when did alabama play at the bowery in myrtle beach
Alabama (American band) The group became a professional band in 1972, adding drummer Bennett Vartanian and changing their name to Wildcountry.[5] During this time, the group accepted a position playing at the nearby Canyonland theme park.[7][4] The park would bring in established stars, such as Jerry Wallace, Bobby Bare, and Narvel Felts, and the band would back them, afterwards performing a one-hour dance set.[4] After a while, with opportunities for the band slimmed, a discouraged Cook took a government job in Anniston, Alabama. Owen was studying English at Jacksonville State University, and Cook had an electronics job.[8] The trio shared at $56-a-month apartment in Anniston,[8] working to keep the band afloat with night and weekend gigs.[4] The group decided to become professional musicians in 1973, and began performing at bars throughout the Southeast.[5] In March, the band relocated to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, performing six nights a week at a club named The Bowery for tips.[7][9] They made their best money performing cover songs of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Merle Haggard.[6] The group could not secure a record contract and began to self-finance recordings.[8] The group borrowed $4,000 from a Fort Payne bank to record and release their own albums to sell at shows.[5] Vartanian dropped out of the group, and following a rotation of four more drummers, they settled on Rick Scott in 1974.[5]