While the Tampa, Florida, band the Outlaws is often lumped into the loose category of southern rock, there is in actuality a distinct difference in their approach, as well as their influences. Their primary similarity with other southern rock bands is their dual-lead-guitar interplay, a defining characteristic of many of the bands thrown into that category. However, the Outlaws’ mix of country and rock elements display the melodicism and vocal harmony influences of groups like the Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds and Poco, as opposed to groups like the Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd, to which they are often unfairly compared. Their use of three and four part harmonies clearly set them apart from contemporaries that usually relied on a single lead vocalist. "There Goes Another Love Song" and "Green Grass and High Tides" are excellent examples of such melodic and catchy harmonies.

The most influential member of the band was Hughie Thomasson, whose signature voice and style of guitar playing were defining characteristics of the band's sound. Thomasson's guitar sound was characterized by the use of the Fender Stratocaster played in a quasi-country style mixed with fluid, often quick blues runs. Thomasson's guitar playing, had innate country elements in its techniques, but he was more of a lighting fastrock/blues player. Known as "HT" he was nicknamed "FLAME" and is in the Fender Hall of Fame. http://youtube.com/watch?v=8IGsDYotzTE

His guitar sound was complemented by other members, who would play contrasting Gibson Les Paul or other alternatives to Thomasson's sound in a more straight rock/blues style.

The records released between 1975 and 1980 are considered the most credible representation of the style the band developed. The band was seen on successful concert tours billed with other non-Southern Rock acts of the time. This contrasting of styles was more common at that time than the packaged tours by genre seen so often in current rock arenas (Ozzfest for example). This willingness of promoters to mix styles led to the Outlaws gaining a large nationwide following in the United States.

The albums released after 1980 are largely viewed by critics as a gradual move away from the original sound that gained them success in the 1970s. The reworking of the Western-styled "Ghost Riders" in 1980 was the band's last taste of big league success, although the band released two more records in 1982 and 1986. As the 1980s came to a close, Thomasson became the final original member of the act. Albums such as Diablo Canyon (1994) were released on smaller independent record labels that were essentially underwriting Thomasson and his selected set of sidemen. The band was mostly confined to smaller club dates, compared to the larger arena shows of earlier times. This situation led to Thomasson accepting the guitar position in the legendary, and by now much more popular, Lynyrd Skynyrd in the later 1990s. This fact essentially sidelined the Outlaws for a decade, as Thomasson's voice and guitar style were just too integral a part of the Outlaws' sound for the other members to successfully work without it. Interestingly, Thomasson's signature Outlaw sound was largely underplayed in his role with Lynyrd Skynyrd due to his ability to modify his performance to fit that band's needs. This left a vacancy open for the band to reform at a later date.

In April 2005, the band reunited and began touring. They were part of the Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam tour in the summer of 2007 and plan to continue touring. Release of a new studio album, Once An Outlaw is planned for early 2008. Hughie Thomasson passed away on September 9, 2007 of a heart attack in Brooksville Florida. TAMPA, Fla. -- Hughie Thomasson, a guitarist and founding member of the popular Southern rock band The Outlaws, has died. He was 55.

Thomasson, an architect of the sound that produced the 1970s rock anthems "There Goes Another Love Song" and "Green Grass and High Tides," died Sunday of an apparent heart attack at his home in Brooksville, north of Tampa. His death was reported on the band's Web site Tuesday.

Thomasson was a teenager when he joined the Tampa-based band in the late 1960s. After a breakup and a couple of lineup changes, the group reformed in the early 1970s and released its debut album, "The Outlaws," in 1975.

The album spent weeks on the charts and established The Outlaws as one of the pioneers of the Southern rock sound alongside such bands as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band and the Allman Brothers Band.

The Outlaws recorded more hit albums and toured extensively before disbanding in the 1990s, when Thomasson was offered a spot in the revamped Lynyrd Skynyrd. He left that group in 2005 to reform The Outlaws, which toured regularly in recent years.

Thomasson recently produced a new CD for the band, surviving members said. http://youtube.com/watch?v=VxblQ5lXze4