The Outlaws – Dixie Highway

Tampa Bay’s finest The Outlaws feature frequently on this site, and though their output has been on a reduced scale over the last decade, they have released two albums, and now add a third: ‘Dixie Highway’.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: The Outlaws
ALBUM: Dixie Highway
LABEL: SPV/Steamhammer
SERIAL: SPV 284722 CD
YEAR: 2020

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

LINEUP: Henry Paul – vocals, guitar * Monte Yoho – drums * Randy Three – bass, vocals * Steve Grisham – guitars, vocals * Dave Robbins – keyboards, vocals * Dale Oliver – guitars, vocals * Jaran Sorenson – drums * Billy Crain – guest guitars

TRACK LISTING: 01 Southern Rock Will Never Die * Heavenly Blues * 03 Dixie Highway * 04 Over Night From Athens * 05 Endless Ride * 06 Dark Horse Run * 07 Rattlesnake Road * 08 Lonesome Boy From Dixie * 09 Showdown * 10 Windy City’s Blue * 11 Macon Memories

RATING:

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

You don’t have to go too far to find references to Southern Rock on Glory Daze. You can take a walk down memory lane with many of our articles going back to the early 70’s all the while touching on southern rock themes and references. One of the often compared bands within the genre are these guys, The Outlaws.

Tampa Bay’s finest feature frequently on this site, and though their output has been on a reduced scale over the last decade, they have released two albums, and now add a third: ‘Dixie Highway’. Yes, it’s a tribute to the old national Highway which ran from Detroit down through to Florida. You may remember, the band Journey sang about it on their live 1981 album ‘Captured’.

This album is full of historical touch points, and must have been an interesting set of songwriting sessions for Henry Paul and the team. Let’s see how it all turned out.

The Songs

‘Southern Rock Will Never Die’ is the opener with all the usual southern lyrics and themes, this one a tale from the past with compadres Lynyrd Skynyrd featuring prominently.

‘Heavenly Blues’ is a sweet acoustic jangle which has a bright and sunny disposition throughout. One of the first highlights comes in the form of the title track ‘Dixie Highway’. This is the Outlaws template which goes back decades. Timeless Southern rock, one for the ages.

‘Over Night From Athens’ is a real fun romp with cowboy rhythms and some nice dueling guitar work taking us out at the end. Settling for an acoustic breather, ‘Endless Ride’ eases up the trusty steed for a few minutes at least.

‘Dark Horse Run’ assumes more of a melodic position, coming over like their contemporaries Firefall and Atlanta Rhythm Section during their heyday. Changing lanes, ‘Rattlesnake Road’ resembles fellow Floridians Molly Hatchet at their crankiest. This is a bit of fun!

‘Lonesome Boy From Dixie’ shuffles along at medium pace, and sounds like a tale from the Confederate Wars, and not a cricket match! ‘Showdown’ is an instrumental that features some stinging double and triple part guitar solos reminding us of 70’s era southern rockers like The Allmans and even The Outlaws themselves.

‘Windy City’s Blue’ is a full-featured tune featuring all angles of the southern rock compass. A sassy tune, which sounds like an ode to the great metropolis of Chicago. ‘Macon Memories’ is another tale from the southern rock memory archives, and it’s one to complete the album. It’s both a tribute to the musical town of Macon Georgia, and all the musical greats that put the town on the global map. The way the song is sung, the chorus comes out sounding like ‘Makin’ Memories’. Done deliberately? I think so.

In Summary

There’s a lot of historical references on the album, and one can put that down to the songwriting approach, not only about the history of the Dixie Highway itself, but all the other musical references and locations included within. We don’t write about Southern rock a lot these days, so it’s good to see an album like this pass across our bow. For those that enjoy a good session of good ‘ol Dixie Southern Rock, then check this one out.

Video

Dixie Highway

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