Jeff Cook (1949 to 2022) was the lead guitarist, fiddler, and keyboard player of Alabama, the biggest country band of the 1980s. With cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry he took more than 30 singles to number one on the Billboard country chart between 1980 and 1993. The band entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005, and the National Fiddler Hall of Fame inducted Cook in 2018.
Why Cook matters
Alabama sold more than 75 million records with a fiddle on stage. Cook’s fiddle on songs like If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band) and Mountain Music kept the instrument in front of arena crowds at a time when country radio leaned toward pop. He proved a self-contained band could carry its own instruments to the top of the country charts, and that opened the door for every group act that followed.
Life and career
Cook was born Jeffrey Alan Cook on August 27, 1949, in Fort Payne, Alabama. He earned a broadcast engineer’s license at 14 and worked as an on air radio personality in high school. He studied electronic technology at Gadsden State Community College.
In 1969 he joined his cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry in a band that became Wildcountry. The three quit their day jobs in 1973 and worked the Southern bar circuit, with a long run at the Bowery in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They renamed the band Alabama in 1977 and hired drummer Mark Herndon in 1979. Two singles on the small MDJ label, I Wanna Come Over in 1979 and My Home’s in Alabama in 1980, led to an RCA contract in April 1980.
Tennessee River, the first RCA single, began a run of eight straight number ones. Alabama won CMA Entertainer of the Year three years running, from 1982 to 1984, and Grammys for Mountain Music and The Closer You Get. From 1982 the band hosted the June Jam in Fort Payne, which drew crowds of 60,000 and raised millions for charity. Alabama ran a farewell tour in 2003 and 2004, then returned to the road in 2013.
Cook built Cook Sound Studios at his home in Fort Payne and recorded solo projects from the mid 2000s, including Just Pickin’ in 2008 with his Allstar Goodtime Band. He disclosed a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in April 2017 and cut back his touring. He died at his vacation home in Destin, Florida, on November 7, 2022, at age 73.
Playing style
Cook was a multi-instrumentalist first. On stage he switched among lead guitar, fiddle, keyboards, and mandolin, and he sang harmony under Owen’s lead. His trademark was a double neck electric guitar, a rock and roll touch in a country band. When a song called for fiddle, as on If You’re Gonna Play in Texas and Mountain Music, he picked it up and played the hook the crowd knew. His fiddle work served the song rather than the solo.
Influences and legacy
Cook came up on radio and on the Myrtle Beach bar circuit, where the band mixed Southern rock with country. Alabama’s self-contained band model shaped Lonestar, the Mavericks, Restless Heart, Sawyer Brown, and Shenandoah. In 2011 Brad Paisley put the band on his number one song Old Alabama. Cook worked with young musicians at his Fort Payne studio for the rest of his life.
Signature tunes and songs
If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band) Mountain Music Dixieland Delight Tennessee River.
Essential recordings
My Home’s in Alabama, with Alabama (RCA, 1980) Mountain Music, with Alabama (RCA, 1982) Roll On, with Alabama (RCA, 1984) Just Pickin’ (2008)
Awards and honors
CMA Entertainer of the Year, with Alabama (1982, 1983, 1984) Grammy Award, Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Mountain Music (1983) Grammy Award, Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, The Closer You Get (1984) Hollywood Walk of Fame star, with Alabama (1998) Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award, with Alabama (2000) Country Music Hall of Fame, with Alabama (2005) National Fiddler Hall of Fame (2018) Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, with Alabama (2019)
Watch and listen
Alabama plays If You’re Gonna Play in Texas at the 1984 CMA Awards. Watch Cook trade the guitar for the fiddle.
Cook plays the fiddle part on Mountain Music in concert.
What to learn from Cook
Learn the fiddle hook from If You’re Gonna Play in Texas. It is a short, singable line in the key of the chorus, and a crowd will sing it back to you. The technique to steal is his restraint. Cook played the melody people knew and stayed out of the way of the vocal. In a jam, one clean hook that the room can hum beats a fast break nobody can follow.
Sources
Alabama, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Jeff Cook, Alabama Co-Founder and Guitarist, Dead at 73, Rolling Stone 2019 National Fiddler Hall of Fame inductions, Bluegrass Today Alabama (band), Wikipedia Jeff Cook, Wikipedia
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more players. Charlie Daniels and Doug Kershaw also put the fiddle in front of rock and country crowds. Johnny Gimble and Buddy Spicher played the fiddle parts on many of the Nashville records of that era.