Hughie Thomasson, founder/guitarist/singer for the Southern Rock group The Outlaws, who recently reunited for a tour and new upcoming cd, and former guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd, passed away suddenly as a result of a heart attack at his home late Sunday night. Funeral arrangements are pending at this time. Hughie joins an ever increasing list of Southern Rock musicians who have passed away in recent years.
I've had the pleasure of interviewing Hughie through the years...most recently was about a month and a half ago for the North Coast Voice magazine in North East Ohio (Lake, Geauga, and Ashtabula Counties). Hughie was one of the nicest musicians out there and will sadly be missed. I thought I would pass along my last interview with him.
The Outlaws recently played before a rabid audience of 40,000 people at this years installment of the Jamboree in the Hills in Southern Ohio. A few pictures that accompany the article are from their performance there. You can check out the Outlaws for yourself on Aug. 11 when they headline the Buffalo Hollow Music Festival/Bike Ralley/Swap Meet, which is located in Petersburg, OH (A little South of Youngstown, OH near the PA line). Hughie Thomasson phoned in for an interview to preview the show.....
North Coast Voice - Why did you decide to leave Lynyrd Skynyrd and start up the Outlaws again?
Hughie Thomasson - I played with Lynyrd Skynyrd for 9 years. I made a few records and dvds with them. It was a great 9 years and I love those guys to death. It was time for me to sing again. I was more of a guitar player with Skynyrd and not a singer. To be honest with you - I miss singing and playing the Outlaws songs. The way I look at I'm really lucky because I've been able to play with the 2 best bands in the world. I'm totally blessed.
NCV - Do you think that being a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd helped to maintain the profile of the Outlaws?
HT - I don't know. It might have. The Outlaws records were still on the racks the whole time I was with Skynyrd. We would go to the stores to make sure they had Skynyrd product. I would check out the Outlaws section and there was still Outlaws product there. I like to think that Outlaws fans and Skynyrd fans are one in the same. The Outlaws and Skynyrd toured together back in 1975, '76, and '77 - right up until the time of the plane crash. We played together, got to know each other and became friends. When I went to play with Skynyrd, it wasn't like I was going to play with strangers.
NCV - Now since you reformed the Outlaws, you have hit the touring circuit pretty heavy, which is pretty cool I think.
HT - Yeah man. We've been working hard at it. We're staying out and playing. This is it. We have no plans of hanging it up. We love doing what we do. This lineup of the Outlaws is a real solid lineup and I believe it's the best lineup we've ever had.
NCV - The Outlaws are about to release a brand new studio cd. Do you want to share with us what we can expect on the release?
HT - The cd is called ONCE AN OUTLAW and it is a collection of 13 songs of what you would expect to hear from the Outlaws. If you're familiar with any of the old Outlaws songs, you will be happy with these songs. We are going to be putting it out ourselves because in this day and age you really don't need the big labels behind like you did in the past. Unfortunately, you needed the big labels back in the day because that's how the music industry was ran back then. The downside to that is that there were alot of great musicians who put out great music back then, but they never made any money - the labels made the money. So, with that in mind, we're free to do what we want, when we want, how we want to do it, and we don't have to answer to any record label holding their hand out to recoup their money. I did the production work on the cd and that's something I also really enjoy doing. I like being on the other side of the glass when we are in the studio. I also try to help out other bands by producing their projects as well. I really enjoy the process of taking a band and making them sound really good. If I can help a band out in that capacity, that really makes me happy.
NCV - I'm going to drop out a few Outlaws hits from the past and you hit me back with any thoughts you might have on that particular song...let's start with "There Goes Another Love Song"
HT - Monte and I wrote that song. We were playing in Atlanta at the time. We had not made our first record yet. Monte came into the hotel room and said "I got it! I got it! I got it!". Jokingly I said "You need to go to the docter then!" He goes "No. No. No!" and he sang the chorus for me. I was like "That's really good Monte" and he said "Well, that's all I got". I said "Let me see what I can do" and I wrote the rest of the song - the music and the verses. That's how that song came to be.
NCV - Green Grass and High Tides....
HT - I wrote that in St. Augustine, Florida. I went over there with some friends on a weekend just to stay on the beach and just hang out. I didn't take a guitar like a dummy. I couldn't get to sleep that night. It was a beautiful night out - waves were breaking on the beach. All of a sudden I got this idea in my head and I wrote the lyrics without a guitar. Then when we got back home after the weekend I grabbed a guitar and started working on the music. It actually came together pretty quick. It was actually a short song to begin with - maybe 4 minutes. Then Billy Jones added some parts and the song grew and grew into what it became on the first record. I don't know if you're familiar with the Outlaws live record, but the song grew to 17 minutes on that record. With that song, it was fun to play and what we did was use these musical cues. If Billy was having a great night and wanted to play longer - he could play as long as he wanted to. Then when we got to a certain lick, we all knew it was time to change and it was time for Hughie to play. I would do the same thing. If you weren't having such a good night, you would play your regular solo and do your cue and get out. That was real fun. We love playing that song and it became longer and longer. The guitars got crazier and crazier. It was out of control. I loved it and it still happens to this day with that song with Chris Anderson and I playing. The classic solos are still in there but they are now embellished. We're using musical cues again so if we feel like stretching out and playing longer we can do it. Everybody in the band knows what's going on. We do that with "Ghost Riders in the Sky" too. It's one of those things that, if you learn to do that, you jam a little bit and you don't play the same thing every night. People like that. It makes it interesting and it keeps things fresh.
NCV - So what can someone expect when they come to see the Outlaws?
HT - Alot of high energy rock and roll. You will hear all the hits and some of the new songs as well. We aim to deliver a high quality and fun show that will leave a smile on your face.
NCV - Any thing you would like to say to the fans out there?
HT - Thank you for all of the years of support in both The Outlaws and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I really have been blessed by having the luxury of doing what I love for a living. A big thank you goes out to the fans out there for making that happen. If it wasn't for them, none of this would be possible.
For more information on the Outlaws check out www.outlawsworld.com
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