Alabama’s Teddy Gentry Arrested For Misdemeanor And Drug Charges
According to jail records, Alabama founding member Teddy Gentry was arrested Monday morning (9/12) on misdemeanor marijuana and drug paraphernalia charges. The records indicate that Gentry, 70, of Fort Payne,…
According to jail records, Alabama founding member Teddy Gentry was arrested Monday morning (9/12) on misdemeanor marijuana and drug paraphernalia charges.
The records indicate that Gentry, 70, of Fort Payne, was booked into the Cherokee County Jail at 10:38 am. He was released at 11:06 am. The jail log did not give the bond amount. A spokesman for the band said that he was aware of the incident, but Gentry had no immediate comment.
Gentry and his first cousins Randy Owen and Jeff Cook formed the band in 1969. Changing their name from Wildcountry to Alabama in 1977, the group became one of the most successful groups in country music. Their commercial peak was in the 1980s with multi-platinum albums. They had a bunch of radio hits that include "Tennessee River," "Mountain Music," "Dixieland Delight," "The Closer You Get," "Song of the South," "Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)" and many more.
Alabama was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. The CMHOF says on their website, "Between 1980 and 1993, Alabama took more than thirty records to the top of the Billboard country chart and sold millions of albums, substantially broadening country music's audience and making themselves one of American music's most popular acts of all time."
They added, "By adapting the rock & roll formula of the self-contained band to country music, Alabama opened doors for group acts who followed them, such as Lonestar, the Mavericks, Restless Heart, Sawyer Brown, and Shenandoah."
Brad Paisley released a tribute-type song to the band in 2011, with which the band sang along. The lyrics include, "Listenin' to old Alabama, drivin' through Tennessee / A little Dixieland delight at the right time of the night / And she can't keep her hands off of me! / And now we're rollin' down an old back road / I got the steering wheel in one hand / We'll find a hideaway where she and I can play / In mother nature's band."
Tomorrow (5/17), Brooks and Dunn will announce who will be the next three inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and every year the debate goes on as to who should get country music's ultimate honor, which was just bestowed on The Judds earlier this month (5/1).
Garth is in as-is Reba, Dolly, George Strait. But some country music artists have been passed over for many years. We look at eight artists who should make it to the Hall of Fame.
Crystal Gayle
Terry Wyatt/Getty ImagesCrystal may be the sister of Country Music Hall of Famer Loretta Lynn, and she has also made a massive impact on country music herself since winning a Grammy in the late 1970s for her hit "Don't It Make Your Brown Eyes Blue." With 13 number one songs under her belt and many more that made the Top five on the country charts, Crystal should be a shoo-in for the honor, and this could very well be her year.
John Denver
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty ImagesJohn Denver's songs in the 1970s were as country as could be. Yes, he was considered a pop star by many -- in 1975, when Charlie Rich presented CMA's Entertainer of the Year, he famously lit the card with Denver's name on fire in front of the audience when he announced that Denver was the winner. But listen to Denver's songs for yourself; there is no doubt he was country. The CMA even used his song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" in 2016 with all of the country music superstars, including Keith Urban, Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert, and Luke Bryan, and many more singing to mark the CMA's 50th year.
Trisha Yearwood
Paul Morigi/Getty ImagesTrisha has a good chance of being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame soon, if not this year. Her husband Garth Brooks is already in the Hall of Fame, and with the impact she made in country music starting in the early 1990s, she is more than likely going to get in soon.
Clint Black
Rick Diamond/Getty ImagesMaking his country music debut in 1989, the same year as Garth Brooks, his success frustrated Brooks a bit as Black started scoring songs on the country charts at the time before Garth began to take off. His first single, "Better Man," became his first number one, and he charted another chart-topper right after with his second single, "Killin Time." He scored 12 number one songs in his career. He won many awards, including his first from the CMA in 1989 when he won the Horizon award.
Dwight Yoakam
Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesAlthough in the last ten years Dwight Yoakam has been known more for his movie acting, in the late 1980s, he was country music's golden boy with a string of chart-toppers "Honky Tonk Man" and the duet with Buck Owens "Streets Of Bakersfield." Dwight has won two Grammys and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.
Tim McGraw
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesWhile Tim McGraw has stayed active in country music, charting songs and touring since he first splashed onto the scene in the mid-1990s, some of his contemporaries, like Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson, are already members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, so it would make sense it McGraw himself was honored this year. He has 44 number one singles, that alone should get him a seat at the table. Tim has three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards, and many more honors.
Shania Twain
Terry Wyatt/Getty ImagesShania changed country music with her tremendous success, which started with her 1995 album "The Woman In Me." She has won five Grammy Awards and multiple honors in country music from the CMA and the ACM. She sold over 50 million records and really expanded country music bringing in many more fans with her pop style of country music.
