Funding for “My Homes in Alabama, The Randy Owen Story was provided in part by Coca-Cola Bottling Company United (birds chirping) - [Randy] You have to be true to yourself, I think.

But at the same time, you got to be willing not to burn bridges for good.

(rhythmic music) I'm a great example and I tell my kids, I quote that one line to them a lot.

(children speaking amongst each other) (rhythmic music continues) Just as recent as a few days ago, a situation came up in my life that where I had to burn a bridge that I could have, but I didn't.

And so it ended up being something very beautiful.

I had a doctor tell me one time, and I never will forget it.

He said, "When are you going to learn to say no?"

And I never had thought about it.

You work really hard at it and you owe it to your family and your children to have something left for them, which I wasn't good at for a while.

♪ The land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ (audience applauding) (auctioneer talking quickly) But when the song that you're singing touches people in so many different ways, I don't know how to say it any other way, except it's just, it's just beautiful.

And that's the way it is.

- Ladies and gentlemen, Alabama!

- [Narrator] With more than 73 million records sold, Alabama stands among the most celebrated bands in country music history.

♪ Hey, the closer you get ♪ - They were kind of rebels, you know.

When they came out, their sound was like none other.

Everybody loved what they did.

(rhythmic music) You know, and then guitars starts.

♪ Ba da da ♪ And the crowd's just going crazy.

- There's not an Alabama song that comes on that somebody doesn't know who it is right off the bat.

Hearing somebody sing a song that was about my life, it's something that I felt.

- [Narrator] They've picked up more than 200 major awards along the way.

- Alabama.

- Alabama!

- Alabama!

- Alabama.

- Alabama!

♪ I was born across the river ♪ - [Narrator] And they are easily one of the most recognizable bands in country music.

♪ Spend my dollar ♪ - They were equal parts bar band and professional touring outfit.

They never outgrew the bar band though.

- They were so damn good, man.

I didn't see anybody that could come close to doing what they were doing.

- [Narrator] But for lead singer and songwriter, Randy Owen, the heartbeat of Alabama has always been home.

(upbeat rhythmic music) Many of the band's most iconic songs tell a story of his life, his upbringing, his family, his Alabama roots.

♪ Oh play me mountain music ♪ - I love that he wrote exactly what it was like, and it felt like he was singing it to me.

- I think he always just sang from the heart straightforward.

You can't have a football team without a quarterback.

You can't have a good band without having a front man.

I don't think there's ever been a better singer come down the pike.

- There's a particular attitude that he puts in every single one of those songs, that without him, they're just not the same.

- [Narrator] And even with all the fame and success, Randy never drifted far from where he started.

(upbeat music) (rhythmic music) ♪ My dad was a big man with a will that was tough ♪ ♪ He was at his best ♪ - [Narrator] On the 13th of December 1949, Randy Owen was born in Fort Payne, Alabama, beneath the shadow of Lookout Mountain.

He was the firstborn of Gladstone and Martha Owen, whose own story had begun just up the mountain two years earlier.

- Mama was playing at a convention style singing school.

(gentle piano music) And she looked out the window and she saw this guy plowing a mule, and she fell in love with him.

He fell in love with her.

They wrote letters back, love letters.

So Daddy went to ask Mama to marry him, and he had to walk through the woods in a trail.

(gentle piano music) And so when he got down to ask her to marry him, he said, "If I go off to war and come back, would you still marry me?"

And Mama said, "I'll marry you right now."

(gentle piano music continues) They got a sack of potatoes and a crippled Jersey heifer and a mule.

(rhythmic music) But I think love was a big thing.

They loved one another deeply and Mama was a hard worker and so was my daddy.

And they made it together.

- [Narrator] In time, his family grew.

Sisters Reba and Rachel were born.

Mama kept the house steady and the piano talking in church.

Daddy worked cattle and cotton.

And soon enough, Randy took his place on the chore list.

(uplifting music) Those cotton fields stretched wide across Randy's early world.

Beautiful from a distance, demanding up close.

- I was raised in it.

I love agriculture, I'm a big fan of the farmers and the ranchers in our country, and everything that we ate was something that came out of the garden or something Mama had canned or.

We had a hog or two that we used to always provide.

I'd give anything to have something like I ate when I was growing up, because green beans and the peas and butter beans and stuff like that.

I'm getting hungry.

(laughing) (birds chirping) I mean, you have to understand, we're poor.

We got, we'd barely eke by.

And Daddy finally bought a Stella guitar and he showed me E, A, and B.

(rhythmic guitar music) He would play.

♪ I'm a pilgrim and a stranger ♪ ♪ Just traveling through this wearisome land ♪ ♪ I got a home in that yonder city, good lord ♪ ♪ And it's not, not made by ♪ ♪ Da da da da, da ♪ And the rest is history.

We were picking cotton or chopping cotton.

They would sing and other people, of course, would join in.

♪ Yonder city ♪ - No, as long as I can remember, music was in our family on both sides musically, and most of our cousins were at least as talented.

Some of them even maybe more talented than me and Randy.

But we grew up in that environment where everybody either played an instrument or sang or both.

Music was kind of in the genes, I guess you'd say.

♪ La, so, la, la, so ♪ ♪ La, mi, oh ♪ - Edna Hill is where my papa and Grandma Tig got married.

All the churches when I was growing up usually had what they called a special singing.

We had a bass group, tenor group, soprano group.

Always had a great pianist, like my mama, to play.

Me and Teddy and a lot of us, our cousins, Reba, my sister, we enjoyed going to churches where they actually had music.

Down home, not necessarily singing out of a book all the time.

Songs that were passed down.

- And I remember how special it was at the time.

And I think, you know, excuse me.

(uplifting music) Spiritual music was our introduction to music.

And then me and Randy, neither one didn't have a brother, so we was, we lived across the cotton field from each other.

So if we had time in the afternoon, it was getting together and maybe working on a new Beatles chord, you know.

- [Narrator] Working out Beatles chords with Teddy opened the next door.

But before Randy followed the pull of music too far, he set his sights on the best education a kid from that hilltop farm could reach.

(upbeat music) - There were so many times he's like, "Hurry up, write this down."

So I'd dig through my purse.

Might be on a Kleenex or something.

Write these words down.

Hey, hey, hurry, grab, get a pen.

I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh!"

And then the words would be like, "Floating down the river, bending over, skinning cats."

I'm thinking, "What are you doing?

What are you thinking?"

♪ Bending over, skinning cats ♪ ♪ Playing baseball with chert rocks ♪ ♪ Usin' sawmill slats for bats ♪ - We learned the love of poetry from my daddy.

Daddy would read the Bible out loud and he'd read the poetry book out loud and pretty much 50 50.

So I had this teacher in the sixth and seventh grade named Barnard Langley, who was a great teacher and very hard.

So we had to go back to school and recite some poem.

Daddy said, "There's a poem by Edgar A. Guest called 'You', and I think you should do that one."

Went back to class the next day and, "Randy, do your poem."

So I did "You".

(gentle music) And after that, Mr.

Langley, he got the little poetry book and he must have read it 20 times.

(gentle music continues) - [Reader] "You are the fellow that has to decide whether you'll do it or toss it aside.

You are the fellow who makes up your mind.

Whether you'll lead or will linger behind.

Whether you'll try for the goal that's afar, or just be contented to stay where you are.

Take it or leave it, here's something to do.

Just think it over, it's all up to you."

- So it really excited me that he would take such an interest in that poem.

So it increased my love for our poetry.

With Daddy telling me his favorite poem and all that kind of stuff, it had a great effect on me.

That carried me through a lot of hard times.

It's hard to get in your head today, but we were considered mountain people.

And it was, you're kind of looked on, looked down on, frowned on a little bit.

I've got 54 cousins, and so none of my cousins that lived on the mountain went to high school.

We went through the eighth grade and everybody just kind of went to work.

At some point, a lady named Mary Ellis, which was the principal of Adamsburg Junior High School, she said, "Randy, why are you not going to go to, aren't you going to high school?

You made really good grades.

You should think about going to high school."

And so I said, "Do you think I can?"

She said, "Sure you can."

So I thought that's incredible.

Just amazing this kid she took interest in.

I went down to see the principal at Fort Payne High School.

He said, "You can't come to school here 'cause you're not smart enough to make it."

That really put a fire under me that I still live with.

- [Narrator] Turns out that principal was wrong.

Randy graduated from Fort Payne High School in 1969.

That same fire blazed a trail to Northeast State Junior College where he became a first generation college student.

But Randy wasn't through.

♪ I'm a pilgrim ♪ - [Narrator] The pursuit of an English degree led him farther down the road to Jacksonville State University, in the storied Appalachian foothills of Jacksonville, Alabama.

- I want to go to get a four-year degree.

It's going to be important to me because of what I've been through.

And so I started at Jax State.

(rhythmic music) I love it.

I love the school, I love the people that were there.

One of the things that was a big part of my life was Pi Kappa Phi.

Brothers reached out to me to pledge, and we were the first class of Pi Kapps.

And having those brothers being close friends and it meant a lot.

And all of the professors, Janet LeFevre, I was in the drama class, and she wanted me and this guy to write a song for Joan of Arc, which really made me feel good.

So we wrote a song.

I don't remember what the boy's name was, but he insisted that he do the singing and me not sing, which I've always thought was so funny.

So I was happy with that, I was bashful anyway and timid.

And, you know, you got to remember, I was fragile in my mind about who I was and being a, not having any money or anything like that.

Wearing the same pair of clothes three or four times a week.

But I just know that I have to write.

And I just know that I love to write.

I love to tangle with myself on the inside and that sucks.

You know, it's like, I don't know if it does or not.

And I go back and look at it again.

It's like, "Well, that's pretty good."

But it was important to me to do something that I could do and I was good at.

And I loved it, literature.

I loved poetry especially.

I loved creative writing.

And of course I took it.

That was a monumental part of my life.

Oh, I've still got notebooks with the gamecock on it that I took notes.

I still got my notes from going to Jax Stadium.

(rhythmic music) I wrote bits and pieces of songs and then have ideas, and then the next thing you know, you got a test coming up.

And part of the notebook's got lines from a song you're thinking about, and part of it's the notes you got to take for the class.

I don't know, I'd write them and tear them up, throw them away, keep some of them.

♪ Drift away like Tom Sawyer ♪ - [Narrator] Some of the greatest country music of our generation began as scribbles on those pages, but words alone do not pay tuition.

So Randy found his way back to his cousin, Teddy Gentry.

They were ready to play, but had no gear to speak of.

Then, right on cue, came another musical cousin.

Jeff Cook.

- Jeff had his own band called J.C.

and The Chosen Few, which is an awesome cover band.

And he had all kind of guitars and amplifiers and stuff we didn't have.

- Jeff had all of it.

He had bass, PA system, microphones and everything.

But, you know, it wasn't until we ran into Jeff and started singing together that we though, wow, this, maybe we got something here, you know.

Maybe, this sounds pretty good to us.

♪ I've been going ♪ - [Narrator] The band known as Young Country was born, and went straight to work.

It helped to pay Randy's tuition, one little gig at a time.

They played barrooms, high school proms, and even used car lot openings.

For Randy, the stakes at every gig were just a little higher than the others.

- Jeff worked on missile guidance systems at Anderson Army Depot.

Teddy was an expert carpet layer and I was a student.

(Randy laughs) Our whole goal was not to be stars, our whole goal was just to be able to make a living playing music loud.

- We had a rock and roll approach for a country band.

I mean, we went out and played hard, played loud.

We were into the music as much as the crowd was, you know?

You know, that's, that was part of it.

(rhythmic music) - [Narrator] Word traveled quickly, all the way to Myrtle Beach and The Bowery.

A barroom with a knack for spotting new talent and feeding rowdy crowds.

Young Country quickly grew up to become Wild Country, and stood face to face with its first big break.

- There's a chance to play in Myrtle Beach at The Bowery.

They made the deal to come play.

And Randy, to his credit, had just like a semester or whatever left.

And so he stayed back at Jacksonville so he could get his degree at Jacksonville State.

He didn't go with them when they first went over there.

- It was tough on the guys with me gone because I was the guy that sang a lot of the songs.

(rhythmic music) - He didn't leave anything unfinished.

He could have said, "Man, that's great, we finally got a chance to play music, Myrtle Beach.

Let's go."

"Nope, I'm going to finish this thing."

- And I go back to that principal at Fort Payne High School telling me he didn't think I could do it.

So to get that diploma, it was just important, and still is.

You say, "Oh, you go, you went to Jax State."

And I always say, "Yeah, and I got a degree."

- [Narrator] In fact, it was not only Randy's music, but his pursuit of a Jax State degree that would leave a mark on two of today's biggest country artists.

- I knew he'd gone to Jacksonville State University.

That's why I went to Jacksonville State.

It weighed on me really heavy that Randy had gone to school here.

And so when it was time for me to go to school, it sort of limited my playing field a little bit 'cause he's done so much for this university.

I mean, he's the reason that guys like me and Riley come back.

- Yeah, I've always been very proud of where I'm from and having been at Jacksonville State and having a little brief football career there, that's probably something I would brag about before playing country music, you know?

And the fact that I'm friends with Randy Owen is probably the biggest thing I would brag about out of all that.

So I don't know that I would know Randy and have the relationship that I do with him without Jacksonville State.

So it definitely brought us closer together and gave us that commonality.

Randy taking time to go and finish his degree when he had, you know, a very promising music career ahead of him, not only says how much he cares about the university, but also it says a lot about his work ethic.

I struggled with college without having a music career, so to be able to imagine to go back and do that, but just wanting that validation and to be able to say to your kids and grandkids, "Hey, I was doing this and I still took the time to go get a degree," is a pretty impressive thing.

(rhythmic music) - I'm fixing to graduate, get my degree, and after that, I'm gung-ho.

So I left as soon as I could leave Jax State.

Just got in my Camaro, got on I-20.

Drove to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

(thunder crashing) (gentle music) ♪ It was July hot across Georgia ♪ ♪ On my way to Myrtle Beach ♪ ♪ I'd just got my diploma so I set out in search of me ♪ We'd go to Myrtle Beach and settle down for six months, probably five or six months, and get really tight and write and rehearse.

♪ I got to get down at The Bowery ♪ - When they were playing The Bowery in Myrtle Beach, it's just a tiny hole in the wall.

But I think that doesn't do justice to actual holes in the wall.

I mean, it is really, it is just a little bar with country music.

- Not only is it the Eighth Wonder of the World, it's billed as continuous entertainment.

So The Bowery had a 300 pound go-go dancer.

(driving rock music) - Strippers, not total stripping, but close to it, that we would play the music for them while they did their thing on the front of the stage.

- Craziness.

But I think, because I'm in radio at the time in Myrtle Beach, that's where they honed their craft, where they became entertainers.

Literally became entertainers.

It was a linchpin.

It gave them a place to play.

Was it Madison Square Garden?

Nope, but it developed them as an artist, as a group, without having to lean on something else.

They had to lean on themselves.

- They brought that high energy, almost, I think people used to say their show is like a rock show with the energy and the movement.

- [Narrator] Although playing for tips was far from ideal, something important was taking shape.

Wild Country was becoming a full-fledged band.

- We learned how to cover other people's songs and keep writing.

There was nothing that we were immune to trying.

We had to know every kind of song.

Bluegrass, gospel, country, pop, whatever.

- All country one night, you'd have a rock and roll crowd wanting to hear a rock and roll show one night.

It made us learn and be able to adapt to almost any style of music.

No matter what it was, we would tackle it and try to, for a dollar or two, you know?

- [Narrator] And before long, people all along the Eastern Seaboard were hearing about the little band in the beer joint making a whole lot of noise.

And even without a steady drummer locked in, the band was already moving to a rhythm all its own.

- They're being seen and heard by vacationers.

They're coming from Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania.

I mean, North Carolina.

They're coming into this little beer joint.

♪ Drinking was forbidden in my Christian country home ♪ - And they're seeing this band that just blew their mind.

- The best thing about The Bowery was that they didn't care what we played as long as we were making noise, and we were free to work on original songs, which we did a lot.

I mean, we were doing "Home's in Alabama".

♪ Home's in Alabama ♪ - Tennessee River.

♪ Oh Tennessee River and the mountain ♪ - Mountain Music.

♪ Oh play me some mountain music ♪ - Most of the songs were born and bred in Myrtle Beach and done in The Bowery.

Bad thing about it was it could beat you down.

It was just the repetition of playing six hours a night without a break, which most bands would not do in this modern daytime under any circumstances.

If Randy had to go to the bathroom, Jeff would take it and talk to the crowd, you know, and if Jeff had to go to the bathroom, me or Randy would take it and talk to the crowd for five minutes until somebody threw a dollar or $5 in a tip bucket and we'd do another song.

♪ Hey, hey ♪ - Me and two other girlfriends, along with their moms, who were our chaperones, we decided to go to Myrtle Beach.

Right across the little alley there was The Bowery and we wanted to listen, not participate in anything else, just listen.

Randy was actually sitting on a stool.

I was totally drawn to the voice.

Of course, he was a very good looking guy.

But when he started singing, I was melting.

I tried a couple of times to get his attention, but it's full of women in bikinis and all this.

So we introduced ourself and he asked me if I'd like to go out.

So we went out, went to eat pizza.

We were from two different walks of life.

I was a military brat in Heidelberg, Germany, and he was from a very poor farming family in Alabama.

But there was something that I couldn't let go of him.

And we talked, actually talked about our future.

For some reason, I knew I wanted to marry this guy.

And he played me a song, he had a guitar, we were sitting there in the apartment with my siblings all sitting around.

And he actually played me the song, "Feel So Right".

♪ Whisper to me softly ♪ ♪ Breathe words upon my skin ♪ - I told him, I said, "I don't know if I'll ever see you again.

I don't know what your future holds in store, but this song surely is going to enhance your life somehow."

I mean, this is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.

So we kind of said goodbye.

And I got on the plane with my mom and my six siblings and we went to Heidelberg, Germany.

In the meantime, I kept writing.

♪ Feels so right ♪ - If life was going to treat us fairly, that's what we wanted to do is get married.

And he and I married in February of '75.

We drove to Trenton, Georgia.

Went up to the courthouse.

We said our vows to one another and to the judge, and Randy gave him a $20 bill.

We stayed at a Motel 6 and we had dinner at Burger King.

It was pure magic and pure love.

- I have the best.

I have my buddy.

And she knows what I like and what I don't like.

And she knows I don't talk during days when we do shows.

And so, save my voice, drink a lot of water, try to be as healthy as I can.

(rhythmic guitar music) At The Bowery, gradually after two or three years, we were really, really good.

We were really tight.

I got to where I would book us in the wintertime in the Carolinas and Virginia and West Virginia and Tennessee.

- So we bought the biggest van that we could buy.

The Blue Goose.

Two of us would sleep, two of us would drive.

We got every bit of our equipment, all our suitcases, our luggage, and a PA system in that van.

- [Narrator] The Blue Goose carried more than gear.

It carried hope.

Four young men living off a tip jar, pushing towards something better, one rough mile at a time.

And when a decent paying gig finally came along, it felt like the break they had been waiting for.

- So one night, this lady called me from Florence, South Carolina, and she wanted to book us at The Thunderbird, $1,400 for six nights, which is the first big deal.

We start playing and I mean this place is packed out with people.

There's people everywhere jumping around, having a big time.

So that Wednesday she called me and she said, "I need to talk to you."

And she said, "I'm going to have to fire y'all.

You're bringing in a rough crowd.

You're bringing in people that we don't like to see in our club."

We had been through so much together.

The one thing that was unique about me and Jeff and Teddy was when people started getting rough on us, we got closer together.

Instead of getting, fussing and fighting, when people started giving us a hard time, we got much closer.

- I've seen Randy in that old blue goose back there out driving down the mountains in West Virginia.

So sleepy that didn't know whether he'd make it to the next gig or not.

But the drive and determination that me and him and Jeff had, seemed like the tougher the industry got, the closer we would get together.

It would drive us even closer together sometimes.

But it's not an easy business.

- [Narrator] While The Thunderbird may have shown them the door, it also opened another one.

The receptionist there had a son who wanted to play drums.

Loud, hard rock drums.

- At that time, Mark Herndon's mother kind of put two and two together.

So she told Herndon, she said "Well, their drummer's just quit and they got fired, but they were looking for a drummer."

So we told him to come down to The Bowery.

He was 15 minutes early.

Not a very good drummer, but with a great attitude.

I walked with him down to the beach and asked him, I said, "What is your goals?"

He said, "I want to play concerts.

Big crowds, big audiences."

And so I said, "But you don't know anything about country music."

But he worked with Teddy and Jeff and me and he become an awesome drummer.

July the 12th, 1980 was our last night at The Bowery.

It was kind of very emotional, all the local people that we've been knowing for all those years.

- [Narrator] Forged in that strange and beautiful space, somewhere between the old church music back home and the rowdy pulse of coastal hard rock, the band had spent seven years building a sound all its own.

That sound was ready to hit the road with a new name.

♪ I was born across the river ♪ ♪ In the mountains where I call home ♪ ♪ Lord, times were good there ♪ ♪ Don't know why ♪ - When they went to The Bowery, they were known as Wild Country.

They became known as that band from Alabama, The Alabama Band.

And then it later became just Alabama.

- [Narrator] By the time Wild Country became Alabama, Randy Owen was no longer just trying to keep gas in the tank and tuition in his pocket.

He was stepping into the very life he had been chasing and bracing for all along.

♪ Oh play me some mountain music ♪ - [Narrator] And once that road opened up, it came fast.

In Texas, folks were coming to Fisticuffs just to get a glimpse.

- We went to Texas for 30 straight shows and they told us, they said, "When you get out of Texas, you'll learn what you need to do."

And boy, that was true.

And we didn't know we was popular in Texas, but the word was out and it was getting wild.

We started playing, of course, it's big crowds, big audiences.

Then they start fighting.

And they're knocking the hell out of one another.

And it's like, "Well, what's going on?"

And it's like, we find out later that they were trying to dance on the dance floor while people were sitting on the dance floor, and that's what caused the fight.

We called the folks at RCA and said, "They hate us in Texas."

And they said, "No, that's good, because in Texas, if they like you, they're going to dance."

- [Narrator] It was the first clear sign that Alabama did not need to reinvent itself for the times.

No uniforms, no leisure suits.

T-shirts, jeans, and a little mullet would do just fine.

America was opening its ears to Southern voices.

- In addition to Alabama's just pure talent, there was good timing involved with their story as well.

America was, kind of had an appetite for Southern culture.

At the time, we had President Jimmy Carter, a rural Georgian peanut farmer, and people were fascinated with his life and story and his roots.

You also had Willie Nelson bringing new audiences to country music.

Then, Hollywood, "Coal Miner's Daughter", the story of Loretta Lynn was a box office hit and brought a whole new audience to country music.

And Alabama was just right there at that time.

That's when they were really starting to hit.

- [Narrator] Then came the record that proved it.

"My Home's in Alabama", their first album for RCA went gold.

The songs were taking hold.

The crowds were getting bigger.

And before long, Alabama was no longer just riding the moment.

They were helping shape it.

- Basically, they brought rock production, which had never happened before in country music.

I mean, they were using a huge lighting system.

And when they were playing venues, the audience couldn't hear them because they were screaming so loud.

So they said, "We've got to get the biggest sound system we can get."

So they went to see Bob Seeger in Memphis, found out his sound system was for sale.

And so they bought it.

No country acts were touring arenas, but Alabama, they just exploded.

They went from zero to a hundred overnight.

♪ My home's in Alabama ♪ ♪ No matter where I lay my head ♪ - [Narrator] The stages were bigger now, but so was the cost, because every mile that carried Randy farther into the dream was taking him farther away from the people waiting back home.

- We both agreed with one another, he was going to do what he was best at and what he knew he could do to make a living for our family.

And I was going to do what I knew I'd be best at, and that was being a wife and hopefully a mother.

That's all I wanted to do.

I never did really want to get into his part of the music business, and I never really did.

- Well, you know, at the peak of their career, they were on the road 300 days a year.

And that was rough.

- But we had had our daughter, Alison, who was born on his birthday.

And then 3 1/2 years later, the same day that Alabama got their first gold album, was the morning that I gave birth to Heath in Fort Payne.

I've never been the type to say, "Well, you were not there."

You know, you didn't, na na na.

I was so proud to have given birth to Heath, and then I had to wait two days till he got finished to come home to meet his new son.

That gave me strength.

I kept gaining strength through our children and seeing how solid that I needed to be and how grounded our children needed to be, to understand what their dad was doing for a living and it was okay.

It's okay if he wasn't home for a birthday.

It's okay, we celebrate when Daddy gets home.

- [Narrator] Then came Randa, their third child.

Kelly kept the growing family circle unbroken in the home whole, whenever Randy came back through the door.

But outside that circle, the world kept asking more of Randy and he was not very good at saying no.

- Not saying no can take you right down the tube because you just get overwhelmed.

You hear about everybody's mama dying, everybody's child dying, everybody that's got issues, that's passed away, that's lost their home, that's lost their car.

And you get to think about it.

I've been so blessed and so lucky and it'll just destroy you because you have to learn what to put it in, what to take out, and only you can decide it.

And so I did.

And I still do.

- The thing I am most proud of is that he always came home as my husband.

He hasn't changed from the person that I fell in love with.

And that's a lot to say with the business that he's in.

In this profession, you don't really have time to get tired of anything because it's like every day is like a new challenge or a change.

(gentle guitar music) - [Narrator] In time, the road had been very good to Randy Owen.

43 number one hits for Alabama.

More than 73 million records sold.

200 major awards.

But it had also taken its toll.

All that mileage, all that pressure, all that time away.

A man can only carry so much.

Maybe that's why June Jam mattered.

It was not just a concert.

It was a way of bringing the music home to Fort Payne.

Half show, half fundraiser, all heart.

- Well, for starters, June Jam was the first concert I ever went to where I wasn't playing.

But June Jam left a mark on me.

Well, I'd never seen that many big names in one place ever.

And of course, Alabama comes on to close out the night.

To sit there and listen to songs that I'd been hearing ever since I was about four or five years old, that was a, it was a perfect evening for me.

- The original June Jam started in June of 1982.

It went from 1982 to 1997.

Every year in June they would bring thousands, hundreds of thousands of people at some point, into the small little Fort Payne, Alabama.

It would totally change this whole area.

People from all over the country, probably 10 or 15 artists every year.

We raised millions of dollars for charities all over the Southeast.

- And this was before there was any country music festivals around the country.

They were the first.

And they've given away $20 million.

- [Narrator] Randy made sure 100% of the proceeds from June Jam flowed back to people in need.

Strengthening schools, local charities, and communities across the Southeast.

But he did not stop there.

In 1989, Country Cares was born.

- Country Cares came about, my dear friend, my late friend, Rhubarb Jones and I went to school at Jax State together.

He became a Hall of Fame country DJ.

(gentle piano music) He kept telling me when he got to Atlanta like, "Man, I got this guy I want you to meet, Danny Thomas."

I met Danny in Atlanta.

He expressed to me, he loved seeing the country music business getting involved and helping raise money for the kids at St.

Jude, which really touched my heart.

And that started in '89.

And of course, Rhubarb was in the forefront of it.

I spent day after day after day after day, with Kelly helping me, and my kids.

And I had a telephone set up on the table.

And I'd call the radio stations and ask them if they would get involved with St.

Jude.

That went on for several years, and then it took hold after a couple of years, and that's how Country Cares was formed.

- [Narrator] Randy rallied country radio and the wider country music family, turning Country Cares into a mighty force for St.

Jude.

And because of efforts like that, patients' families have never received a bill for treatment, travel, housing, or food.

- A few days ago, we were in Memphis for a visit, and I was told that they've now surpassed $1 billion because of Country Cares.

And that was a beautiful moment.

- The essence of Randy is that he is indeed a very good man.

In his heart, he does the right thing.

He cares about people, he cares about family, he cares about God, he cares about all the right things.

And so it's not hard for him to put things together like Country Cares.

- I've become more certain over the last few years working with some artists that have had long careers, you don't have that type of career without being a really good person.

You know, there's not a lot of luck.

I mean, there's a little luck on getting a start, but as far as people really taking their hard-earned money and going to see you play year after year, and taking their kids to see you or grandkids even, it says a lot about the type of person you are because people want to support it.

Randy Owen, at the end of the day, he had great songs, but he's also a guy that people can relate to.

And I think that's something that goes a long way in today's country music.

(gentle piano music continues) (gentle guitar music) - It's gratifying to know that, that "Feels So Right" still means something.

And "Lady Down on Love" means something to people, and that "Mountain Music" got them through a tough time and helps them go on through their life.

I had one guy tell me he grew up in a very abusive home and they had one cassette.

He said he and his sister would go plug in the cassette, and that's what got him through the abuse, was our music.

(rhythmic guitar music) - We have visitors from all over the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, basically all over the world.

And every state in the union comes in.

And we love that.

You know, they have fans everywhere.

So you never know who you're going to see or what accent you're going to hear.

- [Narrator] What started in the shadow of Lookout Mountain had long since traveled far beyond it.

Randy and Alabama left a mark that the country music world could not ignore.

- Alabama was inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

And this is the highest honor in country music.

There have been about 160 acts inducted into the Hall of Fame.

And this is a process that goes all the way back to 1961, with the Country Music Association.

It's the CMA that decides who gets in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

And they are looking for musicians and people who have made an indelible mark on country music.

And of course, Alabama has passed that test with flying colors.

- [Narrator] But Randy was never much for standing still beneath an honor.

He kept looking for another way to give something back.

And before long, that calling led him back to his alma mater, Jacksonville State University.

- So Randy is the senior member of our board.

He's been on this board now for 20 plus years.

And when he first came on the board, he noticed that there wasn't an academic committee.

So he actually, he started an academic committee where they delved into the students, the student life, the basics, what they're getting as far as the education, as far as safety.

He chairs the academic committee.

That is his baby.

- The first meeting, as I remember, that we had, there must have been 60 people.

Professors and academics actually with tears in their eyes saying, "Thank you for understanding that there is a academic community here at Jax State."

It's not about me or any of the other trustees.

It's more about the student.

- He has a passion to see that we, as an institution, of which he was an alum, that we are meeting the needs of the students and that we are supporting them.

And that has been his message to me the entire time that I've been in this role.

His other message has been one of concern and interest in the faculty.

Do the faculty need anything?

Are we moving forward with the things the faculty need?

Just to see that level of interest that he has in the institution at such a ground level, is refreshing and amazing.

- We got through the tornado, we got through COVID, and we come out on the other side stronger, more together, more cohesive as a unit, as far as our board and as far as our professors.

And I think our students take more pride than they've ever taken.

And it makes me feel like we're not just spinning our wheels, we're actually getting a lot of things done.

And it spilled over, I think, into sports and the band.

It all works together, having pride.

- [Narrator] And now, at the school that helped steady his own young life, that same spirit has risen in brick and steel.

A place meant to train young artists, inspires students across campus, and give future generations a stage.

A studio, a place to learn and grow.

- I said, "We've got to find a way to honor Randy Owen, because not only what he's done for this university, but what he's done for the state."

I talked to the governor, and I remember telling the governor that there's not a politician in the state, on a statewide level, that's not asked Randy to do something.

- The Randy Owen Center, the way it came to be is essentially Governor Ivey decided that a certain amount of dollars, I think it was 15 million, would be allocated to help support building a building in honor of Randy Owen.

♪ Southern born ♪ ♪ And southern bred ♪ (audience cheering) - [Narrator] The Randy Owen Center, or ROC, is the cultural center for the performing arts in Northeast Alabama.

Designed as a creative pipeline, it brings children, community learners, high schoolers, college talent, and touring performers, into one shared ecosystem.

- Just being able to have a facility to honor him that will capture the students' attention.

I don't even think we can really describe how impactful that is going to be yet.

- The Randy Owens Center, being at Jacksonville State, you've got to appreciate that as an artist and as a writer and a performer, that your college, that I know Randy cares a lot about, has recognized him in that way, but also that you have a legacy that's going to live on forever.

And hopefully there's other people that'll get, you know, the start that he did at Jacksonville State, and go on to have a career like he did.

That's how I would feel about it, and I imagine Randy feels the same way.

- He leads by example.

He doesn't just tell you he cares.

He physically gets in the game and supports.

You know, it's something that I need to do too.

So I'm here because Randy's here, and he's here because these kids are still here.

And his heart is very much in Jacksonville, Alabama, when it comes to furthering education and helping young people get a plan for their life.

- [Narrator] Still, if you want the truest measure of Randy Owen, you have to drive back up the mountain.

You have to go home, where the circle may be weathered, but it remains unbroken.

- It's the circle of life.

It's come back to Randy and I. We have our children all with us.

We have our grandchildren.

And really, when it's all said and done, that's life.

- Eyes.

- All right.

- Where's your eyes?

Where's, yeah.

- [Narrator] After all the miles, all the songs, and all the noise, Randy Owen came home to the work and wonder that had shaped him from the start.

- My daddy had cattle and my two grandfathers had cattle.

But I grew up loving the business.

When I first started getting registered Hereford cattle, it was kind of like an extension of my papa's dreams.

Me and Kelly though we'd get 20 or 30 maybe.

And that ended up being several more.

As life goes on, my baby daughter married a young man.

They both went to Auburn together and got their masters.

Just so happened he was a great cow man tutored by his father.

So they've taken what me and Kelly started and taking it to a whole new height.

- This is what we love.

This is what we do day in and day out.

And we absolutely could not do it without you guys.

(crowd applauding) (auctioneer speaking quickly) - Randa, she showed two national champion Herefords in her career, and that is an amazing feat.

It's more competitive than football or any other sport.

- I'm so thankful that I was able to raise our children in Fort Payne, Alabama.

I think it helped ground our children to understand that we live here.

They were just like everybody else that was in our community, whether they were playing basketball, football, showing cattle.

And it was much easier to grow up knowing the great fundamentals of life and how to treat people.

- We just got through a showing in Louisville, Kentucky, at the North American.

Our granddaughter, Harper Rose, she won a class.

She did an excellent job, I'm so proud of her, and proud that she's going to be able to continue on with the tradition of being in the cattle business.

And she's got a great start.

- Randy, there's no sweeter human being.

I love to see how Randy loves his family.

I love to hear him talk about his family.

Music is not the most important thing to him.

And I've always said this, and Randy and I actually had a conversation about it, and he said, "Music is not who I am.

It's what I do, but it's not who I am."

- [Narrator] And home was never just where Randy came from.

It's what he carried with him and what he spent a lifetime trying to pass on.

- I wrote about that in the song, "Pass It On Down".

"There's a place where I live called The Canyon, where Daddy taught me how to swim.

That water is so pure and I'm going to make sure, Daddy's grandkids can swim there like him."

(uplifting music) My words to live by.

As you go up through the ranks, remember the people here that were there, and the ones up here, remember them.

When you get up here, remember them, but don't forget down here.

And so don't burn bridges for good.

(uplifting music continues) - [Reader] "So whatever it is you're wanting to be, remember to fashion the choice you are free.

Kindly or selfish, or gentle or strong, keeping the right way or taking the wrong.

Yours the selection, whichever you do.

The thing men call character is all up to you."

♪ Just to prove that Im a man ♪ ♪ Spend the day being lazy ♪ ♪ Just being nature's friend ♪ ♪ Climb a long tall hickory ♪ ♪ Bending over, skinning cats ♪ ♪ Playing baseball with chert rocks ♪ - You're sitting in one of the great places for chert in the valley here, they haul it out and put it on the roads.

Chert rocks.

The song had been a major hit and the album had sold millions.

And so we go to New York City as the guest of the guy that's the head of RCA.

And he says, "Tell me about chert rocks."

And so I said, "Well, it's a rock that's in our area."

He's like, there's no such word And I said, "Yeah, there's a word."

And so he has the butler with the white gloves and tuxedo on and everything, he brings over the dictionary and it's about that thick.

He said, "Look up chirt.

C-H-I-R-T."

So the guy opens it up and looks and he's like, "There's no such a word."

He said, "See, I told you" I said, "Well, look up C-H-E-R-T."

So C-H-E-R-T, a certain rock formation in the valleys and hills.

So the look on his face was worth a lot of money.

A guy who thought he was so smart, so smarter than these country boys.

(Randy laughs)