Alabama is going back to the town where it all began…
The Hall of Fame country band used to always return to their hometown of Fort Payne, Alabama, to play a show that they dubbed “June Jam,” which began back in 1982.
Although, the band put an end to the event 26 years ago…
However, Alabama has officially announced that they’re bringing “June Jam” back this year, slated for June 3rd.
According to WHNT, front man Randy Owen made the announcement last week while accepting the V.I Prewett lifetime achievement award from the Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce, telling the audience:
“With Lisa and with Teddy, I’m here to tell y’all, on June, the third of this year, we’re going to have another June Jam.”
He then told the outlet afterwards:
“Our wishes are that the love and the labor that we’ve put in this all these years, that the town takes this, and it goes on forever.”
They also made the announcement via social media as well:
“ALABAMA is reviving the group’s legendary June Jam.
The live concert event will take place in Fort Payne, AL at the VFW Fairgrounds on June 3, marking 26 years since it was last held. ALABAMA will headline and close the festival with special guests to be announced in the coming weeks…STAY TUNED…
ALABAMA Fan Club presale ticket purchases are available now via ticketmaster.com.”
Of course, the band will be without one member this year, as lead guitarist Jeff Cook passed away last year due to complications with Parkinson’s disease.
Owen discussed how he wants to do this for Cook, as he hopes Fort Payne will continue this tradition forever:
“You know, we’ve lost Jeff. We wanted to go on and make a statement about we’re going to continue to do this, help others, help the city, help the county, help the state, just help people in general. And so, when me and Teddy are gone, hopefully, the city will continue with the June Jam.
Me and Teddy are just doing what we think that Jeff would like us to do. It’s been really rough to go out on tour without Jeff being with us. But you know, he wanted us to go on and do our deal, so we have, and fans have accepted it.”
Jeff’s widow, Lisa, also added:
“He loved the excitement and sound. He always enjoyed that, and he loved his bass tournament. Oh, he would be thrilled to death.
As long as everybody is laughing and having fun, Jeff will be smiling down on the event.”
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, March 1st.
