Introduction:
For all the bright lights and roaring crowds, for all the platinum records and sold-out arenas, there’s only one place where his soul truly feels at rest—the mountain.
“I always wanted a family,” he says simply. “Me and Kelly did. And we wanted to raise them here. So whatever sacrifices I had to make—financially, career-wise—it didn’t matter. I can’t even begin to guess how many thousands of dollars I’ve lost by not living in Nashville. But it’s no use thinking about it. I didn’t want to do it. And that’s fine by me.”
There’s no trace of regret in his voice. Nashville may be the beating heart of country music, but for him, it was never home. He goes there to work, he admits, and he loves the city’s energy. But the pull of the mountain—the land, the air, the memories—is stronger. “I can’t wait to get back down here,” he says, pointing across the rolling hills. “This is where my soul is.”
The ranch spreads out before him, dotted with barns, tractors, and gardens. He pauses by an old cultivator, his hand resting on the steel frame. “This was my daddy’s,” he says softly. “The first time it was used was this year. I brought it out, and it was such an emotional thing to be plowing on my daddy’s cultivator.” Just yesterday, he picked tomatoes from the family garden.
The land is steeped in memories. When Alabama first hit it big, fans would park their cars around the old house, so many that the family couldn’t even pull out of their own driveway. That’s when they began building a new home up the hill, fencing it off for privacy. Fame may have forced certain changes, but the mountain remained constant—a refuge, a reminder.
“This is the air I grew up breathing,” he says, his voice warming with nostalgia. “That canyon down there has a different flow of air. The trees are humongous. The fish are huge. Me and Daddy used to get up at 4:30, go down through here, check our basket, and bring the fish back out.”
He pauses, smiling at the memory. “I can go back instantly and be that kid again. The one with dirty hands, the one with bare feet.”
For a man who has stood on the world’s biggest stages, it isn’t the spotlight that defines him. It’s mornings with his father, plowing with his daddy’s cultivator, and picking tomatoes from the garden. Success may have taken him far, but his soul never left the mountain.