CMT Giants: Alabama premieres later this year
CMT has announced CMT Giants: Alabama, a star-studded salute celebrating the extraordinary career and music of one of the most successful and iconic country groups of all time. Filming at Belmont University’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville, it will air as a 2-hour special later this year.
Music’s biggest names, including Blake Shelton ft. Steve Wariner, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Jason Aldean, Little Big Town, Old Dominion, Pam Tillis & Lorrie Morgan, Riley Green, and Sam Hunt will come together to perform some of the band’s most legendary hits for a once-in-a-lifetime tribute event.
Additionally, Evander Holyfield, Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, Martina McBride, Vince Gill, and more will appear both in-person and virtually to share personal stories reflecting on Alabama’s forever impact on music, blended alongside rare photos, performance footage and interviews from the vault – plus an all-new sit down with Alabama themselves reflecting on their storied career.
Over 50 years ago, Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry, and Randy Owen left the cotton farms of Fort Payne, Alabama to spend the summer playing music in a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina bar called The Bowery. It took them six long years of tip jars and word-of-mouth to earn the major label deal they’d been dreaming of. Then, seemingly no time at all to change the face of country music. Alabama, country music’s first band, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005. The group is known for hit songs including “Mountain Music,” “Roll On,” “Dixieland Delight” and “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band).” From humble beginnings picking cotton in the fields to international stars, Alabama went on to sell 80 million albums and charted 43 No.1 hits, becoming the most successful band in the history of country music. In November 2022, Alabama co-founder Jeff Cook passed following a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. With his prior encouragement and wishes, Alabama continues touring on a limited basis, keeping the iconic music they created alive for the current and future generations of fans.
