Musician Spotlight: Jimmy Hall

Jimmy Hall plays the Ford Theater on Sunday, October 25, as part of the Musician Spotlight series. It's a short set—45 minutes, from 1:00 to 1:45 PM—and the theater is inside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum at 222 Rep. John Lewis Way S in Nashville.

If you don't know the name, you've almost certainly heard the work. Hall first made his mark in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist, saxophonist, and harmonica player for Wet Willie, the Mobile, Alabama southern rock band behind songs like "Keep on Smilin'," "Street Corner Serenade," and "Weekend." Since then, he's spent as much time as a versatile sideman and bandleader as he has out front. He toured extensively as a vocalist in Jeff Beck's band, served as Hank Williams Jr.'s longtime bandleader, and is a regular guest of the Allman Betts Band, Blackberry Smoke, and Tedeschi Trucks Band. That's a lot of ground to cover—southern rock, blues, and the kind of high-level session work that puts him in the room with some of the biggest names in the business.

His most recent solo album, 2022's Ready Now, was produced by blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa and reached number one on the Billboard Blues Albums chart. It's a good place to start if you want to hear where he's at these days, though the spotlight format usually leaves room for a look back at the earlier stuff, too.

Logistics: The show is free for Museum members, though they still have to reserve their spot. Non-members need a program ticket. It runs from 1:00 to 1:45 PM on Sunday, October 25, at the Ford Theater inside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.