Fans hoping for a redux of the band Alabama’s iconic hometown concert this year will have to wait.
June Jam isn’t happening in 2026, the Country Music Hall of Famer’s publicist, Don Murry Grubbs, confirmed in an email to AL.com.
“But fan appreciation week [events that have led up to past June Jams] will still happen,” Grubbs added. “Should have more information on that soon.”
In February 2025, Alabama announced via press release a “strategic pause” on June Jam for ‘25, citing the relocation of Rock the South this year from Cullman to Decatur and from July to June.
June Jam rebooted in 2023 after a quarter-century hiatus. It drew a sold-out crowd of 11,000 to the Dekalb County VFW Fair Grounds in Fort Payne, the band’s hometown. The lineup boasted Alabama, Jamey Johnson, Jake Owen, Oak Ridge Boys, Janie Fricke, Chapel Heart and others.
In the ’80s, Alabama became superstars by mixing roots, hooks, harmonies and charisma. The band’s known for hits like “Dixieland Delight,” “Mountain Music” and “Song of the South.”
Today, the group’s still led by classic-era singer/guitarist Randy Owen and bassist/backing vocalist Teddy Gentry, augmented by touring musicians.
2023 was the first June Jam without Jeff Cook, Alabama’s beloved guitarist/fiddler, who died in 2022 at age 73. Owen, Gentry and Cook are cousins.
The 2024 June Jam lineup featured Alabama, “American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks, Old Dominion, Shenandoah, Montgomery Gentry, Exile, John Berry, Malpass Brothers and The Castellows.
June Jam’s on ice. But there has been a recent reason for the band’s millions of fans to be excited.
Last August, Alabama reunited with long estranged classic-era drummer Mark Herndon during a sold-out concert at Huntsville’s Orion Amphitheater. It was the first time the band performed with Herndon since 2004.
In a statement released following that Orion show, Herndon, who guested onstage for “Mountain Music” that night, said, “It was so cathartic for everybody. It was magic all over again.”
Gentry added in a statement, “It just fell together. The good Lord blesses us sometimes to do things that we can’t do. All we can do is kind of be in the wings and kind of hope for things.”
In our 2024 interview, Gentry hinted the band’s rift with Herndon — who they’d sued in 2008 for alleged overpayments and excluded after getting Alabama back on the road around 2013 — was mending.
“When we crossed over and started being on the road,” Gentry said, “Mark was kind of the renegade rocker of the bunch, and a lot of the young people were attracted to our live sound, which he was very much a part of.”
Alabama’s reunion with Herndon has been a one-off so far.
Currently, the band’s lone show in their home state this year is May 9 at Birmingham’s Coca-Cola Amphitheater. Orion was Alabama’s only home state show last year. Could another Herndon cameo be in the cards?
June Jam’s original run was 1982 to 1997. In addition to Alabama, performers included the likes of Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, The Judds, Charley Pride, Steve Earle, Clint Black, Charlie Daniels Band and Glen Campbell.
Attendance peaked at 67,000 in 1991. According to the band, June Jam concerts have raised more than $20 million for charities.
