festive “Christmas and Caroline,” a song he performed on the Marshall Tucker Christmas album. One of the evening’s most magical mo-
ments came when Chris invited Alan Walden onto the stage to join him in singing the Otis Redding classic “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay.” I’m not sure but, I do believe this is the first time Alan has ever sung in public, and the cool thing is, he was singing on a hit by a dear friend and an artist that he used to man- age. The cool fac- tor just one up 50%. In between
Hicks’ two sets, his drummer Leroy brought some friends on stage to jam. It was mind blowing. Straight up jazz. Joining Leroy were Quahn Marshall on keys; Terry J. Grace on bass; Alphonzo Thomas on sax; and our buddy Rob Walker (Stillwater) on guitar. The band sounded great and I didn’t learn
had not heard live jazz in a long time and I re- ally enjoyed this. I told Leroy later that I thought they should all record together. Every one of them is top-flight musician and Rob Walker is one of the finest guitar players I know. Soon Chris returned to the stage for an all-
Alan Walden and Paul Hornsby
until after the show that they were not actu- ally a band. Some of them had jammed to- gether previously but this was the first occasion for all of them to play together. You could’ve fooled me. It reminded me of Sea Level. Alfonzo took the lead most of the time blowing some stellar saxophone. Our table was right up front and at one point I had been looking down at my cell phone and when I looked up Alfonso had come down off stage and was standing directly in front of me giv- ing me a private serenade. Very cool. The ensemble played a handful of songs
including one by David Sanborn and a pretty awesome Stevie Wonder cover. Honestly, I
out jam with some members of the jazz group joining in. Rob Walker broke out the talk box for his classic “Mindbender.” I just can’t say enough about how hot Chris was on this night. The guy was burning up the fretboard and sim- ply singing his butt off. I’ve always felt that Chris deserve to be a huge star. Actually, I still feel that way. I was re- ally glad to see him play the song “Ride of Your Life,” a rocker he recorded with Marshall Tucker. I always loved that song. And speaking of
(L. Wayne Skaggs Photo)
loving that song, he followed it up with “Down in Dixie” from his first solo album – another outstanding tune. Next came the ab- solutely beautiful “Georgia Moon,” a song written by Paul Hornsby and recorded by Chris. It’s a song worthy of being the state song of Georgia.` Chris “Kringle” Hicks wasn’t about to let us
forget that it was Christmas time, Pulling out the classic “Backdoor Santa” followed by a breathtaking version of “Silent Night.” To close the show the band took it home with one of the most popular songs of all time – Toy Caldwell’s “Can’t You See.” And boy oh boy did Hicks ever burn up the guitar on that one. At one point Chris jumped down off the stage with his wireless guitar and walked
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