RIP Jeff Cook, founding member of blockbuster Country group 'Alabama'

[Andrew Allen Ballew]

Jeff Cook, a guitarist who co-founded the country group Alabama and steered them up the charts with such hits as “Song of the South” and “Dixieland Delight,” died Nov. 7 at his home in Destin, Fla. He was 73.

 

The cause was Parkinson’s disease, said Don Murry Grubbs, a representative for the band.

 

As a guitarist, fiddle player and vocalist, Mr. Cook — alongside cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry — landed eight No. 1 songs on the country charts between spring 1980 and summer 1982, according to the Country Music Hall of Fame. That run included the pop crossover hits “Love In The First Degree” and “Feels So Right,” as well as “Tennessee River” and “Mountain Music.”

 

The band had a three-year run as CMA Entertainer of the Year from 1982-1985 and earned five ACM Award Entertainer of the Year trophies from 1981-1985. Mr. Cook stopped touring with Alabama in 2018, a year after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s.