Frank O’Keefe was and early bassist for southern rock band, the Outlaws. Although the band was riding high on a string of what would eventually become classic rock staples, O’Keefe decided to leave the band after suffering a broken neck from a fall in July, 1976. The trials of a hectic life on the road also helped in that decision. That neck injury lead to his reliance on pain medication for the rest of his life. On February 26, 1995, O’Keefe’s lifeless body was found by his roommate in his Clearwater, FL home. He apparently died as a result of drug and alcohol abuse.
Waylon Jennings was a hugely influential country singer, songwriter and musician who was one of the pioneers of the genre’s “outlaw” movement of the ’70s. Jennings learned to play the guitar and formed his own band before he even hit his teen years. One of Jennings’ first jobs in music was as a disc jockey at a local Texas radio station. It was there that he met an up-and-coming rockabilly singer named Buddy Holly. Before long, Jennings was playing bass in Holly’s band. On February 3, 1959, Jennings career path suffered a tragic setback when Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Ritchie Valens all perished in a plane crash while they were on tour of the Midwest. The accident, which has been memorialized as “the day the music died,” almost claimed Jennings’ life as well. At the last minute Jennings gave up his seat to Richardson who hadn’t been feeling well. As the musicians were boarding the plane, Holly quipped to Jennings, “I hope your ‘ol bus freezes up.” Jennings’ retort, “Well, I hope your ‘ol plane crashes” haunted him for the rest of his life. Jennings took a hiatus from performing and moved to Arizona where he went back to DJ’ing. By the mid ’60s, he was making music again. As he began building a following, Jennings met resistance from the Nashville music community for in part, not using the usual session players for his records. Jennings was adamant that he would only use his traveling band in the studio. And the rock edge to his music fell outside what was perceived as the “Nashville Sound,” a more slick country-pop. This “outlaw” movement began to take hold as fellow country men like Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson who preferred to hang on to country’s honky tonk roots. Over the course of his career, Jennings released a series of top-selling and influential country records. That list includes Honky Tonk Heroes, Waylon Live, Are You Ready For The CountryLonesome, On’ry and Mean, Good Hearted Woman, and Dreaming My Dreams. His collaborations with the likes of Nelson, Jessi Colter, the Highwaymen and the Outlaws were critically and commercially acclaimed as well. Jennings stayed active through the ’90s even as his health began to fail due to diabetes. On February 13, 2002, the disease claimed Waylon Jennings’ life. He was 64.
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Billy Jones was a founding guitarist for popular Southern rock band, the Outlaws. You can hear Jones’ outstanding guitar work on such classic ’70s records as “There Goes Another Love Song” and “Green Grass & High Tides.” The Outlaws’ guitar driven country rock made them just as vital to the growth of Southern rock as Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers Band were. Jones left the Outlaws in 1981 and reportedly kept a very low profile until word surfaced that he killed himself with a gun shot to the head on February 7, 1995. He was 45 when he died.
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Hughie Thomasson
August 13, 1952 – September 9, 2007
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Best known as the founding guitarist and songwriter for southern rock legends, the Outlaws, Hughie Tomasson gave us such classic rock songs as “Green Grass And High Tides,” “There Goes Another Love Song,” and “Hurry Sundown.” He later joined Lynyrd Skynyrd as a guitarist and songwriter. Hughie Thomasson died of a massive heart attack while napping on September 9, 2007. He was 55.
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Frank O’Keefe was and early bassist for southern rock band, the Outlaws. Although the band was riding high on a string of what would eventually become classic rock staples, O’Keefe decided to leave the band after suffering a broken neck from a fall in July, 1976. The trials of a hectic life on the road also helped in that decision. That neck injury lead to his reliance on pain medication for the rest of his life. On February 26, 1995, O’Keefe’s lifeless body was found by his roommate in his Clearwater, FL home. He apparently died as a result of drug and alcohol abuse.
Waylon Jennings was a hugely influential country singer, songwriter and musician who was one of the pioneers of the genre’s “outlaw” movement of the ’70s. Jennings learned to play the guitar and formed his own band before he even hit his teen years. One of Jennings’ first jobs in music was as a disc jockey at a local Texas radio station. It was there that he met an up-and-coming rockabilly singer named 
