Outlaws and Marshalls and the Macon Cowboy
An Exclusive Interview with GRITZ
Editor
By Michael B. Smith
To be so young, Macon, Georgiaís Chris Hicks
has been around the Southern Rock block a few times, and in a big way. As
guitarist and singer for The Outlaws and a stint in The Marshall Tucker Band and
now as a solo artist, Hicks continues to amaze and astound with powerful blues
vocals, smoldering hot guitar work, and great songwriting.
Hot Grits caught up with the well-mannered and cordial Chris at his home in
Macon for an enlightening conversation.
Are you originally from Macon?
I was born in Lizella, Georgia. Thatís a
small town right outside of Macon, about 20 miles or so. A real countrified
little place, still is. Itís grown up a little bit, but itís still very
small compared to Macon. I have a lot of family out there and all. I started
playing when I was 8 years old with my Grandfather, whoís still out there,
heís 90 years old. We had a big jam with him a couple of weeks ago. Heís a
mandolin player. My Mom sings and he plays mandolin. Heís always played
around, and had his bluegrass bands. For a while I was playing with them, got a
lot of playing time in at a real early age with that stuff. It wasnít really
straight bluegrass, it was more like mountain or hillbilly music. There were a
lot of the same songs, but more of a country type arrangement. Heís been my
master teacher as far as learning how to play. He also plays guitar, and he
kinda got me started on it.
Coming up through the teenage years, I started having my garage bands, and
playing the junior-senior proms. I actually worked a lot while I was in high
school doing that, playing homecomings and different little sweetheart dances
and things like that. We were always a rock and roll band. We were playing
Marshall Tucker songs at the junior-senior. Luckily, there were still enough
cool people when I was a junior in high school that still got into it. We got in
a little trouble by not playing straight Top 40 songs, but we got away with it.
You know how that kind of thing goes.
What was your first big break in music?
My first taste of the real thing was a band I
had together called Loose Change. That was high school buddies that had a band
that had changed faces and names and all that a few times through the years, but
really a lot of the same guys played together for a long time. We started doing
original music as well as some covers to get into the clubs and all. We started
opening for bands, like Charlie Daniels, and The Atlanta Rhythm Section, and The
Outlaws. We were kind of the hot band in town, so we always got the opening
ticket for a few years, as well as killing them in the the clubs. We built us a
little reputation and went to Muscle Shoals, Alan Walden was our manager then,
and we recorded our album. We actually got an album on vinyl before they stopped
doing that. It was released regionally and did okay, it didnít break no
records but it did okay. We did a single that was going to be on our second
album, by this time we were doing some pretty good shows, playing The Cotton
Club in Atlanta and things like that. The song was used in a Jim Varney movie
called ìFast Foods.î That gave us a little spark and we got a little air
play. It was called ìLove is On the Line.î It wasnít an ìErnestî
movie, but heís always the same type of character. It was a college type
movie. And 96 Rock jumped on us and played us because of that.
So we opened for The Outlaws a bunch at that time. At the time, Alan was also
Hughieís (Thomasson) publisher, so I had known Hughie for a few years during
this time and weíd get together and jam, and Iíd sit in with The Outlaws.
And when weíd go down to Muscle Shoals to record, Hughie and them would be
down there a lot too, so I would play on some of their tracks and theyíd play
on some of mine, mainly Hughie. We got to be big buddies and everything, which
eventually lead to him asking me to join The Outlaws in 1989.
So we hooked up, and I still did a few dates that year with my band while
playing with The Outlaws, and then we got going real well with The Outlaws and I
ended up having to dissolve my band. I stayed with The Outlaws full time right
up until the time I joined Marshall Tucker, really. I guess that was 1996, but
we had kind of dissolved The Outlaws the year before that when Hughie joined
Lynyrd Skynyrd. But weíre still going to do a couple of more records.
What, The Outlaws?
Yeah. Weíve been working on some demos. But I did a couple of records with them by then, we did ìDiablo Canyon,î and we did the live record and I had songs on both of those. My role in the band had expanded to where we were doing some of my material as new Outlaws stuff, and I was getting a lot of freedom in it. I got to play and sing songs during the shows and on the record, so I was a real part of the band. That was a real fruitful time for me, we played about 200 dates a year between ë89 and ë95. During that time when Iíd come off the road, Iíd record a song or two with Paul Hornsby, who is a good friend of mine. We ended up with 20-25 pretty good tracks. So Iíd start playing around here and there calling it The Chris Hicks Band, and I started snooping around, and got me a little record deal with Ichiban Records. That actually didnít come about until after weíd shut things down with The Outlaws. I put the band together during that year between Outlaws and Tucker, and we played steadily and did some good stuff, opened for a bunch of bands again. During that time is when Doug (Gray) called me. As a matter of fact, we had a date opening up for Marshall Tucker down in Florida. So I was siting at the house and I got a call from Doug. I thought he was probably calling about this date coming up, because I hadnít seen him in 6-8 months or so, but what it was, he was calling me to come in and help them out because Stuart (Swanlund) was having hand surgery. So I said sure, I can do it, and I jumped out there on the road and it ended up being a good situation for both of us and I joined The Marshall Tucker Band for a year. Doug and all those guys have been real supportive. I kept my band together the whole time, and we opened up a few shows with them in the South. Doug really helped me out with my record deal too. I was discussing all of these contracts, and Dougís good with those things so he gave me a lot of good advice on those things. I ended up leaving the band when we took the Christmas break, because my album was coming out, and I knew I needed to jump on that or it was just going to go nowhere. So we talked about it, and I didnít want to leave and I donít think the guys wanted me to leave, but there just wasnít a good way to work it all out. So we ended up shaking hands and deciding the best thing would be for me to get out and go ahead and get in this thing. As much as we all wanted to stay together, they really supported me in getting out and doing what I had to do. Thatís one of the things I love about those guys, they were like, ìman, do it! Anything we can do to help...î And they have, Theyíve thrown me dates here and there when I wanted to kind of be high profile, or when they were just coming to town or whatever.
That brings us to now. I am working on a
second album for Ichiban. Weíre going to be finishing that up through the
Holidays, and maybe put it out around St. Patricks day, thatís usually a good
time to come out with stuff. So we are just working real hard with this band,
trying to change the world one night at a time. Weíve been cutting a lot of
live stuff too, in hopes of putting it out either as a part of this album or as
a third one. Weíre that type of band, we inherited a lot from The Allman
Brothers and Marshall Tucker, we play them a lot better live.
Iíd like to jump back for a minute, and get you to share
with us your fondest memories of playing with The Outlaws.
I have lots of good memories with them. Those
guys were tons of fun. We stayed on the road all the time. Weíd come home for
a week or two. They were like Tucker, they played all the time. The ìSouthern
Spirit Tourî was a good one. With Tucker and .38 Special and The Fabulous
Thunderbirds and The Barefoot Servants. That was a big package tour that hit all
the big amphitheatres across the country. That was a lot of fun because we
toured with a lot of those bands but not in a big traveling show like that. It
was one big rolling road show. And we were jamming every night with Tucker, me
and Hughie. A lot of people were sitting in and jamming like it used to be. Van
Zant was out of .38 a couple of nights and I got up and sang his parts like on
ìWild Eyed Southern Boys,î and nobody sits in with .38, but before it was
over they were pulling us out onstage to jam too!
Same question. Your high points with The Marshall Tucker
Band?
I had a lot of fun with them guys too. I had
toured with them and played with them before so much. I knew all the guys real
well. A couple of highlights, I did a couple of TV shows with them. We did
ìNashville Now,î and we did this Pay-Per-View special out in Houston for
65,000 people. It was us and Charlie Daniels and Hank Williams, Jr. in the
Astrodome. That was a ton of fun. They do a lot of outdoor stuff in the summer
time, that evokes memories of the way it used to be. It almost felt like the
ë70ís to me, that same groove.
What are your memories of Toy Caldwell?
Toy was a dear friend of mine. I had cut a lot of tracks with him and was going to be on his second record. I donít know if theyíll ever be released or not, but I sang on a couple of the songs. As a matter of fact, I was in the studio with him two nights before he passed away. We did a lot of dates with The Outlaws and Toy, and heíd always get up and jam with us and weíd jam with him. He always loved the way I sang. I used to sing a lot with him, and then after the record came out I said, ìThanks a lot man, you got Gregg Allman to sing my part!î I ribbed Toy about it, but he knew I was kidding about it.
Speaking of Volunteer Jam, I rode up there
with Lynyrd Skynyrd, the first time they played again. We ended up hanging out
and partying, and Toy was there. I missed the little shuttle bus that came
through to carry you back to the hotel, but a car stopped and picked me up. It
was Stevie Ray Vaughan and his people. I sat down right next to Stevie Ray. Him
and B.B. King and Toy had just got through jamming. That was far enough back
where they still did a lot of jamming, and he had set everything on fire. I
never got to know Stevie, that was my only encounter with him, but he was great.
Are you going to be at ìDoc Rocks for Danny Joe Brownî
on November 26?
I sure wish I could. Iím going to have to
miss it because Iím booked up in Atlanta that night. Iíll definitely be
there in spirit. Danny Joe is a wonderful person, and another dear friend of
mine. I hate it I couldnít make the Jacksonville benefit too. But my heart
really goes out to him, heís a great guy.
Special Thanks to Chris for his time, and a tip of the hat
to Doug Gray and The Marshall Tucker Band as well as Ichiban Records.