Stars in Alabama

Album: That Lonesome Song (2008)
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Songfacts®:

  • Johnson co-wrote this song with Teddy Gentry of the band Alabama.
  • This song is about a musician's relationship with his mom. CMT News asked Johnson what his own mother thought of this song. He replied: "She cried. Mom was a big Alabama fan growing up. She got the first record out of the box every time they put out a record. For her, just to know that I even met him, she thought that was the coolest thing in the world. I had met him here and there, and we traded phone numbers and kept talking about writing a song and everything else. He just called me up out of the blue one day and said, 'Man, I'm up in my office. Come over here and write a song with me.' I turned my truck around so fast, I probably cut across the median on I-40. (laughs) But I got over there, and as soon as I sat down, the first thing I thought about was mama. We sat and wrote this song about a phone conversation from the road talking to mama. And when you get out there, sometimes you get a little disconnected. Mama's always that force that brings it all right back to you and puts your feet back on the ground a little bit."

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