Alabama Resurrects Iconic June Jam Festival, Plans Guitarist Jeff Cook's Public Memorial Service the Same Week

Rick Diamond Jeff Cook, Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry of Alabama

Alabama singer Randy Owen is hanging out at his farm on Lookout Mountain in Alabama, enjoying the weather and thinking about the future.

A few days ago, Owen's record-breaking band Alabama revealed plans to bring back their iconic June Jam festival to their hometown of Fort Payne, Alabama, for the first time in 26 years.

The concert event is on June 3, and tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster. Alabama will headline the concert, and there will be multiple activities for fans surrounding the event. Owen is inviting attendees to visit with him at his farm. There is also a talent contest with bass player Teddy Gentry, a songwriters concert, a brunch at Cook Castle for the Jeff and Lisa Cook Foundation, and guitarist Jeff Cook's public memorial service.

Cook died at his vacation home in Destin, Florida, surrounded by family and friends in 2022 after a years-long battle with Parkinson's disease. He is known for introducing the electric double-neck guitar into country music and for his famous fiddle solo on "If You Want to Play In Texas (You Got to Have a Fiddle in the Band), among other things.

"I'm real thankful that the stars have lined up, and we can do it," Owen, 73, says. "It's sad that Jeff won't be part of it, but he'll be part of it because his footprints are all over everything that we do."

RELATED: Jeff Cook, Co-Founder of Country Supergroup Alabama, Dead at 73 After 10-Year Parkinson's Battle

Owen says Alabama reinstituted the June Jam after fans begged them to bring it back and because they wanted the festival to be part of the band's legacy.

"Speaking for myself, I wanted to leave something for the city to continue on after we're going," Owen says. "Jeff passed away, and the one thing we can give is our name to the June Jam that they can continue to hold. As long as there are people there in the city after we pass on, they still have a great function, a great festival. It can be a real positive for the city, the state, and the Southeast or the nation."

Alabama founded June Jam in 1982 and attracted some of the biggest names in country music to participate for charity. More than 30,000 fans attended the first June Jam, and by 1991, the event had attracted 67,000 fans to Fort Payne, Alabama, enough to make it one of the country's most significant country music events. Over the years, the June Jam Foundation has raised over $15 million for charities. Artists including Garth Brooks, Charlie Daniels, Alan Jackson, The Judds, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Wayne Newton, Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood, Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, and more joined Alabama on the event. The 2023 line-up will be announced in the coming weeks.

Owen looks forward to "the positive vibe" accompanying the June Jam. Some of the stories he's heard during the event over the years about how impactful Alabama's music has been on people's lives are hard for Owen to comprehend. Longtime fans bring their grandkids, husbands, wives, nieces and nephews, transforming the event into a multi-generational celebration.

"From year to year, you never know what wonderful things are going to happen," Owen says. "My little [fan meet and greet] here on the farm is very relaxed and not really planned. We'll let things happen as they want to happen. It's not anything organized. I don't like organization."

Randy Owen

Owen laughs that he might take requests and make a fool of himself because there are so many songs that he's forgotten the lyrics.

"I'll try if I mess them up, so what?" he says. "Then we talk and laugh and cry. It's about real people and real lives. I love it."

The comment is on point for Owen. Over the decades, most of the events and causes Owen has invested in have been about real people and real lives. In addition to raising more than $15 million for various charities through the June Jam festivals,  he helped found Country Cares in 1989, which has raised more than $875 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. His other charitable efforts include the Alabama Sheriffs Boys Ranch summer camps and raising funds for tornado and hurricane benefits, including a 2017 hurricane benefit that gathered $40 million for the victims of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

"A lot of the stuff I've done in my life has to do with charity and helping others and helping cities and causes," Owen says. "June Jam is a way to be real positive and leave something real positive on this earth after we're gone. Hopefully that ain't for a long time. But, you never know."

Tickets to Alabama's June Jam are available now through ticketmaster.com.