Familiar tunes still sound fresh, vital

Country-rock band Alabama made its eighth appearance at the Ohio State Fair on Saturday night.

Though many of the songs played for a packed room at the Celeste Center would have been familiar to attendees of that first concert in 1984, the band still sounded fresh and vital.

The band was fronted by two of the original members, cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry. (A third original member, Jeff Cook, performs infrequently because of health issues.)

They were ably supported by six other musicians, creating a rich, varied and unpretentious sound.

Alabama’s songs are about as basic lyrically as they could be, with little of the verbal inventiveness that often gives country music an edge. Songs like the generic “Born Country” reveal the roots of much of contemporary country radio music.

Musically, however, they’re solid and dense with hooks, and the tight, natural harmonies between Owen and Gentry give them a density that anchors them in the ear.

The two look completely at home on the stage, and constantly welcome the audience into the act.

With baggy tee shirts, graying hair and reading glasses, they don’t appear to be playing the part of superstars, But Owen has a quiet charisma that makes it hard to look away from him, and Gentry a quick wit that makes him a fit partner.

In performance, songs that might on albums seem bland or overly familiar ebb and flow, and, unhurried, take off in new directions.

The intricate concert version of “Dixieland Delight” speeds up and slows down, drawing in the audience at some points and pulling the band together at others, seguing into a singalong of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and then returning with renewed strength.

The band’s ballads sometimes drift into sentimentality, and aren’t as musically intricate as its more upbeat numbers, but it’s hard to resist Owen laying into “Feels So Right” while a local couple who met at the 1984 concert, and now are married with four kids, sweetly slow dances on the stage.

Even if its material isn’t new, this isn’t a band that’s resting on its laurels, and the strong voices and even stronger instrumental work make one look forward to a ninth visit to the Fair.