Alabama, Canada.

Alabama love their homeland, but for the next month, they're happy to call Canada home.

"We've been wanting to tour up here for at least 15 years. This is the first time we've been able to go from sea to shining sea, sort of speak," says Alabama frontman Randy Owen.

"Canada is the friendliest country that we have in the world except for the United States.

"And there's so many great Canadian artists that we don't get to hear. In the States, we're so burdened down with such commercial junk, we don't get to hear it."

Owen and the rest of Alabama aren't just being politically correct and praising the country they're touring in -- they stop at the Saddledome Thursday -- their career has gotten a few boosts from Canadians lately.

Chris Cummings co-wrote the title track of Alabama's 1999 release Twentieth Century.

Alabama's newest album, When It All Goes South, features a duet, Will You Marry Me, with Jann Arden.

"I was riding along with my son and we were listening to our version of the song and I said, 'I hear a girl' and he said, 'how about Jann Arden?' Oh yeah, Insensitive.

"I saw her do an acoustic version with Anne Murray on a PBS special and it blew me away."

It was the unique "sweet and innocent" qualities to Arden's voice that attracted Owen.

"I didn't want to do something with the latest RCA artist they wanted to promote. I wanted it to be creative. I will always be grateful to her ... I still think it is one of the finest pieces of work that Alabama has ever been a part of," says Owen.

The group formed in the late '70s and have an impressive collection of awards to their names. But that doesn't mean the group gets any respect.

"It's much more difficult today. ... When you've been around a while it's tough, they say 'what else you got,' " admits Owen, who's even joked about releasing a new album under a new name or keeping up with the times by getting a piercing.

The years in the business have taught them to know when to shut up and when to speak up.

Owen says if they'd listened to the "experts" they never would have recorded their 1993 mega hit, Angels Among Us.

Industry types suggested the song was too different, but the Alabama boys stuck to their guns.

"Every song that we've ever done that has done big, when they did this so-called research on it, it ended up being horrible research. They can take their research and ...

"If they left it up to that for Alabama, we wouldn't have a career."

Which is all the more reason Alabama is grateful to its fans for sticking by them over the years.

"We love and appreciate those fans more than ever," says Owen.