When you mentioned their lead singer, it gave me a shock, because as I recall it was/is Henry Paul, who used to be in the Outlaws (one of my fav Southern Rock bands from the 70's). But it was a guy named Dave Fiester. I was introduced to the Outlaws by a good California buddy of mine from San Diego,with whom I have stayed in touch over the years. We were at their concert in mid-70's at San Diego State College, that was taped for the Bring 'Em Back Alive live recording. They had a couple of airplay hits including "Green Grass and High Tides" and "There Goes Another Love Song". I think they were originally from Florida . I know Skynyrd were a lot more popular, but if I had to pick one Southern Rock band, it would be Outlaws...hands down. They had 3 guitarists, and all of them played lead, so they were constantly trading off solos, just tearing their axes to shreds...especially live....it was "ass whippin'". The live version of Green Grass gets so fast, it's ridiculous, just a wall of guitar strings.
Henry is fortunately alive and well. He wrote a lot of great tunes with the Outlaws, but left after their first couple of records, only to reunite in one of their last chapters in the mid 80's. I was fortunate to see him play with them during that phase around 86 when they toured supporting the album Soldier of Fortune. It was a different band in some respects, after the deaths of 2 original members, but they sounded great that night, and Henry always gave them more of a country rock sound than Southern rock. There is a song he wrote that is on that record that gives me chills. Probably one of the best songs written about the Civil War, I have ever heard. It is called Cold Harbor, about the terrible battle that was waged in Cold Harbor, Viriginia. How many thousands of young lives that were snuffed out in such a short time period is really hard to grasp. Very reminiscent of a similar battle here in Maryland (Sharpsburg/Antietam). From memory, the chorus was:
"Cold Harbor, the Battle Line was drawn
Through the heart of Dixie,
The thrill of war was gone,
Our rebel flag was faded, for
We waved it far too long,
Cold Harbor, the last of the proud,
Will carry on"
Gene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Harbor
P.S. Can't believe this! They're back again?! Tres cool and with some original members it looks like from the photos. This is enough to nearly make me go out and drink some Jack...(naw, won't go there).
