DeKalb prepares for Alabama Fan Appreciation Weekend 2016

DeKalb prepares for Alabama Fan Appreciation Weekend 2016

By Joseph M. Morgan

joseph@southerntorch.com

FORT PAYNE, Ala.—Country music fans from DeKalb County and across the U.S. will converge upon the city of Fort Payne this weekend to attend the Alabama Fan Appreciation Weekend 2016.

The three-day event kicks off this Friday, June 24 when Jeff Cook, lead guitarist and one of the band Alabama’s founding members will be hosting fans in his home and performing a concert on Friday evening at the DeKalb Theatre in Fort Payne.

Cook said he is excited about the weekend and performing in his hometown in front of fans from near and far is one of the high points of the year for him.

“Fan Appreciation Weekend is something I look forward to every year,” Cook told Southern Torch on Tuesday. “This weekend is all about the fans. It’s all about giving back, showing them a good time, playing some music and having a party.”

Fans will have the opportunity from 10 a.m. until noon to tour Cook Castle, Jeff Cook’s famous palatial home-turned event venue on Lookout Mountain in Fort Payne. Tickets for the tour are $20 and can be purchased at the Cook Castle estate located at 1315 Scenic Drive East in Fort Payne.

Later in the evening this Friday, the first musical performance of the weekend kicks off at 7 p.m. at the DeKalb Theatre in Fort Payne with a performance from Jeff Cook & The All-Star Goodtime Band. The show begins at 7 p.m., but the doors will open at 5 p.m.

In addition to music from Jeff Cook & The All-Star Goodtime Band, country music fans will be treated to performances from “Me and the Girls” and the “Judge Talford Band" Friday night as well.

Tickets to Friday’s concert are $20 and are “Will Call” at the venue. For ticket information or for more information about Friday’s tour or concert, call (256) 845-2286, ext 7.

If Friday of this year's Alabama Fan Appreciation Weekend is Jeff’s day, you could say that Saturday is all about Randy—Randy Owen. The band’s frontman and co-founder is hosting the 2016 Fandemonium @ the Farm on Saturday.

The annual concert and day-long entertainment hosted on Randy Owen's farm in Fort Payne has quickly become a fan-favorite in the past few years and is famous for the down-home relaxed atmosphere that some fans say remind them of going to a community festival or a family reunion.

Still for others, Fandemonium @ the Farm conjures even fonder memories, memories from years back of another annual event hosted by Alabama each year in June—a music festival held in the 1980's and 1990's called June Jam that was of the most successful, popular country music festivals of all time.

The annual event, hosted right here in Fort Payne, Ala. by the band Alabama showcased an incredible lineup of artists year in and year out—the hottest acts of the day in country music, as well as established musicians, rising stars, and country music legends—icons.

While there are thousands around the world who had the good fortune of attending June Jam and no doubt miss the festival dearly. But it is unlikely that anyone misses it more than the fans right here at home do. For decades, on one weekend a year in June, Fort Payne, Alabama became the center of the country music universe. That's a pretty cool phenomenon that explains why Fandemonium @ the Farm conjures memories for some that are priceless—a fact not at all lost on Alabama frontman Randy Owen.

Owen said Alabama Fan Appreciation Weekend is one of the most important events the band hosts each year. It is a way for Owen, Cook and Gentry to show the immense gratitude the band has for all of their fans, especially those from right here in DeKalb County—fans who also happen to be neighbors, friends, loved ones, classmates, fellow church members. They are fans who are part of the same community, part of the same family and it is clear that that is important to the members of Alabama to acknowledge this connection.

"We really do love our fans and we want to give back something very special for them each year,” Alabama frontman Randy Owen told Southern Torch.  “We have been doing the Fan Appreciation shows in Fort Payne for many years. The last 3 years we started doing a private exclusive full Alabama Concert for the paid members of the Alabama fan club indoors. This year, we are even bringing in Air-conditioning units from Atlanta. It is the one time of year we can shake hands take pictures and show our fans how much they mean to us.”

Tickets can be purchased for Fandemonium @ the Farm for $20 this Saturday at the gate at Randy Owens farm located at 5053 out on Co Rd 255 in Fort Payne. Admission is free to members of the Randy Owen Fan Club with the presentation of their membership receipts at the gate. The show will begin, Saturday, June 25 at 5 p.m., but gates will open at 11 a.m.

Owen and Cook's individual events on Friday and Saturday are both very popular. But the grand finale and main event of the Alabama Fan Appreciation Weekend is on Sunday, and includes the entire band Alabama—Randy Owen, Jeff Cook and the third member of the team, Teddy Gentry. This Sunday, June 26, Alabama will perform a private concert at the Alabama Fan Club and Museum in Fort Payne to show their gratitude and appreciation to their fans by inviting the members of their fan club to attend a private concert in their honor.

What makes the Sunday concert so special is that attendance is limited exclusively to current Alabama Fan Club Members. The venue—the Alabama Fan Club Museum—might be short on glitz and glamour, but it is an incredible place to attend a concert. The small, intimate space tucked away in the side of the museum allows every fan in attendance to get an up-close and personal experience as the country music icons perform a full concert.

A billion-dollar arena it is not, but there is not a bad seat in the house. Even the very back row of the hall provides a vantage point that is less than 100 feet from the stage. In terms of proximity to the band, the seating at the fan appreciation concert on Sunday is equivalent to scoring floor seat tickets to a concert at the Garden. The reason? Every seat in the house is a floor seat.

While Sunday's concert is limited to Alabama Fan Club Members, fan club membership can actually be purchased on the day of the concert for only $20 at the gate. For Sunday concert ticket information, or information about joining the Alabama Fan Club, call 256-845-1646.

The annual Alabama Fan Appreciation Weekend is an event solely unique to the band Alabama and the city of Fort Payne. DeKalb County will have the rare opportunity this weekend to spend time with country music legends.

Editor’s Note:

Southern Torch would like to thank Randy Owen, Jeff Cook and Teddy Gentry for making themselves accessible for this article. We reached out to Jeff and Randy early Tuesday morning hoping at best to receive an email from a handler with a canned news release about the weekend, or maybe to be given permission to reprint an official generic statement or use a group photo in our article. Instead, the very same day, we heard from both Jeff and Randy directly. Each of the gentlemen took the time to share with us how much their fans mean to them and why the Alabama Fan Appreciation Weekend means so much to the band. It is this type of down-to-earth accessibility and kindness extended to local media—no matter how large or small that fans find endearing.