Alabama - Close to Home

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Children's Castles	03:40
	2	Song of Love	04:25
	3	So I Flew Away	04:00
	4	In the Sky	02:51
	5	People and Places	03:58

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Highway Driving	04:18
	2	The Ones You Love	03:07
	3	Gunslinger's Lament	04:44
	4	Quicksand	02:14
	5	Understanding	03:26
	6	Southwinds	01:46

Photos

Videos

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Information/Write-up

Alabama was a Toronto based band formed ca 1972 by Buster Fykes, Hector McLean, Rick Knight, and Len Sembaluk. The band performed a mix of progressive rock, cajun, country and soul music; with 8 originals written by Fykes and Knight. Both Fykes and Knight were born in Alabama (presumably the inspiration behind the band’s name) and migrated to Ontario, where they settled permanently.

The first released single, "Song of Love", appeared on the top 100 in the RPM Magazine chart, peaking at No. 26 in June 1973 and received sizeable airplay on Canadian radio stations.

A second single, "Highway Driving", was written by Fykes and Knight and was released through Maple Creek Music; it reached No. 42 in August 1973. At the Juno Awards of 1974, "Highway Driving" was nominated for Canadian Country Single of the year; they also received a Juno nomination for Best Country Group that year. The radio hit “Highway Driving”, has stood the test of time and is now recognized as a Canadian classic. The song is immediately identifiable and has become a theme for many a Canadian group touring big and small towns along the seemingly endless Trans-Canada Highway.

Ultimate weed song lyrics:

Ninety miles to North Bay, and I’m on the road again
I’ll make it home sometime tonight with my Mary Jane
We'll be smoking numbers way up in the night
Till it's time to slumber waitin' for the light
You know that highway driving, it’ll get you down, it’ll get you home.

The group disbanded shortly after their overnight claim to fame and have since become a Canadian country music memory. Buster Fykes, now living in Pickering, Ontario, remains active on the Central Ontario music scene, performing with various solo and group acts. Both Rick Knight and Len Sembaluk (now deceased) also remained active on the Ontario music scene after the demise of Alabama, and their musical and studio engineering talents can be found on albums recorded by The Stampeders, Terry Christenson, Terry Hynes & Scrunchins’, Brent Williams and others. Sembaluk had earlier been a member of the Canadian rock band Brutus.

Buster Fykes: lead vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, flute
Rick Knight: keyboards, rhythm guitar, vocals
Hector McLean: bass, vocals
Len Sembaluk: drums, percussion, vocals
John Swainson: banjo, guitar
Al Cherny: fiddle
Bob Lucier: pedal steel guitar
Erica Goodman: harp
Hagood Hardy: vibraphone, orchestrations
Arnie Chycoski: brass
Bob Livingston: brass
Bruce Cassidy: brass
Jack Zaza: reeds

Strings:
Andy Benac, Arnie Chycoski, Bill Richards, Harry Bregart, Josef Sera, Maurice Solway, Peter Schenkman, Ron Laurie, Vicki Richards

Dick Smith: steel drums
Earl LaPierre: steel drums
Colina Phillips: backing vocals
Diane Brooks: backing vocals
Patty Van Evera: backing vocals

Produced and arranged by Hilly Leopold
Engineered by Ken Friesen
Recorded at Eastern Sound Studios, Toronto, Ontario

Museum of Canadian Music Musée de la Musique Canadienne Calgary Vinyl Music Museum Canada Museum of Recorded Sound Canada Music Museum Calgary Music Museum

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