Firat time I sw them was in 1987, the first tour after the plane crash. It was supposed to be a one off "tribute tour". Johnny Van Zant was the singer, Rossington, King and Randall Hall were on guitar (Allen Collins had already had his car wreck and was in a wheelchair), Wilkeson on bass, Powell on piano and Pyle on drums. It was essentially the same band as before sans Ronnie, and they were very good. Old Man Van Zant came out to introduce them. Free Bird was the encore of course, and Johnny refused to sing it. He would say only one man should be singng it so he was going to defer. When the instrumental intro was done, he would lead the crowd into singing the song, which they did every time. It was actually pretty cool.

I've had no desire to see them since. This has got to be one of the most star-crossed bands in the world, what with subsequent unrelated deaths of Collins, Powell, Wilkeson (and Wilkeson's replacement, Ean Evans) and Ed King's heart transplant. I think Jo Jo Billingsley, a back up singer, has died, too.Oh yeah, guitar replacement Hughie Thomasson died of a heart attack, too.

If they wanted, and at this point I don't know why they would bother, they could cobble together Johnny VZ, Rossington, Hall, King (he's apparently sufficiently recovered), whoever is now playing bass and piano, and either Pyle or Bob Burns on drums to have a band with much better actual Skynyrd credibility. Rickey Medlocke was a drummer for a very early version of Skynyrd, so slot him in on guitar for King, maybe. But calling the present day version of this band Lynyrd Skynrd is dishonest, to say the least. If Paul and Ringo formed a band and enlisted two other guitarists, it wouldn't be the Beatles.

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duke richardson
surely there's some on IORR here who saw the band in its prime..in small venues before they went big..I only saw them once, at a festival

wish I'd seen them in clubs.

How about Forum member stonesrule, aka Sharon Lawrence?

Interesting interview here:


SL Interview

i've been a skynyrd fan since way way way back when, but i never considered this (todays) incarnation of hillbillies as the real thing

sort of like a cover band i guess, and it gives rossington sumthin to do i suppose

but its a joke compared to the real thing

the 'collyctables' record has some great old old old never before released stuff

like this one here......from 1970 i believe... a demo track .. written by rossington and ronnie van zant

Medlocke's a great talent. Driving force of Blackfoot back in the day. Any classic videos from them from you video guru's?

XKE38, I hope you see this post because I want to say thank you. I'd forgotten about that interview, and she did such a good job and now it brings back some happy memories I hadn't thought about in awhile. I am faithful to the original Lynyrd Skynyrd as I am to the Stones.

Since you apparently like Jaguars, you might be interested to know that when I was about eight years old I was invited to an MGM Studios company picnic. Midway through this somewhat hungover but charismatic man drove up in the first Jaguar I can remember seeing. I remember that car VIVIDLY...dark green with beautiful leather upholstery and exquisite wood dashboard. It was a work of art.

The man was Clark Gable.

Thank you, Stomesrule, for sharing your fascinating stories...

I might be straying somewhat off-topic, but was it this Jag?

No, it was not a convertible.