Mountain Music is the sixth studio album by American country music group Alabama, released in 1982. A crossover success, it ranked well as an album on both country and pop charts and launched singles that were successful in several markets. This is Alabama's most successful studio album. In 1998, the album was certified 5× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.[3] It peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and No.14 on the Billboard 200.
| Mountain Music | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 25, 1982 October 25, 1990 (re-release) | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Studio | The Music Mill, Nashville, TN | |||
| Genre | Country rock[1] | |||
| Length | 39:21 | |||
| Label | RCA Nashville | |||
| Producer | Alabama Harold Shedd | |||
| Alabama chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Mountain Music | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| Rolling Stone |  [1] |
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead singer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mountain Music" | Randy Owen | Randy Owen, Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry | 4:12 |
| 2. | "Close Enough to Perfect" | Carl Chambers | Randy Owen | 3:34 |
| 3. | "Words at Twenty Paces" | Hugh Moffatt | Randy Owen | 3:54 |
| 4. | "Changes Comin' On" | Buddy Cannon, Jimmy Darrell, Dean Dillon | Randy Owen | 6:51 |
| 5. | "Green River" | John Fogerty | Jeff Cook | 2:51 |
| 6. | "Take Me Down" | Mark Gray, J.P. Pennington | Randy Owen | 4:53 |
| 7. | "You Turn Me On" | Teddy Gentry, Randy Owen | Randy Owen | 3:11 |
| 8. | "Never Be One" | Teddy Gentry | Teddy Gentry | 2:46 |
| 9. | "Lovin' You Is Killin' Me" | Jeff Cook | Jeff Cook | 3:00 |
| 10. | "Gonna Have a Party" | Bruce Channel, Cliff Cochran, Kieran Kane | Randy Owen, Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry | 4:09 |
Note: The BMGSP reissue of this album replaces the full versions of "Mountain Music" and "Take Me Down" with their single edits.
Personnel
editAlabama
edit- Jeff Cook - vocals, lead guitar, and fiddle, lead vocals on "Green River" and "Lovin' You Is Killin' Me"
- Teddy Gentry - vocals and bass guitar, lead vocals on "Never Be One"
- Mark Herndon - drums and percussion
- Randy Owen - lead vocals and rhythm guitar
Owen, Cook and Gentry share lead vocals on "Gonna Have a Party" and one verse of "Mountain Music"
Additional musicians
edit- Hayward Bishop - drums
- Mark Casstevens - background vocals, guitar
- Michael Douchette - harmonica
- Jack Eubanks - guitar
- David Hanner - guitar
- David Humphreys - drums
- George Leo Jackson - guitar
- Jerry Kroon - drums
- Rodger Morris - keyboards, Synclavier II, Emulator, Prophet 5
- Fred Newell - guitar
- Larry Paxton - bass guitar
- William Rainsford - keyboards
- Dale Sellers - guitar
- W. David Smith - bass guitar
- Bruce Watkins - banjo
String arrangements by Kristin Wilkinson
Production
edit- Paul Goldberg - engineer
- Randy Kling - mastering
- David Lebon - photography
- Gene Rice - engineer
- Norman Seeff - photography
- Harold Shedd - producer, engineer
Chart performance
editAlbum
editMountain Music charted No. 1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart in 1982 and reached No. 14 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart the same year. It won 1982's Grammy Award for "Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals".
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Singles
editThe album produced three hit singles, with the title song "Mountain Music" reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. The other two singles were successful in several markets: "Take Me Down", a No. 1 country hit, reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles chart. "Close Enough to Perfect" charted No. 1 on the Hot Country Singles and No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100.
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US | US AC | CAN Country | CAN AC | ||
| 1982 | "Mountain Music" | 1 | 101 | — | 1 | 1 |
| "Take Me Down" | 1 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 1 | |
| "Close Enough to Perfect" | 1 | 65 | — | 1 | — | |
Certifications
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[4] | 5× Platinum | 5,000,000^ |
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^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||