Rebels with a Cause
Legendary southern-fried rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd are still going strong and are on their way to Dublin.
Colm O Hare, 09 Mar 2010
If ever a band has come to define a musical genre it has to be Lynyrd Skynyrd, who in the early 1970s virtually invented Southern Rock, and continue to be its main flag-bearers. With their trademark triple-guitar attack and iconic Dixie anthems such as, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and ‘Freebird’, this tough, streetwise outfit out of Jacksonville, Florida sang in praise of whiskey, guns and hell-raising. In their heyday, they rivalled The Rolling Stones and The Who as crowd pullers. Even now, forty years since they first formed, they’re still waving the Confederate flag live and on record – their latest album God & Guns includes defiant songs such as ‘Southern Ways’ and ‘Skynyrd Nation’ and they’re about to head out on a European tour.
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s longevity is all the more astonishing given that the band was almost wiped out when, in October 1977, a hired plane carrying them to a gig crashed, claiming the lives of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and singer Cassy Gaines. The current line-up features Ronnie’s younger brother, Johnny Van Zant on vocals, founding member Gary Rossington on guitar and Rickey Medlocke, the only other original member, also on guitar. Medlocke had in fact left the band just before their breakthrough to form his own successful Southern outfit, Blackfoot. He returned in 1996 and has been with the band ever since. Despite the fluid line-up over the years, he insists that the spirit of the music is the most important thing about Lynyrd Skynyrd.
“I think the name is way bigger than any one person,” he says relaxing at his home in Memphis. “It’s about carrying on a tradition. I was one of the founding members, as was Gary, and we love the fact that we can still go out and give people a chance to see it live and hear it live. One of these days we’re not going to be there anymore, so I tell everybody to see us now, while you still can. When I was a young man, naturally your first inclination is to get into partying, carousing and staying up late and I went through all that but I was fortunate enough to come out alive. I’m grateful to be talking to you right now.”
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