Alabama knew how to make a hit by 1984. But apparently, the country supergroup didn’t always know which song was the hit.
When Alabama released its third single from Roll On that summer, “I’m Not That Way Anymore” was designated the A-side. Radio programmers had other ideas—they flipped the record over.
On the B-side was “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band),” and 42 years ago this week, the song radio chose instead was sitting atop Billboard’s country chart as Alabama’s 14th consecutive No. 1.
It would also become one of the band’s signature songs, but its story began years earlier with some Texas audiences who taught Alabama an important lesson about what country fans wanted to hear.
‘If You’re Gonna Play in Texas’ Was Written Specifically for Alabama
Before Alabama became one of the biggest acts in country music, the group spent years playing at The Bowery in Myrtle Beach, S.C. After leaving the club and embarking on its first major concert tour, Alabama traveled through Texas, including stops at the Longhorn State and the Fort Payne reception.
The reaction wasn’t quite what the band was accustomed to.
According to Tom Roland’s “Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits,” Alabama found that audiences at those venues spent less time listening and more time dancing.
“We would cry when we would get home from the club that night,” frontman Randy Owen recalled. “But a record company executive said if they don’t dance to your music out there, they don’t like you.”
RCA promotion man Wayne Edwards later realized Alabama’s music had made an impact in Texas, one of country’s biggest markets. There was just one thing the group could use: a song featuring a fiddle.
Songwriters Dan Mitchell and Murry Kellum responded by writing “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)” specifically for Alabama. Manager Dale Morris brought the band a demo containing the song along with two others.
“We were lookin’ for a song that would use a fiddle,” producer Harold Shedd recalled. “After ‘Tennessee River’ and ‘Dixieland Delight,’ it became a trademark, so we wanted to do some of those things.”
Shedd said Alabama didn’t want to “get too far away” from something that was already working for the group.
“You gotta touch home base,” he explained. “That was something that we could put a fiddle on that would not sound manufactured or contrived.”
There was one twist: Alabama’s Jeff Cook didn’t actually play the fiddle heard on the hit recording. Although Cook handled the fiddle parts in concert, session musician Blaine Sprouse played them on the record.
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‘If You’re Gonna Play in Texas’ Became Alabama’s 14th Straight No. 1
“If You’re Gonna Play in Texas” was packed with nods to country music tradition. Its lyrics reference Bob Wills’ “Faded Love” and Doug Kershaw’s “Louisiana Man,” and Cook himself gets a shoutout in the line, “Them Texans raised the roof when Jeff opened up his case.”
Billboard’s Kip Kirby had some fun with the premise when reviewing the single, writing, “Although the accuracy of the title’s pretty dubious, Alabama obviously enjoys this high-energy instrumental romp through roots.”
Kirby predicted the song was “looking at strictly-country airplay.” The country airplay turned out to be plenty.
“If You’re Gonna Play in Texas” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart in late October 1984 and remained there for one week. Willie Nelson’s “City of New Orleans” succeeded it at the top of the chart in early November.
The achievement came just 19 days after Alabama became the first act to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award three years in a row, according to “The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits.”
The song also reached No. 1 on Canada’s country chart and was eventually certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
But its biggest distinction may still be the way it got there. Alabama and its label had selected “I’m Not That Way Anymore” as the single. Radio programmers decided the better song was hiding on the other side of the record.
They flipped it over and gave Alabama its 14th consecutive No. 1.
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