“Sweet Home Alabama” figured into notable pre-fame moments of Taylor Hicks’ life.

At a Hoover High school talent show, he played harmonica on a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Southern rock anthem with some friends. Even though Hicks’ band didn’t have a band name – Hicks says, “we were so scared we didn’t event think about a name” – they ended up winning the talent show.

Then at 19, “Sweet Home” was in the set at some of his first real gigs as a musician, when Passing Through, Hicks’ band in his Auburn University days, played legendary beach bar The Flora-Bama. “And if it wasn’t in the set,” Hicks recalls with a laugh, “someone was giving me cash money to play it. And they still do.”

On Thursday, Hicks, who skyrocketed to success in 2006 as he won season five of TV’s “American Idol,” will sing “Sweet Home Alabama” at an Alabama Music Hall of Fame event celebrating the song’s 50th anniversary.

The free event is from 5 to 7 p.m. and includes a complimentary tour of the museum, which is in Tuscumbia at 617 U.S. 72 West. For the event, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame’s assembled a display of photos from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s early recording sessions at Sheffield’s Muscle Shoals Sound Studios.

Demos cut during those early ‘70s Shoals sessions were released in 1978 as “Skynyrd’s First and…Last,” in the aftermath of the plane crash that killed six Skynyrd musicians and members of their entourage, including Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backing singer Cassie Gaines, Steve’s sister.

The museum’s Lynyrd Skynyrd items also include a platinum album award for “First and…Last,” presented to Muscle Shoals Sound cofounder Jimmy Johnson, who produced the tracks. The demos featured drumming by original member Bob Burns as well as Rickey Medlocke, who since 1996 has helped anchor the latter day Skynyrd on guitar, along with Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny Van Zant on vocals.

Via email, Alabama Music Hall of Fame executive director Sandra Burroughs says “Sweet Home Alabama,” released in 1974, “has always reflected well for the entire state of Alabama, but since the Alabama Tourism Department, under the direction and leadership of Lee Sentell, along with then Governor Bob Riley, declared it the official state song, it has made our great state a whole lot cooler in retrospect.”

As many music fans know, Lynyrd Skynyrd wasn’t from Alabama. The band was founded in Jacksonville, Fla., a Southern rock hotbed that also birthed groups like the Allman Brothers, Molly Hatchet, 38 Special, Blackfoot and Cowboy.

In the 2018 Lynyrd Skynyrd documentary “If I Leave Here Tomorrow,” guitarist Gary Rossington, who was the band’s last original member before dying in 2023, spoke about the inspiration behind “Sweet Home Alabama.”

“We used to do clubs and teen dances and stuff all around Alabama,” Rossington says in the doc, “and driving through the country it was beautiful. And great people. And if you had trouble. they’d come out to help you.”

Of course the lyrics were also a response to Canadian folk-rocker Neil Young’s finger-pointing songs “Southern Man” and “Alabama.” “We didn’t like him cutting down Southern guys,” Rossington says in the Skynyrd doc.

Ed King, a vital part of the group’s signature three-guitar attack, wrote and played the instantly recognizable licks that open “Sweet Home Alabama.” King, a California native who died in 2018, came up with those parts on the spot on his Stratocaster at the Hell House, the band’s cramped rehearsal cabin in a Florida swamp area, to complement chording Rossington was doing that day.

At the Alabama Music Hall of Fame’s 2014 induction banquet, King received an award from the state’s then-governor for his role in creating “Sweet Home Alabama.” The song, written by Van Zant, Rossington and King, featured on Skynyrd’s sophomore album “Second Helping.”

A verse in Van Zant’s “Sweet Home” lyrics include a shout out to The Swampers, aka Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, the prolific studio musicians that included aforementioned Jimmy Johnson on guitar, bassist David Hood, drummer Roger Hawkins and keyboardist Barry Beckett.

Lynyrd Skynyrd performed at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Burroughs says she’s “been in touch with the band’s manager and hope to get them booked here for an event soon.”

For Thursday’s performance of “Sweet Home Alabama” and a few other songs, Hicks will be accompanied by his longtime guitarist John Kulinich. “There could be some special surprises,” Hicks says.

Skynyrd’s influence, particularly Van Zant’s, on Hicks can be heard on his most recent releases, soulful 2023 singles “Porch Swing” and “Gives You Hell.”

“Ronnie was one of those singers,” Hicks says, “where there wasn’t any questioning about what he was telling you or singing to you about. That’s what I try and borrow from him, the directness that he had. Never missed a note and no Auto Tune.”

Hicks hasn’t had any direct interaction with Lynyrd Skynyrd. But he’s a big fan of Damon Johnson, the Alabama born guitarist known for his work with Brother Cane, Alice Cooper and Thin Lizzy now a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band’s current lineup has excelled in recent high profile TV performances, including CBS’ New Year’s Eve concert and ABC’s broadcast of CMA Fest.

Hicks says of Johnson, “He’s a great guitar player and he carries the Alabama torch in that band. I have the utmost respect for them and obviously excited about what Damon’s been able to do.”

“Sweet Home Alabama” has been performed on “American Idol” several times over the years, including by eventual winners Carrie Underwood and Alabama-native Ruben Studdard. During Hicks’ “Idol” run, he sang classics by artists ranging from Queen and Elton John to Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding.

“Although I did want to play it,” Hicks says of the possibility of doing “Sweet Home” on “Idol” back then, “the weeks’ genres [themes] never lent itself to that. The closet we ever got was a country week.”

Hicks, whose post “Idol” self-titled album went platinum, is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame board.

“It’s an honor,” he says. “My goal on the board is to make sure that the Alabama Music Hall of Fame is contemporary as it can be. With musicians that are current, the likes of Jason Isbell, Jamey Johnson and Riley Green, out there waving the flag for the hall of fame as well. As I would think the goal would be for a lot of hall of fames, whether it’d be the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame or the Country Hall of Fame, to add a really contemporary angle to it, while keeping the tradition and history.”