Some concerts are about discovering something new. Others are about rediscovering who you used to be. When Wet Willie took the stage for the Live at Five Concert Series in Fairhope on a Friday night in the fall of 2025, the crowd got the second kind of show. The Southern rock band, whose roots go back to Mobile in 1969, played a greatest-hits set that sent a crowd of longtime fans straight back to the 1970s, to FM radio, 8-track tapes and the carefree feeling of being young on the Gulf Coast.
For many in attendance, it was not just a concert but a reunion, both with a band they grew up with and with a version of themselves they had not visited in years.
From “Fox” in Mobile to Capricorn Records
Before they were Wet Willie, the band was known as Fox, and they got their start in Mobile in 1969. Fans at the Fairhope concert shared memories of seeing the band in those early days at Mobile Municipal Park, while others recalled catching them at Johnny’s Smoke House just across the Mississippi state line.
In 1970, the band signed with Capricorn Records and became the Wet Willie Band. The label, based in Macon, Georgia, was at the center of the Southern rock movement of the 1970s. Founded by Phil Walden and Frank Fenter, Capricorn became famous as the home of the Allman Brothers Band and helped define a sound that blended rock and roll with blues, rhythm and blues, country and gospel. Wet Willie’s mix of soulful vocals, horns and a strong R&B groove fit right in and helped broaden the label’s identity beyond guitar-driven jam bands.
The Capricorn roster of that era also included the Marshall Tucker Band, and the broader Southern rock wave counted acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Charlie Daniels Band. Each had its own flavor. Where some leaned on twin-guitar attacks or country fiddle, Wet Willie stood out for its roots in rhythm and blues and gospel, with Jimmy Hall’s gritty vocals and harmonica out front. That soul-heavy approach is part of why the band’s records have aged so well and why their songs still get a crowd dancing.
The band’s biggest hit, “Keep On Smilin’,” climbed to No. 10 on the Billboard chart in August 1974. It remains their signature song, an upbeat anthem about staying positive through hard times. Wet Willie followed it with several other Top 40 hits, and in 2016 the band was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, the Tuscumbia institution that honors musicians with ties to the state.
Mobile’s Place in Southern Rock
Wet Willie’s story is part of a larger chapter in Gulf Coast music history. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mobile and the surrounding region produced a steady stream of rock, soul and R&B musicians, and local clubs, parks and roadhouses gave young bands places to build a following. The Southern rock era that followed drew heavily on that kind of regional grounding, with bands whose sound reflected the churches, juke joints and radio stations they grew up around.
Alabama in particular has an outsized role in American popular music. The recording studios of Muscle Shoals produced landmark soul and rock records, and artists from across the state contributed to blues, gospel, country and rock. Wet Willie’s Hall of Fame induction placed the band alongside many of those names, a recognition of how far a group of young musicians from Mobile had traveled.
For fans who remember those early days, there is a special pride in watching a hometown band go on to national success. The people at the Fairhope concert who recalled seeing Fox at Mobile Municipal Park were, in a sense, witnesses to the beginning of the story. Few local bands make the leap from neighborhood gigs to a major label and the national charts, and Wet Willie’s journey remains a point of pride for Mobile music lovers.
Jimmy Hall Still Commands the Stage
At the Fairhope show, frontman Jimmy Hall was in top form. His voice was strong, and he worked the crowd with the kind of energy that drew comparisons to Mick Jagger, strutting, moving and jumping around the stage. Now in his late seventies, he showed that he is still very much a rock star. Over the decades, Hall has also built a long career outside the band as a singer and harmonica player, performing and recording with other artists, and that experience showed in how easily he held the audience.
The second song on the set list was “Jumping for Joy,” a newer single from Hall’s solo album released in 2022. With its celebratory, gospel-inspired sound, it got the audience moving early and set the tone for the rest of the night.
Behind Hall, the band was tight and rhythmic, and several original members were part of the lineup. The group included:
- Jack Hall, Jimmy’s brother, on bass
- John Anthony on keyboards
- Ricky Hirsch on guitar
- Donna Hall, the Hall siblings’ sister, on vocals
Together they kept the groove going for a solid 90-minute performance.
The Hurricane Horns Add Muscle
The horn section, the Hurricane Horns, added another dimension to the band’s high-powered rock and roll. Among the players was trumpeter Chip Herrington, a familiar figure in the Mobile music scene. After the show, Herrington posted on Facebook, “These people are like family to me!”
Horns have always been a key part of Wet Willie’s sound, connecting the band to the soul and R&B traditions that shaped so much Southern music. Hearing them live, rather than on a scratchy old record, reminded the audience of just how full and joyful the band’s arrangements can be. A live horn section also gives a band’s sound a physical punch that is hard to reproduce any other way, and it filled the open air in Fairhope.
Dancing Like It Was 1974
Some of the biggest crowd reactions came during “Everything That ‘Cha Do (Will Come Back to You)” and another fan favorite, “Grits Ain’t Groceries.” During those songs, concertgoers were on their feet, dancing as if they were 18 again. In their minds, at least for a few minutes, they were.
That is the particular magic of a classic rock concert for an audience that grew up with the music. Songs heard for the first time on the radio decades ago carry memories with them: friends, cars, summer nights, first dates. Hearing them performed live by the same voice brings all of that rushing back.
The band closed the night with “Keep On Smilin’.” The crowd wanted more, but Jimmy Hall had a matter-of-fact response. “Good Night Y’all, I’m tired, and I want to go to bed,” he said, and with that, everyone headed back to reality.
About That Band Name
There is one part of the 1970s that few fans want to relive: the actual “wet willie.” The schoolyard prank involved licking a finger and sticking it into an unsuspecting person’s ear, a gross invasion of personal space that many remember with a shudder. Why the Hall brothers chose it as a band name is anyone’s guess.
Whatever the reason, the name stuck, and it has been attached to decades of music that has brought people a lot of joy. The irreverent name and the heartfelt songs make an unlikely pair, but the combination has clearly worked.
Why Nostalgia Concerts Matter
As people get older, many find themselves wanting to revisit the experiences of their youth and recapture how it felt to be carefree, fearless, curious and full of anticipation. Concerts like this one offer a rare chance to do exactly that, in a shared space with hundreds of others feeling the same thing.
Much of that music first reached listeners through FM radio, which in the 1970s became the home of album-oriented rock. Stations played deeper cuts and longer songs than AM Top 40 radio, and many teenagers heard their favorite bands for the first time in the car, on 8-track tapes and on stereo systems in their bedrooms. Songs like “Keep On Smilin'” were part of the soundtrack of that time, and for the Fairhope crowd, every opening chord was a small time machine.
Community concert series, like Fairhope’s Live at Five, make those experiences accessible. Outdoor evening concerts have become a fixture in many Gulf Coast towns, giving residents a reason to gather, bring chairs and blankets, and enjoy live music under the open sky. For legacy acts like Wet Willie, these shows are a way to reconnect with the communities where their careers began. For fans, they are a chance to sing along with songs they have known by heart for half a century.
For the Mobile-born band, returning to the shores of Mobile Bay was a kind of homecoming. For the audience, it was a reminder of the message at the heart of the band’s biggest hit: keep on smiling through the rain, and wait for the sun to come out again.
Readers interested in future Live at Five performances or other community concerts should check with the organizers and local event calendars for current schedules and lineups.