Dubbed by some

as a mixture of blues, country and rock and roll, Southern rock is how

bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers and, more recently, The

Black Crowes and Widespread Panic are described. The guitars are prominently

featured, the lyrics can be soulful at one point and anthemic the next

and the rhythm can get everybody in the arena dancing.

This weekend,

Molly Hatchet, one of the premiere Southern rock bands of all time, will

visit the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater.

The band is

named after Hatchet Molly, a 17th century axe murderess who would behead

her lovers. They are originally from Jacksonville and the original members

included Danny Joe Brown, Dave Hlubek, Duane Roland, Steve Holland, Banner

Thomas and Bruce Crump. Their first release was in 1978 and was titled

"Molly Hatchet." The album went multi-platinum thanks to building

a fan base by touring the country with the likes of Aerosmith and Bob

Seger.

Their next

album, "Flirting With Disaster," was an even bigger success

because of a song with the same name. It is one of the bands biggest hits

and it made Molly Hatchet a headlining band. They performed over 250 shows

a year all over the world.

A year later

Danny Joe Brown left the band and formed The Danny Joe Brown Band, while

Jimmy Farrar took over siging duties for Molly Hatchet. The band released

the albums "Beating The Odds," and "Take No Prisoners"

with Farrar before Brown returned to the band in 1983. He recorded three

new albums with Molly Hatchet; "No Guts...No Glory," "The

Deed is Done," and "Double Trouble Live."

Hlubek left

the band in 1985 and Brown called his friend Bobby Ingram, who was a member

of the Danny Joe Brown Band, to take his place. Molly Hatchet released

"Lightning Strikes Twice" in 1989 but other members of the band

began to leave. A greatest hits album was released in 1991 but the band

remained on a break from recording a new album until 1996.

Ingram and

Brown continued the Molly Hatchet tradition and wrote new songs and toured.

In 1996, Molly Hatchet recorded "Devil's Canyon" in Hamburg,

Germany. The album was voted the number one rock record in Europe that

year but Brown was ill with diabetes and could no longer perform his studio

and touring responsibilities. Phillip McCormack was broght in to replace

brown on vocals. He and Ingram are still in the lineup, as are John Galvin

on keyboards, Russ Maxwell on guitars, Andy McKinney on bass and Sean

Shannon on drums.

The band has

recorded two albums since "Devil's Canyon,"; "Silent Reign

of Heroes" in 1998 and "The Kingdom of XII" in 2000. They

have also performed on the "Charlie daniels Volunteer Jam,"

which toured the country coast to coast. They perform their classic hits

at their shows, including 'Dreams I'll Never See," "Gator Country"

and "Whiskey Man," as well as new hits like "Cornbread

Mafia," and "Heart of the USA."

Molly Hatchet

will perform at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater Friday and Saturday,

May 17 and 18 at 8 p.m. Local band Acres will open the show. Tickets are

sold out but standing-room-only tickets will be on sale at the box office

at 6 p.m. for $35.

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