Gary Rossington died Sunday at the age of 71. He was the last survivor out of the original members of the greatest southern rock bands of all time - Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Charlie Daniels summed it up pretty well - "It's all right now, keep on singin' loud. It's all right now, heaven should be proud. The last of the Free Birds has flown home."
I loved the Southern Rock sound of the 70’s
Then MTV came along in the 80’s with urban contemporary and music was ruined forever
Great band. I’ve listened to the Street Survivors album at least 100 times
I saw them in 2019 and Gary Rossington performed in the concert's entirety. Then in 2022 he only performed in 3-4 songs and it was just a tambourine or harmonica or something simple. The article sheds light, persistent heart issues. RIP.
With the amount of near death experiences the dude survived over the years I don’t know if he had nine lives, but he certainly had more than one.
Damn that sucks, he was the Guitar solo on Free Bird, I remember one of the people involved in the the plane crash, that Killed Ronnie Van Zant was shot while hiking to get help, anyone remember that part of the story ? R.I.P. Gary Rossington
the all time big 3 of southern rock are probably enjoying a real big jam right about now.
lynyrd skynyrd the allman brothers the outlaws
There was a time in America where seemingly every gig, regardless of genre, featured a drunk idiot yelling “freebird” during a quiet moment. While hearing freebird either yelled or played is very very low on my list of priorities, there was a certain stupid predictability and familiar comfort that came with this exhortation.
While I can only relate to this phenomenon in the context of being in a minor touring punk band during the 90s, I can scarcely imagine how this must have grated on the members of the band that unleashed this horror of a song on the world.
RIP Brother musician, you are finally free.
