In the summer of 2007, I was the guitarist with the John Bull Band of Montgomery, Alabama. John is a roots/blues singer who has performed in the Montgomery area for many years. That summer, he booked the band to perform at the grand opening of a Bass Pro Shop store in nearby Prattville, Alabama.
Bass Pro Shop scheduled several celebrities to attend this grand opening, including Kenny Stabler, Bill Dance, Miss Alabama 2007, and guitarists Jeff Cook of Alabama and Rickey Medlocke of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Rickey agreed to play and sing “Sweet Home Alabama” with us. Okay, we agreed to play with him.
Rickey arrived with an electric guitar and no amplifier. We talked through the tune as we set up our gear just outside the front door of the Bass Pro Shop. We rehearsed a little. An estimated 7500 people stood in the parking lot in the stifling Alabama heat as celebrities made speeches. After the speeches, there was a ribbon-cutting. Then the stars marched inside the store, followed closely by the mob of customers.
That was our cue to start playing.
Rickey plugged his guitar into John Bull’s harmonica amplifier. I kicked off the song’s intro, trying to channel Skynyrd guitarist Ed King from the original recording. Rickey sang the song, I played a solo, the band jammed, and we sounded okay. By the end of the song, I turned around and saw that Jeff Cook was playing bass on the song while our bass player watched. I guess Jeff was supposed to play with us and showed up at the last minute. Then Rickey and Jeff followed the other celebrities into the store to sign autographs. At the same time, we played our regular John Bull show. Eventually, we moved inside the store and played some more.
Later I spoke with some employees at the Bass Pro Shop, and at least one of them thought the John Bull Band was Lynyrd Skynyrd. Good times.