Iconic Jams: Green Grass and High Tides

Some songs rise above the flotsam and capture the mood, inviting you to get lost in the background, the foreground, and the wall of music. The Outlaws don't disappoint.

There are some songs that are epic jams. Songs that are just pillars of awesome-sauce that deserve to embraced to the fullest, to have the volume set to eleven. These songs in general have a normal song at the beginning and end, with a long, thematic solo or jam session in the middle that is not just musical masturbation, but that has structure and blends into the form to create a balanced if long song.

Today, the Iconic guitar duo of Hughie Thomasson and Billy Jones’ playing on Green Grass and High Tides. It is a classic jam that starts slow, tells a story, and then blends into a call-response solo between the two guitarists.

By Carl Lender - originally posted to Flickr as The Outlaws - Thomasson & Jones, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6306802

The Outlaws are a southern rock band in the style of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet and others. A bit twangy (but not country), a lot of in your face vocals, and in general a catchy hook.

I first heard this song in the mid 1980’s, after I had been playing a few years, and I became entranced. I learned the main riffs, and progressions, but I never really dove into the lead breaks. What I really love about the studio recording is that the two principal guitar tracks are split left/right, so with headphones on you can clearly hear Hughie on the right and Billy on the left.

Enough with the words, time to put the track on, and get lost in the music.

Ah, audio poetry.

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