The Closer You Get...
The Closer You Get... is the seventh studio album by American country music band Alabama, released in March 1983. All three singles from this album — "The Closer You Get", "Lady Down on Love" and "Dixieland Delight" — reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1983. The album itself reached number ten on the Billboard 200, becoming the band's highest-charting album. Considered a stylistic move towards a more pop-friendly sound, the album was described as a mix of "easy listening" country pop and neotraditional country by AllMusic's Vik Iyengar.
The album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Personnel
Alabama
- Randy Owen – lead vocals, electric guitar
- Jeff Cook – electric guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals
- Teddy Gentry – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals
- Mark Herndon – drums
Additional musicians
- Shane Keister – keyboards
- Willie Rainsford – keyboards
- Jack Eubanks – acoustic guitar
- George "Leo" Jackson – acoustic guitar
- Dave Kirby – electric guitar
- Fred Newell – electric guitar
- William Adair – bass guitar
- Larry Paxton – bass guitar
- Steve Schaffer – bass guitar
- Hayward Bishop – drums
- Farrell Morris – percussion
- Bruce Watkins – fiddle
- Kristin Wilkinson – string arrangements
- Nashville String Machine – strings
Production
- Alabama – producers
- Harold Shedd – producer
- Paul Goldberg – engineer
- Gene Rice – engineer
- Randy Kling – mastering at Randy's Roost
- Hogan Entertainment – art direction
- Gabrielle Raumberger – art direction, design
- Moshe Brakha – photography