Mountain Music (song)
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| “Mountain Music” | |||||
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| Single by Alabama from the album Mountain Music |
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| A-side | "Mountain Music" | ||||
| B-side | "Never Be One" | ||||
| Released | February 19, 1982 (U.S.) | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | 1981 | ||||
| Genre | Country | ||||
| Length | 3:39 (single edit) 4:08 (album version) |
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| Label | RCA Records 13019 | ||||
| Writer(s) | Randy Owen | ||||
| Producer | Harold Shedd and Alabama | ||||
| Alabama singles chronology | |||||
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"Mountain Music" is a song made famous by the country music band Alabama. Originally released in 1982, the song was the lead-off single and title track to Alabama's third album.
Contents |
[edit] 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"[1] and a song that "practically defined what country groups have strived to accomplish."[2]
Written by lead singer Randy Owen, "Mountain Music" incorporates characters from 1800s American literature (including Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Rip Van Winkle) and memories of swimming across a river channel and playing childhood games (including baseball, where chert pieces and wood slabs from the local sawmill were used as the playing equipment) into the lyrics.[3] They also reflect on their love of playing the music their grandparents once played, because it "comes from the heart" and has "lots of feelin'."
[edit] Vocals
"Mountain Music" is one of the only Alabama songs where solo vocals can prominently be heard from band members Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook (in the song's third verse, where lead singer Owen trades off lead vocals with his bandmates).
[edit] 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 riffs 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.
[edit] Chart performance
Released in February 1982, "Mountain Music" became Alabama's sixth No. 1 song on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Singles chart - the same week the Academy of Country Music named the group the Top Vocal Group and Entertainer of the Year.[4]
To date, "Mountain Music" remains one of the group's most popular songs.
[edit] Sources
[edit] References
- ^ Roland, Tom, "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" (Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 (ISBN 0-82-307553-2)), p. 319
- ^ All Music Guide, review of Mountain Music by Alabama.
- ^ Roland.
- ^ ibid.
[edit] See also
- Morris, Edward, "Alabama," Contemporary Books Inc., Chicago, 1985 (ISBN 0809253062)
- Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.
| Preceded by "Crying My Heart Out Over You" by Ricky Skaggs |
Billboard Hot Country Singles number one single by Alabama May 1, 1982 |
Succeeded by "Always on My Mind" by Willie Nelson |
