Iconic country group takes stage with ex-member for first time in 20 years

When it comes to legendary country music bands, Alabama is right up there, and the boys are still out there getting down on tour.

They are also, apparently, mending fences and delivering some downright emotional moments for fans.

For instance, the band welcomed its former drummer, Mark Herndon, back onstage during last Saturday’s show in Huntsville, Alabama. It was the first time in more than 20 years that Herndon was in the fold after he had a nasty breakup with the band following its 2004 Farewell Tour.

The band sued Herndon, alleging he was overpaid, following that slate. And, in 2013 when Alabama decided that its 2004 Farewell Tour was, in fact, not its farewell and that it would be getting back together, Herndon was left out of the mix.

And in 2014, Taste of Country noted, Randy Owen suggested that Herndon never really was a part of the “structure with Alabama.”

“He didn’t play on the albums,” he said then. “He was just on the stage with us, as were several other people. Had we been smart enough, there never would have been four people in the pictures.”

That’s a pretty brutal thing to say, but Owen insisted back then that he didn’t “have one thing against him in any way in the world.”

“I hope he has a good life,” he said.

But time can heal wounds and close divides, so the band had Herndon join them onstage at the Orion Amphitheater to play “Mountain Music.” And, per reports, Herndon nailed it.

“It just fell together,” Alabama’s Teddy Gentry said. “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. Like I said, we make plans, and he laughs. But there’s nothing he can’t do.”

Taste of Country said that Herndon currently does not have any other planned dates with the band.

Alabama is currently on tour and recently played in Pennsylvania on Aug. 28 at The Great Allentown Fair. The band has another stop planned for the Keystone State, at Santander Arena in Reading, on Nov. 21.