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DARK SECRETS: Ronnie van zant - The Real Truth

“People are still trying to learn Free Bird and how to play like him. But he never got to hear all the praise about his playing”: Lynyrd Skynyrd legend Gary Rossington’s memories of his fellow guitarist Allen Collins and the band’s heroic ’80s comeback

“He should have known that so many people were influenced by him”

MusicRadar

“When we went to record it, the record company said, ‘Man, they won’t play that, it’s too long.’ But we said, ‘We don’t care!’”: How the young Lynyrd Skynyrd turned a simple love song into a southern rock epic

"Ronnie said, 'Just go till I tell you to quit!'"

MusicRadar

"We were so down about what had happened to our career and our friends and our band." Gary Rossington on the triumph and tragedy of Lynyrd Skynyrd

He started the band and survived its darkest hour, never losing faith in music’s healing power. If anyone represented the soul of Lynyrd Skynyrd, it was their late guitarist, Gary Rossington

Louder

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"There were a lot of hardcore racists in the South, but we thought they were just silly." Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil Young, and the truth about rock's most misreported beef

The story of three songs that started fifty years of fake news

Louder

"I used to sleep with my guitar next to the bed": Born in a dream, the guitar solos in one of classic rock's greatest songs were out of key, but band superstition kept them in

Lynyrd Skynyrd's down-home anthem was a retort to Neil Young's Southern Man, but decades on it's soundtracked everything from KFC to video games

Louder

“When Ronnie sang about Neil Young in that song, that was kind of a joke lyric about him. We loved Neil Young!”: The true story of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama

"Neil wanted to play the song with us!"

MusicRadar

“I toured with Stevie Ray Vaughan when he was sober and he was a freak of nature. I couldn’t relate to his playing”: The Outlaws' Henry Paul on opening for The Rolling Stones, finding fame thanks to Lynyrd Skynyrd, and his one-of-one red Gretsch Falcon

The Gibson loyalist who’s served three stints with the Outlaws has been there, done that – played to stadium crowds, seen rock's greatest guitar heroes up close and witnessed prime-era Keith Moon debauchery

Guitar World

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"Ronnie said, 'Just go till I tell you to quit!'"

MusicRadar

“It has already been publicly exhibited in an academic setting as genuine”: Footage emerges of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Allen Collins learning to play guitar again after the 1977 plane crash that killed three of his bandmates

The video, filmed for medical purposes, documents Collins’ trauma recovery, but is being dismissed as AI by some

Guitar World

Surgeon defends video of Allen Collins playing guitar in hospital shortly after Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash

The footage shows Allen Collins wearing hospital pyjamas, neck brace and orthopaedic fixator

Louder

“He used seashells as a pick, that's where he gets all that squank from”: Brilliant players of all persuasions have earned their stripes in Lynyrd Skynyrd's three-guitar army. Rickey Medlocke takes us through all of them, and what made them each special

Having served in Skynyrd as a pre-fame member and later as a crucial part of their reunion, Medlocke has more insight into the idiosyncrasies and genius of each of the band's six-string aces than just about anyone

Guitar World

Lynyrd Skynyrd's Tragic Plane Crash: Did Ronnie Van Zant Really Predict His Own Death?

Nearly 50 years after Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1977 plane crash, questions persist about Ronnie Van Zant's eerie death prediction and the tragedy's legacy.

International Business Times UK

“I toured with Stevie Ray Vaughan when he was sober and he was a freak of nature. I couldn’t relate to his playing”: The Outlaws' Henry Paul on opening for The Rolling Stones, finding fame thanks to Lynyrd Skynyrd, and his one-of-one red Gretsch Falcon

The Gibson loyalist who’s served three stints with the Outlaws has been there, done that – he's played to stadium crowds, seen rock's greatest guitar heroes up close, and witnessed prime-era Keith Moon debauchery

Guitar World

“We said, ‘We’re calling the band Leonard Skinner!’ And everybody laughed and clapped and thought it was cool. So we kept it”: The early days of Lynyrd Skynyrd recalled by legendary guitarist Gary Rossington

Plus: the British band that inspired the young Skynyrd to work harder

MusicRadar

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MusicRadar

“When Ronnie sang about Neil Young in that song, that was kind of a joke lyric about him. We loved Neil Young!”: The true story of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama

"Neil wanted to play the song with us!"

MusicRadar

"Ronnie said, 'Just go till I tell you to quit!'"

Louder

"We hit the trees at what seemed like 100 miles an hour": The story of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the plane that fell from the sky

Fist fights, premonitions and a flight into hell: This is the tale of Ronnie Van Zant and Lynyrd Skynyrd

MusicRadar

“I could see and hear my brothers dying. It was the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone”: The horror of a rock band’s plane crash - by the guitarist who survived it

Six people died, including the band's singer

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Louder

“People go, ‘How can you write another Free Bird?’ And I go, ‘You can’t.’ Nobody could ever fill Ronnie’s shoes”: The unlikely second coming of Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd reunited a decade after the plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant to launch their second act

Louder

“I don’t get into many fights now cos you get hit on the throat and you miss a gig”: The explosive rise of Lynyrd Skynyrd, America’s greatest southern rock band

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic debut album (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) was released on August 13, 1973, setting them on the path to stardom

Louder

"We'd started playing small dance halls for a few hundred people, now suddenly we were opening for the Stones and The Who": A celebration of the life and music of Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington

Gary Rossington was the last surviving member of Lynyrd Skynyrd's founding lineup: He died a year ago

Louder

“As many times as I've heard this song this is the first time it made me tear up”: Listen to Dolly Parton's epic 10 minute 50 seconds version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird, featuring Ronnie Van Zant and one of Gary Rossington's final guitar solos

Rockstar is finally here, and Dolly Parton has out-done herself with her epic album-closing cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird

Louder

“Ronnie Van Zant’s widow wouldn’t allow Lynyrd Skynyrd to use his voice, but she said: ‘I’ll do it for Dolly’”: how Dolly Parton ended up covering Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird on her new album

Country star Dolly Parton cover of Free Bird also features one of the last appearances by late Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington

Louder

The 10 best Lynyrd Skynyrd songs that aren’t Free Bird, according to Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke

Deep cuts, party starters and live treasures – the connoisseurs’ Lynyrd Skynyrd songs, chosen by someone who knows them inside out

Louder

"I mean, seriously, how much better does it get?" Dolly Parton on her version of The Beatles' iconic Let It Be, featuring Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood

Listen to Let It Be, the new single from Dolly Parton's eagerly awaited rock album Rockstar

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