When Lynyrd Skynyrd arrived at the Ryman Auditorium in November 2022 for a concert that was going to be filmed and has now debuted in select theaters nationwide, the veteran band’s core members – guitarist Gary Rossington, singer Johnny Van Zant and guitarist Rickey Medlocke, along with a guest performer for that evening, former 38 Special singer and Van Zant’s brother, Donnie Van Zant -- had something of a full-circle moment before taking the stage.
“Gary, Johnny, myself and Donnie, we had this small little dressing room,” Medlocke shared in a mid-July phone interview. “We kept laughing about how it reminded us of the real old days when you had these little dressing rooms and all of these people in them. You couldn’t hardly turn around and get dressed. We kept laughing about it. It was like the brothers in there sharing a moment. That will forever last with me, that Gary was in there with us.”
That show at the Ryman turned out to be the final performance by Rossington with Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s captured in the aforementioned film, titled “The 50 th Anniversary of Lynyrd Skynyrd.” The last remaining original member of the band, the guitarist passed away in March 2023, after having for years soldiered through a myriad of health problems, including heart conditions that had required major surgeries, a pacemaker and multiple stents to maximize his blood flow.
In 2018, Lynyrd Skynyrd had actually announced a farewell tour. Rossington and his bandmates wanted to end Skynyrd on their terms, while the band could still perform at a high level. But that final extended outing got interrupted in 2020. When the pandemic eased, Lynyrd Skynyrd returned to the road, but with the tour rebranded as the Big Wheels Keep on Turning tour, not a farewell outing. Rossington’s health issues, though, prevented him from participating in nearly all of the tour.
Still, Lynyrd Skynyrd moved forward, announcing a co-headlining tour with ZZ Top that began this past summer and continues this winter and spring, only to see Rossington pass away in March of last year.
The guitarist’s death is still a raw subject for Medlocke, who was actually in the early lineup of Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1971 to 1972 – as the drummer -- before departing to start his own band, Blackfoot. He had grown close to Rossington since rejoining Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1996.
“I mean, you don’t spend that long of a time with a guy that all of a sudden something happens that you’re not really, you’re hit square in the face with it,” Medlocke said.
But for now, the guys in Lynyrd Skynyrd are looking ahead, having been told by Rossington’s wife Dale (herself a long-time member of the Honkettes, the backing female vocal trio that remains part of Skynyrd’s touring lineup) that Rossington wanted the band to continue bringing their music to the band’s loyal fans.
“Right now there’s really no plan at this point to ever call it, to call it a day,” Medlocke said. “As long as the fans keep coming out and they keep wanting to hear the music and they’re asking for it, we’ll continue to go out.”
So the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd, one of the most tragic and eventually triumphant sagas in rock music history, continues, as today’s band -- Van Zant, Medlocke, Michael Cartellone (drums), Mark Matejka (guitar), Damon Johnson (guitarist/singer in Brother Cane, who has taken over for Rossington), Peter Keys (keyboards) and Keith Christopher (bass) – hit the road with ZZ Top.
The original band is widely credited with pioneering the Southern rock genre, with early hits like the signature epic “Free Bird” and radio favorite “Sweet Home Alabama” helping the group gain an early foothold. Lynyrd Skynyrd appeared to be hitting a musical peak with their fifth album, the 1977 release “Street Survivors.” But the album had been out only three days when an October plane crash claimed the lives of singer/songwriter and band leader Ronnie Van Zant, as well as guitarist Steve Gaines and backing singer Cassie Gaines (Steve’s sister), among others.
It looked like Lynyrd Skynyrd had come to a sudden, premature and tragic end. But in 1987, surviving members Rossington, guitarist Allen Collins, bassist Leon Wilkeson, keyboardist Billy Powell and drummer Artimus Pyle decided to revive Skynyrd, bringing in guitarist Ed King (who was in Skynyrd from 1972 to 1975) to replace Gaines and singer Johnny Van Zant to replace his late brother, Ronnie, in the new edition of the group.
Lynyrd Skynyrd have been together ever since, releasing eight studio albums and several live releases. What’s more, a box set called “Fyfty” was released in October 2023. It features 25 songs from the original band and 25 from the post-’87 unit and there’s talk of doing a new album.
For now Medlocke is excited to be on the road with long-time friends ZZ Top. Fans can expect many of their favorite songs and a few surprises from Lynyrd Skynyrd on the tour.
“You always like to try to do some standards, but also dig down into the catalog and try to pull out things that normally you wouldn’t do, just to let the fans hear it,” Medlocke said.
ZZ Top performs at Darien Lake Amphitheater on Thursday, September 12.
