It’s been years since Jeff Cook, the beloved guitarist and founding member of Alabama, passed away — but for Randy Owen, the pain still lingers like a quiet note that never fades. Now, in a rare and emotional interview, Randy has finally opened up about the man who stood beside him for nearly half a century — and the words he shared left fans in tears.
Sitting on the porch of his Tennessee River Music Ranch in Fort Payne, Randy’s voice trembled as he spoke of his longtime friend and bandmate. “You know,” he said softly, “I still look for him every time I step on stage. I’ll catch myself turning to the right, waiting to see that grin — that spark he always had. Then I remember… he’s already there. Just in a different way.”
For decades, Randy, Teddy Gentry, and Jeff were more than a band — they were brothers. Through endless tours, sleepless nights, and thousands of songs, they built not just a career, but a bond that became the heartbeat of country music. When Jeff’s health began to decline, Randy often visited him in private, sitting quietly with his old friend, sometimes talking, sometimes just listening.
“I told him once, ‘Jeff, I don’t know if I can do this without you,’” Randy recalled, his voice cracking. “And he looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, you can. You just keep singing, and I’ll keep playing — from up there.’”
That memory — simple, pure, unshakable — brought Randy to tears. “It wasn’t about fame or records,” he said. “It was about friendship. About love. Jeff was the kind of man who made everyone feel like they belonged — like music was home.”
Fans have long sensed that something deeper fuels Randy’s performances since Jeff’s passing. During Alabama’s most recent tour, when the first notes of “Mountain Music” filled the air, Randy often paused, eyes closed, as if waiting for Jeff’s familiar guitar riff to echo back from somewhere beyond the lights. “I hear him every night,” Randy admitted. “Not with my ears — with my heart.”
The interview’s release sparked an outpouring of emotion online. Thousands of fans shared their own memories of Alabama’s music, writing messages like “Jeff may be gone, but his sound will always live in Randy’s voice.”
In closing, Randy offered one final thought — a truth only someone who’s lived a lifetime in song could say:
“People think Alabama was about success,” he whispered. “But really, it was about love — three boys, one dream, and a friend whose music never stopped.”
And in that moment, as his voice faded into the evening breeze, you could almost hear Jeff’s guitar — gentle, distant, eternal — answering back.