By Mike McCombs
If you’re a fan of 1990s country music and you missed Suzy Bogguss’ “A Swingin’ Little Christmas” at the USC Beaufort Center For The Arts last month, your craving might not go unfulfilled.
The Beaufort Area Hospitality Association announced Tuesday via a message on their Facebook page that BlackHawk would be the headlining entertainment at the 2023 Beaufort Oyster Festival.
The band will play Saturday, Jan. 21 at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. Admission is free.
A country threesome founded in 1992, BlackHawk features two of its three original members. Henry Paul handles lead vocals and plays mandolin and acoustic guitar, while Dave Robbins sings backgound vocals and plays keyboards. The band’s third original member, guitarist Van Stephenson, left the band in 2000 due to health concerns and died in 2001.
The first single off the band’s self-titled 1994 debut album was the hit “Goodbye Says It All,” which peaked at No. 11. Four more Top-10 singles followed – “Every Once In A While,” “I Can Sure Smell The Rain,” Down In Flames,” and “That’s Just About Right.”
The band released three more hit albums and a Greatest Hits package in the 1990s.
Music fans may know Paul from his previous band. He was the vocalist for the 1970s southern rock outfit The Outlaws, whose 1975 debut album produced the popular songs “There Goes Another Love Song” and “Green Grass And High Tides.”
The Outlaws were recommended to Arista Records founder Clive Davis by Lynyrd Skynyrd front man Ronnie Van Zant, and they were the first band signed to his label. Paul left The Outlaws after three albums but later returned and is still active that band, as well.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
