Exploding out of Macon, Georgia in the early 1970s, Wet Willie recorded for Capricorn Records, the label that also launched the Allman Brothers Band and the Marshall Tucker Band. For one brief, shining moment, it seemed, Macon was the center of the musical universe.
The media's all–inclusive umbrella was "Southern Rock," and while each of these wildly successful outfits was indeed Southern, their influences, styles and approaches were vastly different. Wet Willie's music was a deep–fried concoction of blues, soul and funk (in the big picture, the band was Little Feat's southern doppelganger).
Wet Willie's accelerated boogie was due in large part to frontman Jimmy Hall, who sang with gospel fervor and whose blues harp became the spotlight instrument. Hall and brother Jack (bass, banjo and vocals) began the group in the late '60s in their hometown of Mobile, Alabama.
The lineup also included lead and slide guitarist Ricky Hirsch, drummer Lewis Ross, and John Anthony on keyboards (Anthony would be replaced along the road by Michael Duke).
They were known as Fox, and in early 1970 they relocated to Macon where Phil Walden, who'd managed and produced the Halls' favorite singer, Otis Redding, had started Capricorn and hung out a sign for auditions.
Fox became Wet Willie — named for a schoolboy prank, in which one's finger is licked and inserted, wiggling, into the ear of an unsuspecting victim. The band's Capricorn debut, Wet Willie I, introduced Shame Shame Shame, which would become one of the band's live staples; Wet Willie II included such instant classics as Shout Bamalama, Airport, Red Hot Chicken and the unforgettable Grits Ain't Groceries.
The third album, Drippin' Wet, captured the band in all its smokin' glory at The Warehouse in New Orleans. Most significantly, it opened the door to FM radio, where their high–energy Southern songs snapped in place like jigsaw pieces alongside the Allmans and the Tucker Band.
The legendary Tom Dowd took the producer's chair for 1974's Keep On Smilin,' which became the breakthrough Wet Willie album. Keep on Smilin' reached #10 on the Billboard singles chart, the album went platinum and the band — accompanied by the Williettes, a trio of female singers – became an international touring phenomenon.
Dixie Rock followed in '75, and its title song succinctly and brilliantly called to mind everything that was cool about Southern Rock music. With its harmonic guitars and singalong chorus, Dixie Rock also presented a creative parallel to Lynyrd Skynyrd, which was already taking the music in exciting new directions.
Wet Willie made two more albums for Capricorn — The Wetter the Better and Left Coast Live, and disbanded in 1980, following a brief tenure on Epic.
Today the Hall Brothers front a contemporary Wet Willie band, keeping alive "Dixie Rock," "Keep on Smilin'" and the other great songs that made rock 'n' roll history, and put Macon on the map.