Top Vocal Group and Entertainer of the Year.
To date, "Mountain Music" remains one of the group's most popular songs.
Randy Owen
Randy Owen is an American country music artist. He is known primarily for his role as the lead singer of Alabama, a country rock band which saw considerable mainstream success throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Although Alabama only records new albums on occasion, Owen himself has maintained a career...
and recorded by his band, Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...
. It was released in January 1982 as the lead-off single and title track to Alabama's third album, Mountain Music
Mountain Music (album)
Mountain Music, released in 1982, is the award-winning third studio album by country music group Alabama. A crossover success, it ranked well as an album on both country and pop charts and launched singles that were successful in several markets...
.
About the song
"Mountain Music" - a song melding the Southern rock and bluegrass genres - has variously been described by country music writers as "a modern country classic" and a song that "practically defined what country groups have strived to accomplish."According to Randy Owen's book, Born Country, Mountain Music took three years to write. Randy wanted to put his childhood experiences into a song.
- The song references chertChertChert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
rocks, which according to the band is one song lyric that commonly gets misheard.
Vocals
"Mountain Music" is one of the only Alabama songs where solo vocals can prominently be heard from band members Teddy Gentry and Jeff CookJeff Cook (musician)
Jeffery A. "Jeff" Cook is an American musician who is best known as one of the founding members of the country music group Alabama....
(in the song's third verse, where lead singer Owen trades off lead vocals with his bandmates).
Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
's 2011 single "Old Alabama
Old Alabama
"Old Alabama" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Brad Paisley, featuring guest vocals from the band Alabama...
" incorporates the bridge from "Mountain Music", again sung by Owen, Gentry and Cook.
Single and album edits
The single edit to "Mountain Music," released for retail sale and radio airplay, excises the following from the album version:- The introduction, wherein an old mountain philosopher speaks about someday climbing a mountain. A harmonica solo can be heard at the very beginning.
- A series of guitar riffRIFFThe Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
s slowly builds in tempo from slow to very fast. This is nestled between the third refrain and the fast-tempoed fiddle-heavy musical bridge before the finalé.
Chart performance
Released in January 1982, "Mountain Music" became Alabama's sixth No. 1 song on Billboard magazines Hot Country SinglesHot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart - the same week the Academy of Country Music
Academy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...
named the group the Top Vocal Group and Entertainer of the Year.
To date, "Mountain Music" remains one of the group's most popular songs.
| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 1 |