Even though Selma native and rocker Rick Carter has achieved fame and notoriety, he said his performance at Tally-Ho in Selma Thursday night will be one of his biggest accomplishments.

Carter is no stranger in the Alabama music industry, as he has received a lifetime achievement award in Alabama and two of his bands received accomplishments from the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. His band Telluride is currently celebrating its 35th anniversary and still plays regularly and his band Rollin in The Hay, a renegade bluegrass band, just performed at Bonnaroo Music Festival.

Rollin in The Hay, he said, is his “big baby.”

Carter has been playing since 1965 and formed his first band in Selma in the 1970’s, “The Edmund Pettus Band.” Several years earlier, Carter and his friends formed the band “Truffles,” in which Carter said they had no idea what a truffle even was.

“We didn’t even know there was a such thing as a truffle,” Carter said. “You know we were just kids in Selma, we just thought truffle sounded psychedelic.”

Carter said he has many memories of Selma after living there three different times growing up when his father was stationed in the Air Force at Craig Field. One memory in particular has come full-circle for Carter in his musical career — performing at Tally-Ho.

“I would ride by Tally-Ho in the sixth grade on my bike and go, ‘One day I’m going to go in that place,’” Carter said. “And now I get to go there and play for my friends.”

Carter said the atmosphere of Tally-Ho, a place that has been there since before he was even born, is intimate and unique.

“It has just been there so long it’s a tradition and now I play there and I’ve gained some notoriety in my career and it’s just a full circle kind of thing,” Carter said.

Because Carter graduated from Meadowview Christian in 1972, he said his classmates will be celebrating their 40-year anniversary so he expects to see lots of familiar faces from high school on Thursday at 8 p.m. at his solo, acoustic performance.

“I get to go and play for my friends, and I know that sounds small, but for me, one of my biggest achievements is to go and play at Tally-Ho,” Carter said.

Carter returns to play in Selma about twice a year. This year, he is excited about having a good time and reminiscing with old friends.

The song, “Little Red Riding Hood,” an old favorite of his, will be one of the songs he performs tonight. He said everyone will have a great time dancing and singing along to it.