Formed in 1982, country band The Bama Band found success and accompanied Hank Williams, Jr. The band, comprising Lamar Morris (vocals, guitar), Wayne Turner (guitar), Bill Earheart (keyboards), Eddie Long (pedal-steel guitar), Vernon Derrick (fiddle), Jerry McKinney (saxophone), Ray Barrickman (bass) and William Claude Marshall (drums), had been backing singer Hank Williams, Jr. since 1979, when the musicians decided to form their own group. Success was not long in coming, with the first singles "Dallas" and "Tijuana Sunrise " charting in the country charts, before the 1985 release of the first album of the same name, featuring the hits "What Used to Be Crazy" and "I've Changed My Mind". After this stab at Compleat Records, charting at #61, the band signed with Mercury and released the track "Suddenly", followed by the album Solid Ground (1987), before moving to Capitol for the third album Takin' Off the Edge (1990). In 2004, The Bama Band made a comeback with the album Beale St. Boogie. Still active, it has lost several members: Vernon Derrick on January 4, 2008, Jerry McKinney on July 6, 2013 and Billy Earheart on May 13, 2025.