Free Republic

Haven't seen this posted? Skynyrd member and singer, Johnny Van Zandt and his brother Donnie. Campaign song for Ron Desantis

The day the music really died. Miracle that so many people survived. Drummer Artemis Pyle and piano player Billy Powell were able to walk out of the woods to seek help despite severe injuries. Artemus Pyle actually had ribs sticking out of his chest. It must have been pure shock that allowed him to walk out of the woods. I was a sophomore in High School in Tacoma, WA when I heard this devastating news. Seemed like a bunch of good ol' boys. Interesting the Freebird was not a favorite among honky tonk patrons. It was written as a 3...

Culture Why People Lost Their Minds When A Brooklyn Store Played ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ Upscale progressives have gotten used to tuning out the voice of the Trump voter. But there's an America out there that they can no longer ignore. By David Marcus By David MarcusNovember 23, 2016 Three days after the election, my wife and I were shopping at the Fairway Market in Red Hook, Brooklyn. For those unfamiliar with it, Fairway is a less corporate, more co-op version of Whole Foods, offering pretty produce and exotic cheeses that don’t come cheap. The mood in the store was...

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama Recorded Live: 7/2/1977 - Oakland Coliseum Stadium - Oakland, CA Personnel: Ronnie Van Zant - vocals Allen Collins - guitar Gary Rossington - guitar Steve Gaines - guitar Artimus Pyle - drums Leon Wilkeson - bass Billy Powell - piano Cassie Gaines - vocals Jo Billingsley - vocals Leslie Hawkins - vocals Summary: Just three and a half months before the fateful plane crash that killed Skynyrd members Steve Gaines, his sister, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (of the Honkettes), and lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zandt, Lynyrd Skynyrd played this 4th of July weekend program...

McLean told us the music died in 1959. If it did, it sure recovered quickly. I think it may have died again in 1977, and we still haven't seen its return.

I dunno how many of ya'll caught Lynyrd Skynyrd (named after the core members' high school gymn teacher -Leonard Skinnard- back in Jacksonville, Florida) live on stage, but this Yankee here was a BIG fan back in the days... Still a major enthusiast for blues rock, i.e. Cream, early Humble Pie (with Peter Frampton), early 70s Status Quo, et. al, actually- and I really do think these guys are the ones who got me into it. But the plane crash that ended the band kept me from ever seeing the real Skynyrd. I did -though- have the opportunity to see the...

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist Billy Powell died Wednesday morning (January 28) at his home in Orange Park, Fla. He was 56. According to the Associated Press, Powell called 911 around 12:55 a.m., saying he was having trouble breathing. Rescue crews arrived at the home, but Powell was pronounced dead just before 2 a.m. Orange Park Police Lt. Mark Cornett told the AP that Powell had missed an appointment yesterday for a cardiac evaluation.

Thirty years ago today, a rented plane took off from Greenville, S.C., headed for Baton Rouge, La. Just before dark, just before it reached the Louisiana line, the plane ran out of fuel and sank toward the Mississippi landscape below. It first grazed the tops of the pine trees. "It was like the sound of a billion baseball bats beating the side of the plane." Lynyrd Skynyrd bass player Leon Wilkeson described in an interview a decade ago. The plane crashed down through the trees to the ground, breaking apart as it went. In the twisted, broken pieces of that...

Confederate flags - which are as likely to be found at a Skynyrd concert as is a Christmas tree at Bill O'Reilly's house - went flying as the band rocked a near-full arena in a modified stage setup that used about three-fourths of the usual concert space.

Sunday, June 26, 2005 In his 1974 song "Rednecks," Randy Newman lays a trap for the listener. Calling up the most boorish images of white Southerners ("We talk real funny down here/ We drink too much and we laugh too loud/ We're too dumb to make it in no northern town"), Newman invites the superior laughter of northern white liberals, the folks who'd bristle at pickaninny dolls but smile at Bubba jokes. And then he unsheathes his knife. His proclamation that good old boys are "too ignorant to realize" that the North has given blacks their freedom is followed by...

Nobody seems to know much about the "1,000 rock experts" who decide who gets into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. This much we do know: They haven't listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd. I mean, really listened. Not just heard a few familiar notes of Freebird or Sweet Home Alabama, pictured rebel flags and Trans Ams, and voted for other bands.They haven't looked at old footage of packed stadiums. Not just in the South. All over the country.They haven't paid attention to what a wide range of musicians -- from Hank Williams Jr. to Neil Young (yes, Neil Young) --...

JACKSONVILLE, FLA. - Lacy Van Zant, father of members of the Southern rock bands Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special, has died. He was 89.Van Zant died peacefully Tuesday at his Jacksonville home of pulmonary illness, according to a release posted on Lynyrd Skynyrd's web site.He is the father of Ronnie Van Zant, the founder of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Johnny Van Zant, the band's current lead singer. Ronnie Van Zant died in a 1977 plane crash near McComb, Miss., that also killed two other band members.Another son, Donnie Van Zant, was amember of .38 Special.Lacy Van Zant, who was known for...

Ronnie Van Zant wouldn't begrudge ZZ Top's addition this week to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The "little ol' band from Texas" and Mr. Van Zant's Lynyrd Skynyrd were comrades in the army of Southern rock bands that conquered America in the 1970s. After the phenomenal success of the Allman Brothers, record companies suddenly discovered Dixie, a land overflowing with blues and boogie. Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, the Charlie Daniels Band, Elvin Bishop, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Black Oak Arkansas, Mother's Finest, .38 Special, the Outlaws, Molly Hatchet for a few years in the 1970s,...

"Where's Yer Shame, Lib-uh-Rulls?!!" (To be sung to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "What's Your Name?") Folks, It's Time To ROCK, RATS're noisey, I should know!! We'll be yer FReedomWriters... Dubyuh, lead US to the show Right done made some plans for movin' US to the Right!! So, find a Lib'ral dweeb And I know Y'ALL Can Teach Her Right!! (Chorus) Where's yer shame, Lib-uh-rulls?!! Where's RATS' shame?!! Children you ain't, little girl!! Won't you act yer age?!! Left Can Go to HELL!! Lord, DemRATS are a mess!! It seems that one of Slick's crew... Hadta go and hadta CONFESS, oh yes!! Well,...

Out of the 19 Islamic terrorists that attacked America in 9/11, how many Iraqis?Hint-----ZERO Out of the thousands of Islamic militants arrested in the US and Europe, how many Iraqis?Hint----ZERO Where did the US discover there is a new El Quaida terrorist camp? Hint----Iran, not IraqWell, I am not the smartest man in the world, but the above facts should give me a hint on who should be my greatest enemy?

These guys are on some heavy drugs..