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We went on the road after the completion of Hurry Sundown. One of the
highlights of that summer was playing a "Day On the Green" at
Oakland Stadium with Skynyrd. The footage from that day was used in the
tribute movie and if you look close you can see Monte Yoho standing on the
side of the stage during Skynyrd's set. Later that summer both bands were
somewhere in N. Carolina. Ronnie and i were drinking Jack Daniels on the
Outlaw bus after the show. We were both pretty drunk and Ronnie kept
telling me he was the prince of Dixie. That Duane Allman was the king and
he was the prince. We stumbled into the hotel with some help from the crew
and as the white sand ash tray exploded all over the floor as Ronnie
staggered out of the elevator the doors closed and that was the last time
I saw him alive. By September I was out of the Outlaws and busy putting
together the HPB. I heard about Skynyrd's plane crash and went to
Jacksonville to pay my last respects to my old friend. I went over to
Ronnie's Family home and said hello to Lacy, his dad and his mom and
Johnny was there and as I recall was quite a young kid. Charlie Daniels
sang Peace In the Valley with some guys from 38 Special at the end of the
service and there wasn't a dry eye in the room...
I started writing songs that fall that fall and recorded some demo's with "Mamas Pride" a band from St. Louis. The band leader Pat Liston and his brother Danny were great singers and they helped me cut songs like "So Long". I contacted Jim Fish in upstate New York and invited him to come to Tampa to start putting a group together. I also called Billy Crain who I knew through his brother Tommy who played guitar with Charlie Daniels. Wally Dentz was another early call to see if we could pick up where we left off the last time I offered him a job. Bill Hoffman a friend I'd met years before over in Cocoa Beach. At the time he was playing drums in with a local band in Tampa and he joined with everyone else at about the same time. I met Barry Rapp through a mutual friend and the line up was complete sometime in the spring of 78. We rehearsed in a barn at a friends house out in the middle of an orange grove north of Tampa. After months of hard work an incredible band started to take shape right before our eyes. We had two faithful roadies as they were called back then. A guy by the name of Brian Sullivan who came down with Jim and a guy by the name of Jan Stemble who came with Billy Crain. These guys did everything for the band from it's very beginning til the very end. I still see both Brian and Stem and I'm happy to say they're both doing well. This was my new band and we wasted no time getting back in the clubs to work up a new show and in the process a new career. The other songs
on the Grey Ghost album were written by band members some of who brought
finished songs with them to the project. I collaborated with Barry Rapp,
Jim Fish, and a guy I met through Barry from Macon by the name of Dallas
Moore. He and I wrote the song Foolin' together. Jim brought a song or two
with him, Billy Crain brought a song or two with him and Barry brought a
song or two as well. Wally Dentz co wrote a couple songs and sang lead on
Billy's stuff. Barry and Jim sang lead on a couple songs so the lead vocal
duties were spread around pretty good on the first album. I think that
made the first album more interesting and in retospect I wish we had
worked harder and kept that idea running through later records.
Story Behind the Song: So Long Any band is built on new music and I had to get back to writing new songs to use as a cornerstone for a new album. I started with the song "So Long" This was a song based on an affair of the heart that went back to high school as many of my songs did and were to do again and again in the future. I thought the title was strong and the melody and musical backdrop was reminiscent of songs written during my folk music period before my involvement with the Outlaws. During those days you would use a cassette recorder and perform the song over and over until you got a complete performance that you felt was a good representation of the song. It was written in my living room in my house in Tampa and I knew that it was something special when I was writing it. The arrangement for the record was worked up with the group and refined by Ronnie and Howard Albert in the studio. Story Behind the Song: Grey Ghost Grey Ghost was written in my living room with a raging fire going in my fire place in Tampa in the winter of 1978.The song was written by Barry Rapp and myself who both lost good friends in the Skynyrd crash. For me it was Ronnie and Dean the road manager and for Barry it was Steve and Cassie Gains. Barry knew Steve when they were in different groups back in Kansas and I toured with Ronnie and the guys for four years. The song is written in documentary form with a first person perspective on the unforgiving nature of the music business. It is a deeply personal song and there were nights when it was hard to sing without giving in to the emotions. It still is a moment frozen in time. It became our title track and a vehicle for Billy Crain and Jim Fish's classic guitar work. This song is the Henry Paul Band's most identifiable song along with So Long.
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