“I feel like this is the moment in that movie, The Shining, you know?” Daniel Allen deadpans. “It’s the door scene. We’ve been chopping at this door for so long, and we finally broke through. ‘Hey! It’s us from Alabama!’”
Allen is the lead singer and co-founder of the Vegabonds, and ostensibly he’s talking about the band’s sixth studio album, Young & Unafraid, out now. But he’s really just enjoying the recent surge in popularity for his band and other artists from his native Alabama.
The Vegabonds were founded in 2009 and quickly forged a fanbase big enough to sustain long-term success. Today, however, the Yellowhammer State has seen a run of artists mixing Southern rock and country rise from the independent ranks to the mainstream. Bands like Red Clay Strays, who once opened for the Vegabonds, and Muscadine Bloodline have axed their way through the door and found mass appeal. His band may be forerunners in this respect, but Allen recognizes that the attention is paying off for all of his Alabama contemporaries.
“The Strays, Taylor Hunnicutt, Them Dirty Roses — we’ve done shows with all of them,” he tells Rolling Stone. “They’re our buddies, and they’re having great moments. I think it’s great, because it puts a spotlight on Alabama. For a long time, it was Oklahoma and Texas, but Alabama is the one having this moment right now. It’s awesome.”
The Vegabonds are Allen, guitarist Richard Forehand, bassist Paul Bruens, keyboardist Beau Cooper, and drummer Bryan Harris. Allen, along with Cooper and Harris, joined Rolling Stone on a video call ahead of their album release and back-to-back shows on the beach at Windjammer in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, to celebrate the record — a 10-track project with music that dates to 2019, and the band’s first since Sinners and Saints in 2021.
Young & Unafraid finds the Vegabonds pushing their music beyond the mix of country and Southern rock that has been the group’s trademark from the outset. This record incorporates elements of blues and soul to several tracks, which Cooper attributes to himself and Forehand studying and adding effects to their live shows and translating that to the studio.
“The first time people hear it, they’re not going to think about every word,” Cooper says. “The second time they hear it, they think about the lyrics. I think all that matters, and I’m a big vibe-feeling person, and the way it all kind of mixes up into one.”
That focus on vibes, Allen says, led to the collaboration that gave Young & Unafraid its musical range.
“I love writing songs,” he says. “That’s my passion. And they usually come out like country tunes. But I’m not married to the music. I’m married to the lyrics. I’ll bring a verse, chorus and bridge to the guys, and sometimes the music works great. Other times, they’ll say, ‘OK, the music is not working, but the song is there.’ That’s when it becomes a full-band collaboration. The music comes in from them.
“We want to put out stuff we believe in, and stuff we can get behind. I went back and looked at these songs, and from a lyric standpoint, a lot of them started six years ago. They’re older songs to me, but they’re brand new to our fans.”
Along with the record, the Vegabonds released a video for one of those older songs, “Where Do You Have to Be Tomorrow.” The tune, which the band delivers as a pop ballad behind Allen’s gravelly, raw vocals, has its roots in the peak of the pandemic.
“During 2020, I was 27 at the time, and being told that you can’t go do this or that,” Cooper recalls. “And I’m thinking to myself, ‘I’m in the prime of my life. I want to adventure.’ So that’s an adventure song.”
After the worst of the pandemic passed, members of the Vegabonds maintained that quest for adventure. Harris says the time at home — most of the band now lives in Nashville, with families or significant others — allowed them to re-prioritize the role of music and touring in their lives. The group formed as a college band at Auburn University, and in the decade that followed, the band found that barnstorming the country and playing with the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gregg Allman, or Blackberry Smoke was the easiest way to connect with fans. The break in 2020, in retrospect, allowed them to hit reset as the Vegabonds collectively aged out of their 20s.
“We were on the road for a hundred, two hundred dates a year,” Harris says. “But I think that covid actually helped us in that respect. It let us realize that we didn’t have to go out for weeks at a time. We learned we can do the weekend stuff. For me, in my personal life, balanced with the band, this is great. We go out and do three or four shows, and then you get to come home.”
These days, the group is more likely to play 40-50 shows a year, but in major clubs like the Windjammer, Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, the 40 Watt in Athens, Georgia, or the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. — all of which feature on the Vegabonds’ calendar this year.
“This is year 16 for us,” Allen says. “We’ve nailed down the places we are comfortable in, and we know where our fans are. There’s always the next place, the bigger room, but these are the venues that we collectively love to play in.”
Young & Unafraid should allow the Vegabonds to have that option indefinitely. The band’s best-known song is from 2010 — “Shaky Hands” has more than six million streams. But the music they have released since paints a more accurate picture of the band, and the members view each of their records as a snapshot of a period of time in the group’s history.
For Allen, that holds especially true as the primary songwriter. He says it is the Vegabonds’ record that will sound the most like his biography.
“This record almost plays out like a life story for me,” he says. “This is a Vegabonds record, not a Daniel Allen record, but it’s cool for me to look back and have it take me back to the very first time we got together, up to present day, and everything in between — relationships, broken relationships, sacrifices I’ve made for the band and through the band and in my personal life. It probably is my favorite record we’ve ever put out, because of that.”
Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose latest books, Never Say Never and Red Dirt Unplugged are available via Back Lounge Publishing.
NORMAN, Oklahoma — The stage was set for Oklahoma. Heck, the Sooners earned the right to set it. This was supposed to be the ushering in of a new era of postseason football for the No. 8 team in the country that had won 10 games in what was one of the toughest schedules this year.
No. 9 Alabama was even one of those teams that Oklahoma beat on its way to earning this spot. And Saturday night, all was going well for the Sooners. It was going so well, in fact, that after the first quarter, some Oklahoma fans might’ve peeked at flights and hotel rates for the Rose Bowl from inside Memorial Stadium.
And then the Alabama Crimson Tide curled and rolled the Sooners, 34-24, and are headed to Pasadena. After opening with 17 unanswered points, Oklahoma collapsed under the weight of that wave, becoming the only team in College Football Playoff history to blow a 17-point lead. And now, the Sooners have done it twice — before Saturday, in 2018 against Georgia.
[Best Teams in the College Football Playoff Era: Creating the Ultimate 12-team CFP]
Here are my takeaways from Alabama’s College Football Playoff first-round victory against Oklahoma on Saturday:
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Zabien Brown #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide stiff-arms John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter during the 2025 College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is an avid reader and listener of college football news. Following the largest comeback win in Alabama postseason history, Simpson took a moment to facetiously thank media members for choosing Oklahoma to win on Saturday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” an emboldened Simpson said. “You guys kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. So I appreciate that.”
After building a three-score lead, the Sooners watched the Crimson Tide recover a fumbled punt, pick off Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and return it 50 yards to the end zone — all before their First Team All-American kicker Tate Sandell missed not one but two field goals in the final minutes to solidify the worst collapse in College Football Playoff history.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide will prepare to take on No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl for the CFP quarterfinal game. This team that punches back and played its best football with its back against the wall is one that the Hoosiers must prepare for on New Year’s Day.
[College Football Playoff Predictions: First-Round Winners to The National Champion]
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners is hit by Deontae Lawson #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter during the College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide began down — just like they did against Georgia in the SEC championship game. But the last three quarters of Saturday’s game demonstrated Alabama to be just who it says it is: the kind of team that can open with a loss to a bad Florida State and also be the first team in six years to walk into Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and come out with a win.
DeBoer’s task now is to find a way to make certain that the team that showed up at Georgia earlier this season and at Oklahoma in the first round is the same one against the Hoosiers. Linebacker Deontae Lawson said that’s his job too. But Bama’s best trait isn’t one that shows itself until it’s in a fight for its life.
“Man, I just think we’re a resilient team,” Lawson said. “And even though we were down 17-0, we didn’t really look at the scoreboard. Coach DeBoer always says, ‘Keep playing the game. The game will come back to you.’ … We just keep fighting.”
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners speaks to an official during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Let’s look at the bigger ones:
These are blunders. Errors that aren’t forced but self-inflicted. It’s difficult to win any game with those kinds of mistakes on your drive chart. It’s nearly impossible in a game of this magnitude, against a team as talented and as resilient as the Crimson Tide.
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Keon Keeley #31 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff first-round game. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oklahoma usually plays 50 Cent’s “Many Men” before the start of the fourth quarter. In an attempt to make a statement for its first CFP game at Owen Field, the Sooners brought the rapper himself out onto the field to perform the song for fans in a Hard to Kill Hoodie.
“I didn’t know it was live,” DeBoer said.
“I didn’t know who 50 Cent was,” Simpson said, “but I know that song.”
“We play that song at practice on Fridays,” Lawson said.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
Hello college football fans, and welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of the 2025 College Football Playoff!
Yes, after a 2025 season full of an incredible amount of twists, turns, controversy and pure chaos, the second edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff gets underway tonight. Our opening matchup is a battle of blue-bloods whose first meeting this season contributed to that chaos, as No. 9 Alabama takes on No. 8 Oklahoma in Norman.
Follow along for live pregame build-up and the latest news, play-by-play updates and real-time analysis from The Athletic’s college football staff!
The College Football Playoff gets underway Friday night as Alabama heads to Norman to take on Oklahoma. But to ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, there’s even more at stake for Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer.
DeBoer’s name has been the subject of rumors throughout the offseason in the coaching carousel. Most recently, he received questions about the opening at Michigan following Sherrone Moore’s firing for cause, though he made it clear he intends to be at Alabama in 2026.
However, Wilbon didn’t sound as convinced. He predicted Alabama would not only lose to Oklahoma on Friday night, but DeBoer would also be on a flight to Ann Arbor to take the Michigan job afterward.
“Let me tell you about … two schools that could be in the coaching carousel after [Friday night],” Wilbon said Thursday on Pardon The Interruption. “Because when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – let me say it again, when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – the coach of Alabama, half the people in the state will want to run him out. And he’ll be on the carousel – oh, wait, that’s a G5 being flown to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he has said, ‘Oh, no. I ain’t got no interest in that.’ He’ll have interest [Friday night].
“And then, Alabama will be in the coaching carousel because they’ll be looking for a coach. … The Alabama coach is going to have a job-on-the-line situation in 24 hours and then, headed to Michigan once he loses. And then, Alabama’s looking. Then, what are you going to say?”
During a press conference this week ahead of the College Football Playoff opener, Kalen DeBoer was directly asked if he intended to be Alabama’s head coach next season. He responded, “Yes.”
Earlier in that press conference, DeBoer received a question about the rumors surrounding him. He again spoke highly of his tenure at Alabama so far and made it clear he’s happy in Tuscaloosa.
“A lot of the same things I said before, a couple weeks ago, when asked really the same question, just feel completely supported,” DeBoer said. “My family loves living here. Just all the things that we continue to build on, love the progress. Haven’t talked with anyone, no plans of talking with anyone. So just, I think that’s a lot of what I said a couple weeks ago, and continues to be the same thing.
“Feel strong about it. And our guys, if there’s been any distraction, I haven’t seen it, haven’t felt it. I’m really proud of the way they’ve handled whatever noise is out there. And again, we probably all season long, have dealt with enough noise to where it wouldn’t surprise me on how they handle this.”
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