Returning to the UK for the first time since the passing of their last true original member, guitarist Gary Rossington, southern rock icons Lynyrd Skynyrd are also releasing a live album of his final show with the band and won’t rule out the possibility of making new music. In fact, says singer Johnny Vant Zant, it’s just “a question of time.”
Skynyrd’s final show with Gary Rossington is released on June 27 as Celebrating 50 Years: Live At The Ryman. Five months later he was gone. It must have been an emotional night in Nashville.
It sure was. Gary’s health was getting really bad. He called me and said: “Hey bubba” – Gary called everyone bubba – “I may even have to sit down.” But eventually he felt well enough to stand, and it turned out to be a really great, great night for us.
Rossington joined the show after six songs and remained until the encore of Free Bird. There’s no easy way to ask this: was there an air of finality?
No. Gary was such a survivor. He lived through that awful plane crash [in 1977] and a lot of other things that happened afterwards. I never thought he would leave us this early [Rossington was 71]. Gary was such a peaceful man and a real private person. He never complained, he just carried on doing what he loved doing.
Many times he expressed his wish of the band and its legacy carrying on after he was gone.
When Gary got real sick I told him it might be time to throw in our boots and hat, but he insisted: “No, no, no, man. Keep playing these songs. Skynyrd shouldn’t go away.” Since the plane crash, Gary’s whole life was keeping alive that legacy. What happens in the future, I don’t know, but right now that’s what we’re going to do.
You don’t pay any attention to the naysayers?
None at all. That stuff was around even when Billy [Powell, who died in 2009] Leon [Wilkeson, who passed in 2001, Ed [King, who Skynyrd lost in 2018] and Artimus [Pyle, drummer for two spells] were in the band. Those people are not gonna be there whenever I take my last breath. Ronnie [Van Zant, who died in the crash] was my brother and I’m proud of his accomplishments, so protecting his legacy means an awful lot to me.
Is Damon Johnson from Thin Lizzy and Brother Cane now an official member?
Are you kidding? Damon’s an Alabama boy and he’s one of us. He was groomed [for his role in the band] by Gary.
Getting back to the live album, your brother Donnie Van Zant from Van Zant and .38 Special, Shinedown frontman Brent Smith, Marcus King, John Osborne of the Brothers Osborne and the rapper Jelly Roll were all guests at the Nashville show. Jelly Roll seems a bit incongruous.
[Laughs] Man, Jelly is a great guy. I had no idea who he was, but he’s the real deal. He came in reeking of pot, humble and wanting to do a great job, which is something all of our guests accomplished. Marcus King is such an incredible guitarist and a wonderful singer too, as well as being one heck of a nice guy.
Do you view this tour’s special guests from Atlanta, Blackberry Smoke, as kindred souls – or maybe even surrogate sons?
I do. Those guys have been around for a while now, and not only are they a great band, they’ve also become very close friends. It’s going to be such fun to make music and hang out together.
Skynyrd are now signed to the Italian label Frontiers Records…
[Interrupting] You know, I just did a gospel album [Always Look Up] with my brother Donnie [billed as Brother To Brother, released last year], and Frontiers put that out. We had worked many times previously with Tom Lipsky [the label’s head of A&R in North America], so when we were looking for a home for Live At The Ryman we carried that on, and so far everything is working out really well.
When the deal was announced, tantalisingly, it mentioned that both the label and the band were looking ahead to “exciting new projects”. Could that include new music?
We recorded a song called The Last Of The Street Survivors, and we put it out [in 2020]. You can Google it. We were headed to doing a new studio album, and then Gary’s health got really bad. There are other songs written with Gary before he died that we could record. We will leave that door open for the future.
If those songs do exist, it would be logical for them to be heard.
That’s true, and it would be a question of time. For me, Skynyrd always made great records, but it was a live band, and that’s still true today. When I first joined [in 1987] we were all still into drinking and having a party on stage – just like the audience – but nowadays we soak that music up. It’s become more of a spiritual thing, and we never, ever phone it in. That’s something I’m very proud of.
Finally, what’s the likelihood of Brother To Brother playing some shows in the UK?
Once again I will say never say never. We’ll see what happens.
Lynyrd Skynyrd are currently on the road in mainland Europe and arrive in the UK for a four-date tour on July 15 before returning to the US for more shows. For full schedule and tickets, check the Lynyrd Skynyrd website.
