some other guitar parts and a bass line to it and my thought was that it lost its original feel, but I was still happy that it was included in the record. Several years later, a fan in Kansas came up to me and said, “Jeff, I want to thank you for the song “Four Walls of Raiford." I told him I wished he had heard it before the over-dubs. He said, “That’s the ver- sion I am talking about!” It was then I found out about the box set from Skynyrd and that it had been included on it. I ran out the next day and got it and when I heard it I said, "Yes!" It was the untouched version and I could feel the magic in the song again.
What record do you think defined the .38 Special's sound or style? Well, Wild Eyed was the greatest selling record to that point but“Caught Up in You” came off of Special Forces and it was the first top ten charting song. The Wild Eyed South- ern Boys record was still the best selling record we had and that was the image that was being marketed for the band, so I guess it defined us as a band. I have to say that we worked hard to include as many different styles of music into our sound. We had Jim Peterik as a collaborator up to the Tour De Force record but he was getting busy with his own band, Survivor, so I believe that’s some of the difference you hear on that record. When you take away someone who is as tal- ented a songwriter as Jim is, then you are taking away part of what made those songs from the last three records what they were and it’s not that they were any better or worse songs, they just had a different sound. I think any time you add a new writer to that, you are going to get a different sound to the music you are making.
Tell me what your favorite song was to play and any shows or bands you toured with that stick out in your mind? My two favorite songs to play were “Robin
Hood” and “Fantasy Girl” as far as sheer en- joyment of playing. As for bands, five stick out in my mind as great to tour and hang out with: Rush, Hughie Lewis, Starship, Bad Company and Bon Jovi. All those bands were great to tour with and we also had a lot of fun off stage with them also.
Tell me about the band after Don (Barnes) left. Well, we got a tape from our manager of a band called Jack Mac and the Heart Attack and as soon as I heard it, I knew he (Max Carl) was a talented singer and he joined us quickly along with Danny Chauncey. We got a good break as we had the song “Second Chance” and we put it on this record and it ended up being our highest charting single ever. I know it was not what most folks think of as a 38 song, but we were trying to redefine who we were as a band. We never looked at a song to see if it was a ".38" song. We felt a great song was a great song and it deserved to be recorded and heard. We did two records and toured and had a good run ‘til Max decided he did not want to tour and be away from/home so much, so we decided to see if Don would come back and see if we could find the magic we had before.
How long after Don's return did you know it was maybe time for you to move on? Also did you not write some of the songs off Resolution? Well, about a year in, we all started to feel un- happy again and it took maybe another year before we had all had enough. We went our separate ways and yes I wrote some of the songs that made it on to that release but I never played on it. I think it really was like a marriage where we grew in different direc- tions and I truly wish them the best of luck and I am very proud of our time together and the things we were able to do as a band. I think some of the music we made will stand up as some of the best ever made and we are
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