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Monday, September 10, 2001

By John Young

Alabama could have played all of their 42 No. 1 country hits at their Post-Gazette Pavilion concert Saturday night. They could've tossed in a slew of top 10 numbers, too. Of course they'd have been playing into the wee hours of the morning, their fingers numb and many of the 11,444 fans in attendance long since departed.

Actually, the band came up with a number of creative ways to solve the dilemma of having too much hit material to squeeze into a one-night show. When you're the ninth best-selling band ever worldwide you can't play everybody's favorite song every night, after all.

Before the group ever took the stage, they played recordings of their music over the sound system. At some shows that might have been overkill, but Alabama selected some of its more different-sounding material to be played on tape. The soundtrack even included an announcer who discussed each track's release date and chart life.

Once the show started, Alabama segued quickly and seamlessly from song to song. The group opened with the title song from its 2001 album "When It All Goes South," then jumped into tunes from throughout their 21-year recording career. While the pace slowed a bit as the set wore on, with singer Randy Owen stopping to thank fans, sing "Happy Birthday" and banter with folks in the first few rows, the group still managed to zip through 19 songs.

The quartet, augmented by an additional seven backing musicians, also resorted to one medley. Performing in a partially unplugged format, Alabama connected "Down Home," "Born Country" and "High Cotton" to form a single suite. The combination worked, the songs all featuring strong stomp-along beats and lyrics about the value of community.

The show had the feel of a high-tech hootenanny. In addition to Alabama's own material, they drew from the whole of American music to introduce band members and create bridges between songs. From an instrumental set that stretched from "Oh, Susanna" and "Amazing Grace" to "Freebird" to brief snatches of "Smooth," "Lady Marmalade" and "Respect" that featured various backing musicians, Alabama's roots were consciously exposed.

Considering how far into the pop realm so much country has gone, it's also amusing to realize how authentically twangy Alabama now sounds. Once accused of selling out for crossover success, the group couldn't have sounded any more deeply country than when they saluted truckers ("Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)"), praised working people ("Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')") and proclaimed the joys of downing a "Cold Budweiser."

Opening act Yankee Grey sounded a bit more self-conscious about blurring the line between their roots in both rock and country. The group even covered the Kansas ballad "Dust in the Wind." Still, they had an engaging stage presence and flashed fine musical chops. If the group writes more material to match the level of the melodic hooks in their first hit "All Things Considered," it could be on its way to bigger things.

The group need only look to Saturday night's headliners for an example of how to sustain a great career. Alabama has changed just enough to sound fresh. It has stuck to writing clear, direct songs and it has worked to make sure its fans always feel integral to the band's success. Alabama could've played all night Saturday -- but played just long enough instead.

John Young is a free-lance music critic.