Outlaws in lOs anGElEs: an

intErviEw with FOundinG MEMBEr hEnry Paul

Interview by Ken Morton - Photos by Joe Schaeffer

The Outlaws made their way to the Southland for an appearance at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, presenting their classic show featuring three guitars, sweeping vocal harmonies, and remarkable songs that stand the test of time. Prior to their absolutely epic performance, Outlaws founding member Henry Paul sat down with Highwire Daze for an all encompassing interview to discuss the legendary band as well as his work with Blackhawk, a solo endeavor on the horizon, and more! Read on...

We’re here with Henry Paul from the Outlaws. How has the current tour been going and what have been some of the highlights for you?

Well, the tour goes on forever and ever, but coming to the West Coast was a highlight. We haven’t been here in a long time, and coming back out and planting our flag was important. And we’ve been met with enormously positive response and things have gone well. And if you don’t come you kinda have to forfeit. And we’re here and we’re playing hard and making sure everybody remembers that we’re here.

You have a few shows coming up with Dave Mason. What are you looking forward to the most about playing with Dave again?

Well, first of all, he’s still plays and sings really good. He’s very accomplished. And we have played some shows with him already and he was really engaging. I thought his performance was exceptional. And he’s a survivor of a generation of musical personalities that came before myself. There’s a respect factor there. Dave’s 78 years old and I know from personal experience, it’s not all that easy to get it to go late in the game. He is a respectable guy and a very accomplished musical personality. We have a lot of respect for Dave.

What was it releasing your current album, Dixie Highway in the middle of a pandemic?

Well, it was unforeseen and it was disappointing because we had worked very hard on the record and the moment it came out, it, we came out and charted in some of the highest charting positions the band had realized since the late 70’s, early 80’s. And it just got taken away. I had a rather philosophical view of it that we did our work, we did our best, we put a good record together, we wrote great songs, and we made a great record. And you just have to let go and let whatever happens, take its course and not internalize a great deal of disappointment. I was okay with it. I was disappointed that it got snatched out from under us, but it’s just the way the world turns.

Describe your first Outlaws show back from the pandemic and what was that?

Well, it was very therapeutic, and it was starting kind of coming from a long way off to get back in the performance mode. But we had a tight band and we didn’t play for quite a while. I think we probably went into a rehearsal studio, as I recall, and brushed up on some things. The intricacies of the Outlaws’ musical personality. The harmony vocals, the harmony guitar parts, everything sort of self-expressive, soloing had to be addressed and refreshed and gone over. But once we fine-tuned it. It only took a day or two. We were back on the bus and standing in front of people getting what we wanted from ‘em. It was really rewarding.

Now how did it feel when Monte Yoho retired in 2021? And tell me about your current drummer, Mike Bailey. Mike Bailey. Mike’s an Ohio boy. He was in a drum and bugle corps as a kid. He was a very schooled drummer musically. He played with Dave Robbins and Blackhawk for about 6 years. We had a long-running relationship with Mike. And at one point when I approached him to come back to the group, the timing was right for him. He had a young family. They were grown, and the timing was good for him to come back on the road and be with us. And Monte’s retiring and Mike’s march into the group was fairly easy. Mike and Monte play in similar sort of styles. Monte was a very big Mike Bailey fan and it was familiarity both professionally and personally.

Tell me about the recently released Blackhawk album. Blue Highway.

Blue Highway was a series of what we call a Nashville voice-guitar demos, and a voice - guitar demo was 2 acoustic guitars, a piano run direct, and 3 men on microphones. We would count it out and it would all go down live. And we had a collection of these voice guitar demos of songs that we had written myself, Dave and Van Stephenson. And it had Van singing with Dave and that was a very novel sort of motivation for us, was to put Van back in the group after his passing. We built a band around the voice guitar demos, and that was challenging.

Jaran Sorenson was the engineer on the project and he did a remarkable job of straightening things out and making it sound cohesive. The singing was really magic because it featured both Dave and I and Van. And that blend was obviously important and very popular because we sold three million records on our first album. It was really a magic musical moment in our lives and we were able to recreate it.

The first Blackhawk album was released in 1993, 30 years ago. What goes through your mind knowing that Blackhawk album is 30 years old now. Well, and Blackhawk for me is recent history. I was thirty years old. People say, love on your kids cuz they grow up quick. Well, the truth is, we’re growing older just as fast. And time goes by and people go, “Where did the time go?” Well, I happen to know where it went. It went in thousands of shows out here on the road over the course of millions of miles. And it feels still fresh in my musical mind, but when you look at one of our t-shirts and it says 30th anniversary, it’s a little bit almost surprising because the Outlaws are 50 years old. The Blackhawk thing was an amazing opportunity for me late in my career.

When you look back on your solo Henry Paul Band releases, what do you think of the now in retrospect?

Well, first of all, it was a very unique learning experience for me to take a band out under my own name and be the one and only sort of decision-maker. There was a lot of growth in that concept. Time has been very kind to that first Henry Paul Band record - Grey Ghost is very affectionately referred to in historical terms. Feel the Heat and Anytime were both good records. Anytime especially was a good record. But it was a learning experience and it was putting my name on something and it was a really good thing for me to do and it was a good time for me to do it and I learned a lot from it. It’s a very important part of my career.

Is there any new Blackhawk or Outlaws music on the horizon? Or maybe even Henry Paul solo album?

Well, no - with the Outlaws with It’s About Pride, Legacy Live the Double album, and then Dixie Highway - the Outlaws are okay right now where they are. With The Spirit of Christmas record, Just About Right: Live From Atlanta (acoustic), and Blue Highway, Blackhawk is fairly current and full of good and late-model music. I met with a label head today to make a solo Henry Paul record and I’m gonna begin work on that probably first of next year. And I’m looking forward to making my first true solo record that way. And that’s what’s on the horizon for me.

Any messages for Outlaws and Blackhawk fans?

Only that we really work hard to make sure that our musical presentation is uniquely faithful to our original sound. And the effort that goes into it, the musicianship that goes into it is exceptional. And being the last surviving member of the Outlaws comes with a good deal of responsibility, which I try and address and put up there on stage every night. And we’re doing a good job of putting a very respectable face on a brand that deserves it. https://www.outlawsmusic.com/