The Outlaws
The guitar army is back and ready to invade Cincinnati.
Known for its distinctive harmonies, double drummers and heavy guitar attack, the Outlaws were on hiatus while bandmaster Hugie Thomasson did an extended tour of duty with fellow Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd.
“I wrote 32 songs with Skynyrd,” Thomasson said in an interview from his Brooksville, Fla., home. “That was a trip, trying to sound like Skynyrd when you’re an Outlaw.
“It was only supposed to be to fill in for six months, but it turned out to be nine years. I was glad to have a chance to do it.”
It wasn’t a totally out-of-the-blue union. The Outlaws and the Skynyrd band have a long history together. Thomasson once played in an early version of the Outlaws called the King James Version with Leon Wilkerson, Skynyrd’s long-time bassist.
“He had been in Skynyrd, then left them to join me,” he said. “Then Skynyrd got their deal, called him back up and he said ‘I gotta go.’”
Then there was the time in Nashville at the bar Mother’s, when Thomasson was sleeping in the back room after a gig.
“Lynyrd Skynyrd was playing the next day,” he said. “They got in about two in the morning and wanted to play.
“I woke up and saw Ronnie Van Zant standing over top of me. I said, ‘Who are you?’ He said, ‘Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Who are you?’ ‘I’m Hughie Thomasson of the Outlaws.’
“We played all night.”
After leaving that band (on good terms), Thomasson set out to recreate the band that gave us “Green Grass and High Tides,” “Hurry Sundown” and “There Goes Another Love Song.”
“It’s all about the harmonies,” Thomasson said. “If we could play like the Outlaws and sing like the Eagles, we’d really have something. Nothing against those fellows in the Eagles about their guitar playing because those boys sure can sing. But we are the guitar army.”
In re-forming the band, Thomasson enlisted Chris Anderson, who played with the Outlaws previously for a time before striking out on his own with the band Black Hawk, and bass guitarist Randy Threet, who leaped into the national spotlight in the “Nashville Star” television show.
“It’s taken me a year to get the band back up to where we need to be,” Thomasson said. “Cincinnati will be the first stop on our tour.”
In addition to playing the expected hits, the Outlaws will also be trying out new songs for its next album, “Full Circle,” which will be out later this year.
“We’ve already been playing three songs from it,” Thomasson said. “I take Charlie Daniels’ advice: Play it live and if they like it, you’re in good shape. So far, everybody’s loving it.
“We’re doing our best to please everybody.”
how to go
WHO: The Outlaws with Big In Iowa.
WHERE: Whiskey Dick’s, 700 Pete Rose Way, Cincinnati.
WHEN: 8 p.m.. Saturday.
COST: $20 advance; $25 day of show.
MORE INFO: (513) 421-6200; whiskeydicksbar.com.
A version of this story originally ran in the Go! section of the JournalNews, Hamilton, Ohio.
