Country-rock pioneers to break their own record at Allentown Fair

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A country music act that has had the most performances as a headliner at Allentown Fair is scheduled to break its own record this year.

Alabama, which has sold more than 75 million albums and charted 43 No.1 hits to becoming the most successful band in the history of country music, will headline the fair's Grandstand stage at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28.

It will be the 10th time Alabama has headlined the fair stage — more than any other act in the fair's history. But it has been 23 years since the band last played there.

The group previously played at the fair in 2002, 1995, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, and 1983, when it sold out its show five weeks in advance.

Tickets, at $84 and $94, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, March 14 at the fair website or at the box office at 17th and Liberty streets, Allentown.

Special box office hours will be held 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, March 14; Monday, March 17; and Thursday, March 20, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. All show tickets include admission into the fair.

The fair is also offering discount ride tickets, half price fair admission, and prepaid premium concert parking.

Alabama is best known for the platinum hits "Mountain Music," "Dixieland Delight," "If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)" and "Song of the South."

The announcement is the fourth headliner for this year's fair, which this year will run Aug. 27-Sept. 1.

Previously announced headliners are Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Heart on Aug. 27, top comedian Gabriel Iglesias on Sept. 1 and top country music singer Kane Brown on Aug. 29.

Tickets remain available for all those shows.

Pioneered rock-infused country

Before there was Garth Brooks, before there was Keith Urban or Tim McGraw or Brad Paisley, there was Alabama.

The group pretty much single-handedly in the 1980s melded country music with rock sensibilities for the sound that’s so pervasive in country music today.

And while others such as Brooks simply added a cowboy hat and twang to rock, Alabama’s music is rooted deeply in country.

It first hit the charts when its fourth album, "My Home's in Alabama," in 1980 went double platinum. Its next album, 1981's "Feels So Right," sold 4 million copies, and 1982's "Mountain Music" sold 5 million.

Those three albums alone produced eight straight No. 1 hits, and the streak continued to 21 straight chart-toppers though the 1987 hit "You've Got the Touch."

The group also compiled an amazing 17 straight platinum studio, live and compilation albums from 1980-93, totaling nearly 40 million albums sold.

In 1999, the group had its biggest cross-over hit, reaching the Top 30 on the overall singles chart with "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You" featuring 'N Sync.

Alabama's last No. 1 hit was "Old Alabama" with Brad Paisley in 2011, but its chart success has continued, with its 2015 album "Southern Drawl" peaking at No. 2. Its most recent album was 2017's "American Christmas."

Honors, and 12 years since last area show

Alabama also is the most-honored band in the history of country music.

In 1981, it won both the Country Music Association's Vocal Group of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year and the Academy of Country Music's Vocal Group of the Year.

The group won the CMA's Entertainer of the Year three consecutive years 1982-84, and the ACM's Entertainer of the Year award five times 1982-86, and that group's Artist of the Decade in 1989.

The group was chosen by the Recording Industry Association of America as its Country Group of the Century.

The group's original lead guitarist, Jeff Cook, died in 2002, leaving as original members singer Randy Owen and bassist Teddy Gentry.

Alabama last played the Lehigh Valley with a show at Wind Creek Event Center, then called Sands Bethlehem Event Center, in 2013.