Believe it or not, Jacksonville, FL's
Randall Hall has
the Monkees to thank for his gritty guitar playing. In his younger days
Hall attended the infamous
Monkees tour where the legendary
Jimi Hendrix was the opening act. While most attendees were busy booing
Hendrix off-stage, former
Monkees fan
Hall was entranced and decided heavy riffing was the way to go. Add the Southern flavor of
the Allman Brothers and you have the sound of
Hall's first band, Running Easy, which he formed in 1971 with future
.38 Special bassist Ken Lyons.
Lynyrd Skynyrd's leader,
Ronnie Van Zant, became one of Running Easy's biggest supporters when the band opened a show for
Skynyrd in 1972. The next few years found the two bands touring together but despite their high-profile friends, Running Easy never made it big.
Hall would go on to play with
Melanie and write songs for the
Skynyrd side project
the Allen Collins Band. In 1987 he was asked by guitarist
Allen Collins to take his place in
Lynyrd Skynyrd after
Collins' paralyzing car accident.
Hall remained a member of the band until 1994 and appeared on the albums
Southern by the Grace of God,
Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991, and
The Last Rebel. The early 2000s found the guitarist fronting and touring with his own project, the Randall Hall Band. ~ David Jeffries