Tickets on sale for Alabama concert July 25 at Delaware State Fair

Alabama will bring its country music legacy to the M&T Bank Grandstand at the 2016 Delaware State Fair in Harrington when the Country Music Hall of Famers perform Monday, July 25.

Alabama is a trio of cousins from Fort Payne, Ala., that changed the face of country music. They have had 43 No. 1 singles, including 21 No. 1 singles in a row. They brought youthful energy, sex appeal, and a rocking edge that broadened country's audience and opened the door to self-contained bands from then on. The band undertook a journey that led to 73 million albums, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

It's been 40 years since they spent the summer playing in a Myrtle Beach, S.C. bar called The Bowery. It took Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook six long years of tip jars and word of mouth to earn the major-label deal they'd been dreaming of. Speaking of the early days and their humble beginnings, Cook says, "I don't think we thought too far ahead. We were more concerned with paying our bills at the end of the week playing music."

"We were renegades in sneakers and T-shirts," says Gentry. "We had long hair and played loud, and some of the country folks resisted us for a while. But then of course they did accept us, and then after that, our success made it lots easier for other bands to try it in country music." The fact that some of the heirs of that legacy - Eli Young Band, Rascal Flatts and Florida Georgia Line - were among the stars paying tribute on “Alabama and Friends,” their most recent release, is part of their legacy as surely as the awards and plaudits they've earned through the years. They include more than 150 major industry nods, including two Grammys, the Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award and Entertainer of the Year awards three times.

As 2014 neared an end, the band was concluding a strong tour and celebrating the release of its gospel album, “Angels Among Us: Hymns and Gospel Favorites.” In September 2015 the band released its first studio album of new material in 14 years, “Southern Drawl.”

The Delaware State Fair M&T Bank Grandstand is at 18500 S. DuPont Highway, Harrington. For tickets or more information, go to www.delawarestatefair.com.