In the past I’ve done group interviews with a couple of members of a band on the same phone connection but back on Sept. 28 I spoke with two participants of a group called Once An Outlaw — Jeff Howell at 9 a.m. calling from Ithaca, New York, and Chris Hicks at 2 p.m. calling from Musella, Georgia, to be exact. Both musicians have deep roots in classic rock and Southern rock, in particular. Howell spent time in the Outlaws, Foghat and Savoy Brown, and Hicks was also in the Outlaws as well as the Marshall Tucker Band; so considering the fact that they are currently in the band coming to Madison (for two shows: one at 5 p.m. and the other at 8 p.m. on Oct. 11) with the appropriate name of Once An Outlaw … well, I think you can understand the reasoning behind this double-header column.

Q: I’m wondering how and when this group got together, Jeff — can you give me the history of Once An Outlaw?
Howell: So, my take on it is probably a year or so ago the guitar player Chuck Farrell and Chris Anderson — the former Outlaw guitar player — started doing this project called Once An Outlaw made up of other musicians around the Boston area — club players. So fast forward to this year — around four months ago — when I got a call from a friend of mine who plays bass with Joe Perry and a few other guys in the Boston area. He said, “I got this gig, but I think you’re better off doing it. You’re more suited for it.” Then I got another call. This time it was Chuck Farrell, and he approached me about the same gig. Of course being an Outlaw alumni, it made total sense if they’re doing this thing called Once An Outlaw. So I go, “OK, I’ll give it a try and let’s see what happens.”

Q: That sounds like a fortuitous beginning, for sure.
Howell: Well, prior to all this — and this is the ironic part — Chris Hicks and I had been corresponding, because he and I were in the Outlaws together. In fact, he and I did three CDs in the Outlaws together with Hughie Thomasson, … so Chris and I hadn’t seen each other in 25 years. Well, this whole thing came together so unexpectedly, primarily because of COVID and people having time off the road, so Chris and I decided to come on board, too. So all of a sudden you’ve got three Outlaw alumni in this thing called Once An Outlaw and, like a helium-filled balloon, it just went (whoosh) up. We’ve been selling out shows. It’s been so much fun musically. Personality-wise we just all settled in musically and socially in a very good bunkhouse way; the way a band of brothers has to do it. And we did in such an elapsed timeframe. … It’s like we found a wormhole to do this, but it’s because we are survivors. It’s because we have individually maintained and galloped on this path we’re on. At times in our lives our paths cross, and here they have crossed again. This band is a great thing and I think it’s going to go on. We’re all having such a great time that irregardless of what goes on in our other worlds, we’ll continue on. People are so tired of being locked up and shackled down with the COVID that we’ve been doing these shows, and you can just see the elation in their eyes. That’s pretty heavy, because we all need what it is that we’re doing, because there’s no better medicine than music for any aliment.

Q: Is there anything, Jeff, that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this article?
Howell: Yeah, that this band was never put together to go toe-to-toe against the bands that we were members of. We’re mixing it up, and we’re adding a bit of Marshall Tucker in there, a bit of Foghat — not a lot— a bit of Outlaws … some Chris Anderson’s stuff, a little Chris Hicks’ stuff, eventually my stuff. We’re just making music with each other and having a damn good time doing it!

— A couple of hours later, the phone rang and Chris Hicks was all set to help me delve a little deeper into what makes Once An Outlaw tick and what folks can expect from their two shows.—

Q: How are you making out during all this COVID stuff going on?
Hicks: Well, we’re faring pretty well, man, we stayed buckled down for a while but we’ve been out playing some lately. I hope it’s not too early, but I’ve been out on the road the last couple of weeks playing some, but I’m about ready for the world to turn back on like everybody else, I’m sure.

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Q: Yeah, I’ve had to improvise for months now, so I’d like to get back somewhere near normal.
Hicks: Yeah, man, that was the same with us except for very recently — the second week in March it shut down like a power cut off.

Q: Music can be an empowering and healing thing for folks, and when that “power” got cut off it left a lot of people in the lurch.
Hicks: I have no doubt, man, on both sides of it — for us as much as anybody. I don’t know if it’s a good healing process or just good therapy or chat, but live music needs to come back as soon as it can for a lot of reasons, I think.

Q: Well, speaking of live music, I think you guys will enjoy yourselves up in Madison, Maine, at the Somerset Abbey. Artists have told me it’s quite the place to perform.
Hicks: I’ve heard similar things. I haven’t been there personally, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, yeah.

Q: Oh, just out of curiosity, are you still with the Marshall Tucker Band?
Hicks: Yes sir, I am. Although we haven’t played since March; yeah, I’m still with them. We’re hoping to fire things back up maybe next year, if that’s possible. We’ll all just have to wait and see on that, but we’re still planning to tour and all the stuff, God willing.

Q: Well, at least you can keep your chops up by touring with Once An Outlaw. That’s got to be a positive thing I would think.
Hicks: That’s how everything started, really, and it’s been really cool, yeah. Besides being good friends, Chris Anderson and I have talked about doing a project together. We were never in the Outlaws together — in the band at the same time, I mean — but we’ve been good friends for many years. … So this group was easy to fall into. It’s something we’ve been talking about doing. Thanks to Chuck for kind of getting it started. Musically we’re all on the same page, so when we got together the chemistry was there. It’s been kind of natural, really.

Q: And, talking with Jeff earlier, Once An Outlaw takes all the influences you guys have had in the past and blended them up beautifully.
Hicks: And it’s a great blend. It really is, because everybody’s got their strengths. We just concentrate on that, roll it up in a big ball and shoot it at you. … It’s been great, man, it really has. And the concert, if you think about it, is a very primal thing for us to do in today’s society. That’s what’s important about it. It’s a human event. … (It’s) something you experience together both for the band and the crowd. Everybody has to be there together for it to happen. I mean, everybody doing it in a communal experience is what a concert is all about. … It becomes bigger than the band and the audience both; it becomes something larger. That’s the human element of it — it’s larger than life.

Q: Is there anything, Chris, that you’d like to have passed on to the folks reading this article?
Hicks: Yeah, there is something you can pass on. There’s one good thing about this project to me and that’s the songwriting of Hughie Thomasson and Toy Caldwell. That’s pretty much the backbone of this Once An Outlaw band, and it wouldn’t exist — neither would Marshall Tucker or the Outlaws — without those two guys. They were both very good friends of mine, … and two of the best songwriters in the world, their songs move people!

Lucky Clark has spent over 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

 

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