Lynyrd Skynyrd Classic Songs
Freebird, Gimme Three Steps, Truck Drivin' Man, Poison Whiskey, Tuesday's Gone, Things Goin' On,
Sweet Home Alabama, Workin' For MCA, Don't Ask Me No Questions, Swamp Music, That Smell
The Ballad Of Curtis Lowe, The Needle And The Spoon, Call Me The Breeze, Saturday Night Special,
Gimme Back My Bullets, Searchin', Simple Man, T For Texas, Whiskey Rock-A-Roller, One More Time
Ain't No Good Life, What's Your Name, I Never Dreamed, I Know A Little, You Got That Right
Lynyrd Skynyrd Biography 1966-1977
Lynyrd Skynyrd was the most critically lauded and commercial successful of the Allman Brothers-influenced Southern bands. They first rose to prominence in 1973. The nucleus of what would become Lynyrd Skynyrd first met in high school in there home town of Jacksonville Florida. Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins and Gary Rossington formed the band My Backyard in 1965, eventually joined by Leon Wilkeson and Billy Powell. Their later name immortalized a gym teacher, Leonard Skinner, who was known to punish students who had long hair. The band, with original drummer Bob Burns, were playing in Atlanta at a bar called Funocchio's in 1972 when they were spotted by Al Kooper, who was on
tour with Badfinger and also scouting bands for MCA's New Sounds Of The South label. Kooper signed Lynyrd Skynyrd and produced their 1973 debut, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, adding session guitarist Ed King (late of the Strawberry Alarm Clock). The group's initial hook was its three-guitar attack, topping the Allmans trademark two-guitar leads. They first got major FM airplay with the long Freebird written as a tribute to Duane Allman, which eventually became an anthem for Skynyrd fans. The band hooked up with the Who's Quadrophenia tour in 1972 and began to acquire a reputation as a live band. Their 1974 follow-up LP, the platinum Second Helping, also produced by Kooper, reached #12. It included another instant Southern standard, "Sweet Home Alabama" a reply to Neil Young's "Alabama" and "Southern Man." But Van Zant often wore a Neil Young t-shirt, and Young later offered the band several songs to record, although they never made it to vinyl. In late 1974, King left, leaving the band with just two guitars, and in early 1975 Artimus Pyle joined as replacement for Burns. The band's third record went to #9, but 1976's Gimme Back My Bullets, produced by Tom Dowd, sold somewhat less. They recouped in October 1976 with the double live One More From The Road, recorded at Atlanta's Fox Theater, which went to #9, sold platinum and featured third guitarist Steve Gaines, plus a trio of female backup singers, including Gaines's sister Cassie. The band became one of the biggest United States concert draws. Street Survivors, their sixth LP, was released three days before the plane crash of October 20, 1977.
