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E D I T 0 RN C N l E F J . f i X h l !
* EXECUTIVE EDITOR Chrl.loDh.r5..r.Uiii
S E NO RE D I T o R8r.dlntt.
* MASC0TZi9,rh. J..k |}rhr.l.-.wrttr.s.hlhF

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IOTHEHISTONY N|ICK
SENIORMUSICE DI O R J I N h Y B ' ! h
* MUSICED TORx.n s.h:rrelrs
Rebels,rednecks and triple-threat guitars. For sevenshort years,southern
MUSICEN0RAVERSsr.<{. U.di.6rdP,1..., rock lived a fast, furious and ill-fated life.
*
C L E A R A N C EC&C P Y R
MUSIC GHTS
x
*
ATLMAII
18 I}UAIIE
A R T D I R E C T o RiA. t C o o * In a freewheelingconve$ationftom 1971,DuaneAllmantalks aboutslide
* DESIGNER Jo.hL.l.!v. guitar, Eric clapton, unsung guitar heroes and the pleasuies of performing.
PH0T0EDTORSJ|mnyu!b.rd,t b....F.ir
D GITALIMAGNGSPECIALIST Ju.llnPhlttlD.
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22 A HIST{|NY SKYilYAD
Fist fights, premonitions and a plane that fell from the sky.This is the tale
* of Ronnie Van Zant and Lynyrd SkJ'nlrd.
EMALLtouhdl.gbo.rcntunrrw.rld..oh
* WEBPAGE r ull.rworld..on

* PUBLSNERor.rDlt.n.d.lto 32 Ht|WT|lPIAY*GNEEil & IIIGHTIIIES"

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* Adown-and-dirty lessonin playingthe Outlaws'greatesthit.
A D D I R E C T Or o
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646-?24-8431,r.h.{ntunrrworld..om
* A D V E RS T N GS A L E S J..ohP.rt

*
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ADVERTISING SALESs.o s.lr...
40 M(ITTY
HATGHET
The iconic-and slightlyweird-artwork of Molly Hatchet'salbumsleeves-
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6a6-7?3-5a04,.nn.Aouft .ruorld.con 42 IAMES MEETS
HETFIELII !'lUtE
G0V'T
* In the springofl998, Metallica'sJamesHetfield camefaceto.facewith his
* P R 0 D U C0TN D I R E C T o n Rl . h l . l . . o v o y favorite power trio, Gov't Mule.
P R 0 0 U C T I OCN0 0 R 0 l N A T 0t R
alrol.shillhg
INT L PUBL5H NG D RECTOR Domtf,v.n
x
x 48 BtAGIfftltlf
NEWSSTAND 0 RECTOR alllSh.w.y The hardluck storyof Blackfoot,southernrock'sgreatunsungheroes.
* C i R C U L A0TN M A N A 0 E Fo y t r . l H u d . o n
F U L F I L L M E NMTA N A G E PR. g O y x o r . .
* cUSIoMER S E R V I CM
EA N A o E R lllk.xrnriq!.
I N T E R N E I S U B S C RCI PNTM A R K E T NG OTATilLLITOBEEAST
50 TIIEMAKING
* In a retrospectivelookbackattheirtlassic 1971livealbum,DickeyBetts
* and GreggAllman recallthe recordthat madethe Allman BrothersBand
the kingsofrhe road.
* 4 0 O 0 S h o r a L i n e C o u 4r l0, S
0 ,u ' l e

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PRESIDENT Jo..th.n5hr.on-Brnl
56 ZAKKWYTIIE
MEETS
tYilYNDSIffilYND
* VlcE PRESIDENT/cFo TomY{..rho In a rollicking,rowdy round tableinterview from the fall of1992,lifelong
PIJBLSH N0 D RECToR/oAMES slmonrvhlt.onb. southern rock fan zakk wylde pays homageto Lynyrd Skynyrd's cary
i P U B LS H N 0 D R E C T o R / M Uc S^ n l h o h y D . n r l
PUBLISH N GO R E C T O R / B LN. E ] SS S Rossingtonand Ed King.
* DEVEL0PMENT Dd. B.r..r
E D I T 0 R I ADL R E c T 0 Rr o n P h r r r r p .
* E 0 l T 0 RA L 0 l R E c T 0 R / M U SB
D R E C T OO
I Cr . d t o l h . r l
RFH U M A NR E S O U R C E S 64 PNIME
CUTS
* Guitaristcary Rossingtontells the storiesbehindsomeof Lynyrd Skynyrd's
P R 0 D U C0TN D R E C T o R
tl(hl.L..owy
finestmoments.
*
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* ers,TravisTritt and Leroy Parnell not to mentionthe currentversionsof the Allmar. Ihe Allman &otheE tand: (trem l.-ft) Du.ne Allm.n, Dkkey Eltte
Brothers Band and Lynlrd Skynyrd. But its heyday as a musical entity was relatively Oldden), Cr.gg Allman, r.imo€,8€ry o:Ll.y a.d Eutch lruGk5
* brief, lasting from the Allmans' 1969self-titled debut to SkJ'nrd's tragi c 1977plane
* crashon the heelsoftheir greateststudioeffor! sfreefsurviyors.The deathof Skynyrd tor, thought the band should move to New York rather
asa sparklinglyenergeticcreativeentity signaledthe start ofsouthernrock'scom- rhan remainingin a sleepysouthernbackwater.lhe
* mercialdecline,althoughMolly Hatchet,Blackfoot,.38Specialand otherswould frnd groupwould havenoneof it.
* success wavingthe starsandbajs foryearsto come. "Everyonein the industrywassayingthatwe'dnever
* ********* do anything out of Macon, that Phil Walden should
It allbeganin 1968when red-hotsessionguitaristDuaneAllman returnedto Jack- moveus to New York or L.A. and acclimateus to the
* sonville,Florida,lookingto put togethera band.Onething led to another,and soon indusfy," Bettsrecalls."Ofcourse,noneofuswould do
* he had a hard-rockingoutfit featuringtwo verydifferent,but highly complementary that, and thankfully, walden was smart enough to see
drummers(JaiJohannyJohansorLa.L.a.Jaimoe,and ButchTrucks);aninventivebass- that that would ruin what we had."
I
ist who could hold down the bottom end evenwhile displayingmelodicflair (Berry This wasacrucial developmentfor the future of
* Oatley);and anotherhot leadguita st (DickeyBefts).This unusuallineupwould be- southernrock. By stayingin Macon,the Allmanshad a
* comethe templatefor southernrock: two drummersand at leasttwo leadguitarists. much greaterimpacton southernmusicians.The small,
The latter addition proved to be monumental,as Betts and Allman would soon sleepy city 87 miles south ofAtlanta becarnea magnet,
I redefine the way two guitarists can work together,completelyscrappingthe tradi- drawing talented and crcative people from all over the
* tional rhythm/lead roles by swappingleadsand-in a revolutionarytwist playing region,cultivatingthe careersofcountlessmusicians,
harmony lines. This idea camefrom both the modaljazz ofJohn coltrane and manyofwhom verywell may neverhavemadea mark if
* Miles Davis,which the whole band listened to, and the western Swingfiddles that they had headed North.
* Betts grew up listening to. "Maconbecameknown asaplaceto go ifyou were
* The unnamedgroup immediatelybeganplayingasoften aspossiblein Jacksonville, a musicianin the Southlookingto get somethinggo-
often appearingatfree Sundayconcertswhere audiencemembersincludedthree ing" explainsScottBoyerofthe bandCowboy,which
* teenagers:guitarists cary Rossingtonand Allen Collins and singer/songwriter Ronnie releasedfour albumson Capricorn.
* Van Zant.The trio had alreadybeenplayingin aband for severalyearsandwould soon Meanwhile,Duanetook time to join Eric Clapton
changeits name to Lynyrd Skynyrd to mock a high school gym teacher infarnous for in the studio to record Ldyld dnalOtherAssortedLove
* harassinglong hairs like themselves. All threewere familiarwith Duanefrom seeing songs,itselfa southern rock landmark, and atvari-
* him and his brother cregg perform in Dattona Beachclubs severalyears prior. Those ous times to join up with his pals Delaney& Bonnie
* showshad helpedthem determinethat they too wantedtobe musicians;seeingDuane and Iriends, a rollicking roadshowthat occasionally
performwith his extendedbandinspiredthemto mastertheh instruhents. included Clapton.
* "Whenever Duane and them played,Allen and I were the first onesthere, hours The Allmans' brealthrough album, 1971'sAt Fillmore
* beforethe show sowe could standright in ftont of him," Rossingtonrecalls,nearly tdsf, not only establishedthem asrock's greatest live
four decadeslater "Hewas mesmerizing,and it's hard to describethe impactit had on bandbut alsoshoredup a strugglingCapricomRecords,
* us asyoulg
youlg guitarists
guitariststo stand
standthere that guy play."
there and seethat play." leadingthelabelto start signingmorebands.Soon,al-
* Rossingtonand companystill had lots ofwoodsheddingto do to catchup with were coming out of Macon at a furious pace,and
* idols.Meanwhile,Duaneand companyhad addedcregg asorganistftinger/song- great era of southern rock was underway. While
writet renamedthemselvesthe Allman BrothersBandandmovedto Macon.Ged acts shared a certain sensibilitv. thev were
I wheretheir manager,Phil walden,wasforminga new recordcompan different from one another Southcaro- .
x The Allman Brothers were its frrst act. Although many at Atlantic, the T\rckerBandtemperedtheir rock with
*
vtter t,rerros
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I

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 urr{"lt GreSgahd Duen.Allman
at"Summerthlng"
SuBet concertSerier,
Eortonon lheCommon,
sumnerr9T; (ihret)
Du.neat"Summerthlnt"

country bluegrass, blucs andjazz influences; Mobile, Alabama's WerWillie mined a bandfor which Skynyrdhad openedor their Iirst na-
* southern soul and kept the gxitars relatively toned dow[; Oklahoma native E]vin Bish- tional tour when wilkeson returnedimnlediatelyafter
* op, fonnerl]' of the Butterfreld Blues Band, played jokey, good time blues with a twang; the album'srecording,King, an accomplishedguitarist,
and the Dixic Drcgs invented a jazzy style ofproto-shred soulhern rock jazz fusion. switchedinstruments,allowirgtheband to duplicate
* W h e n D u a n e A l l m a D w a s k i l l e d i n a m o t o r c y c l e c r a s h o n O c t o b e r 2 9 , t 9 7 1 ,w h i t " Iive the album'smultiple guitar tracks.And so the next
* h i s b a n d w a s i n t h e m i d s t o f r e c o r d i n g t d t d P e a c / r , a r e a s o n a b l eo b s e r v e r m i g h t greatadvancementof southernrock wasmade.If t\i,o
have started writing the obitlrary for southern rock almost before it was born. leadguitarsaregood,three must be betterl
* " E v e r y o n c a r o u n d M a c o n w a s j u s t s t u D n e d , "B o y e r r e c a l l s ." D u a n e w a s s u c h a n While manyoftheir imitatorswould abusethe lineup
* i n c r e d i b l e p r e s c n c € -H e h a d s o m u c h e n e r g y t h a t h e j u s t m a d e t h i n g s h a p p e n . H e by almostconstantlyoverplayilg,Skynyrdneverdid,
* r-as always kicking evcryone in the butt. It was inconceivable how someone who's displayinga remarkablerestraintin the faceofoverkill-
that alive could be dead." The band'sthreegtlitaristsusedalmosteveryconceiv
* Nonetheless, both the Allman Brothers Band and Capricorn Records pushed for- ablemethodto complementrather than crowd one
* ward after a briefpause. In fact, greater success for the band, the label and the genr. another,playingharmonylines,arpeggiatedchords,
a l l l i e a h e a d .T h e A l l m a r s ' f i r s t p o s t - D u a n ea l b u m , t 9 7 4 ' s 3 J " o r f i e rdsn d S i r r e r s ,b e - complementaryhlls,evensharingsolosby tradirgbars.
* came their best seller, dfiver by their only Top-t0 hit, "Ramblin' Man." Srill, though "Youjust haveto know bow and when to stayout of
* they tourcd as the natio n's top d fawing band, the album was somewhat of a last cr e- eachothers'way,"Rossingtonerplains."We'vealways
* ative gasp lor the group's first incarnation. Their energywas lagging, and the torch tried to work out our partsto preventchaos,but r lot
had been passed. ofit cane from just how longwe playedtogetherand
* RossiDgton, Collins and cornpany were no longer sittingaround gaping at the All- happenednaturally.I think havingthe different sounds
* mans. Influenced by English bands like the RollingStones, Cream, Free, the who and keepsthingsinterestilg cspcciallyiive.C)aptonor
Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd had hardened their sourd white they retained its gr itty somebodyofihat calibercanstard front and centerand
* country and blues shadings. Demo tapes rccorded as early as l97o display a remarkably soloall night, a]rditwon't gerboring.But there'snot
* mature, radio - ready band. Still, they couldn'tget signed-proo{positive that northern that manyplayerson that level.And one ofthis group's
record executives still considered Capricor'n's successsomething ofa red[eck fluke. trademarksis trading licks."
*
Capricorn itselfwas irterested in the band, but Van Zant hedged, reportedly becausc Skynyrd'sdebut was releasedin August'73,but as
* he fealcd being lost in the shufllc ofthe label's southern acts. with thc Allmans'in;tialoffering,it didn'tcatchon
* The $oup moved to Atlanta and fbund a home at Funochio's, knownby many ns the right awa)',despitcthe presenceof"Free Bird," which
most dangerous bar ir town.Itwas there thatthey honed their edges and earned thcir would soonbecomea FM radio staplcand the nrtional
* rcputation for drinkingalld brawling as hard and as wellas they played.It was also anthemofsouthern rock. But the band didn't havcto
* where thcy u,er€ discovered by Al Kooper, the producer/performer who $'as in towr longfor succ€ss.Their follow-up album,Second
scoutingtalent for his n€w MCA-distributed label, Sounds ofthe South. was released less than a year later, and its sec-
*
As they began to record their debut, which wolrld become 1973'spronounced.l6hi "sweet Home Alabama," shot the band to
* 'ntrd 'skin:nird,yolrngbassistL€onwilkeson panicked
and bolted.Needingareplace
* ment,VanZant trackeddown Ed King, a foundingmemberofStrawberry term "southernrock" in people'sheads
*
{urrrr rrcErDs
* {E}
f o r t h e f l r s l l i m c . H c r c $ ' a s a s o D gt h a t r : r i l c L.l r g i i n s t
t h c Y : r n k c oe s t a b l i s h r r e n t ,\ \ ' i t h s D i d er e f c f c n c c st o
w a t c f s a t c a n d r p i s s c L lo l l r e b u k e t o N c i l Y o u n s a n d h i s
o u r s i d e r ' sv i s i o n o f s o u t h c f n m c D . S h o r t l , \ ' . r l i e rt l r e a l
b u m ' s r e l e . r s es, k y n r ' f d a l s ob e s a n L r s n r sa s i a n t ( i ) n f c d
crarc liag es a srage beckdrop. And it ivas theil sLrcccss,
couplcd rvith the Allnrrns' Ir1)t/rrrr !rn.1.\istrls, that sent
, \ & R n c n s c l a D r b l i n gt h r o u g h $ c b a r s r n d b v i v l r s o f
r h e S o u t h i n s c u f c ho f i h c D c x t l . i g t h i n g .
Anlong the groups wht, trencitcd $'ere the outla$.s.
of tampa, flofnt:r, $ho signecl to AIist{ tteco|cls alld
i s s u e da s c l f t i t l c d d c b u r a l b u m t h r t r e f l e c t e dI $ i d e
g e n r u t o l s o u t h e r n r o r k i n f l u c n c c s ,i n c l u d i n g N l : u s h . r l l
r u c l i c r ( i n t h e g e n t l e ,c o l r n t r y i s h " l h e r e C o e sA r o r h c r
L o v e S o n 1 . aa" )n d S k v n y r r l( i n r h e . r n t h e n i c , s o l o f i l l e c l
" l ; f e e n L l r . l s s& H i g h I i d c s " ) . A t d r € s : r n r et i n t e .e s l . b
l i s h e d C , r p r i c o r na ( t s L r e s l l nt o h a v c n r o r o r n d m o f e
s l r c r c s s .n r o s t D o t N b l y\ V e t W i l l i e a r d N t r r s h r l l f u c k c r .
N l e x n l v h i l c .s k y n i , l 1 tu c | e L i c k i l r ga s sr n d t a k i n g n o
p r i s o n e r s .B u t t h c c o n s t i n t g r i n d o f t h e f o : r d w r s \ ! e r r
i n g r h e m d o $ r . I l r L l m l n c r t s o bB u I n s l c f t t h c b a n d n r i d
r{)ur, followcd by Ed Iiing both no lougcr ablc to handlc
r h c p r e s s u r c .B t t h c t i m c o f t h c i r i o u r t h . r l b u n i n l i r u r '
!ears, 1976'sCinnr{ 3d.1rlrr, Srrllfts, lhe b:lnd \r'.rs irr
a b i t o l ! ( f e r t i v e r L r t .l ! u t b e i i r l c t h c y f c l l t o o 1 o $ ,t,b o l
a d d c c lg l r i t N f i s tS t € v eL ; a i n c s a , n d t h c f i e r y ,h i g h l l s k i l l c d
pickcr' .rnd songwritcr lcch.rrged the gfoup 'l he results
sele r kickin'ln'c albLrrro l . n r M o r f t o n r / r cR , ) d d , I ( , 1
l o w e d b ] t h e i r t i g h t e s t .n o s t p o l i s h e d s t u L l i oc f f o r t ,
.Sfrcct .Su ryivors. The s.rnre\e.rf. the Chrflic Dtllliels
rlLrndrele:rscd thcir best :rlhum,,sddrilf ?)drt): NlNrsll.lll
T u c k e f s ( o r e d t h e i r b i S S e sh t it $,ith 'Hc:l|d Ir In x Love
song ; |rndthe outl.r\!s reco|dedand plcparcd to Ic
l c r s c s f i r s J . 3 d . l , . t/ i f r , r f L r l l l c h r r y e d l i r e r l b u n l c r
t L r r i n g n l o r r g i t a r j i m n r i n g t h a n : l N A N ' l l \ ' 1 c o. ,e n t i o n .
S o L r t h e f ur o ( k w a s b r c k a n d a t a n a l l t i m e h i g h .
'1'hcn,
o n O c t o b e f 2 0 . l 9 7 Z i l . r l l c h a n g c di n a n i D
s t : u t . S k ) n v r d ' s t o u r p l a n e | a n o u t o l g : r su n d c r - a s h c d
 into the swampsoutsideofcillsburg, Mississippi,killing three members,includ-
ing caines and VanZant, and seriouslyinjuring everyoneelse.The heart had been
ripped out ofone ofrock's greatestbands-and out ofsouthern rock. with the
Allmans havingbrokenup in acrimonyon the heelsoftwo mediocrealbumsayear
prior, and Skynyrdnow effectivelydead,the genrewas on shakyground.
Molly Hatchetwould debutthe followingyear,andthoughthey found somecom-
mercialand creativesuccess-particularlywith 1979's"Flirtin'with Disaster"-they
rarelydispensedmuch morethan third-rate Slryrrlrdimitations.Blackfoot,frontedby
former Skl.nyrddrummer RickeyMedlocke,alsomadeacommercialbreakthroughin
1979with their fine third album,Sfril(es.CharlieDaniels,alongtime presenceon the
southernrock and country scene,had his biggesthit that year$r'iththe fiddle-driven
novelty tune "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."But while these and other bandshad
their moments.southernrock had dried uo.
t.
* (fEm |.ft) M.|lh.ll Tu.k{ Band, As a new decadedawned,southernrock'ssurivors
Molly H.tdet rnd th. Ouths movedeverfirrther awayfrom their roots..38Special,
* frontedby VanZant'syoungerbrotherDonnie,had
* their biggesthit with 1982's"Hangon Loosely,"a genericarenarockerwhich bore
little soundsofthe South.The RossingtonCollinsBand,formedfrom Skynyrd'sashes,
* releasedtwo decentalbums,butneverquite recapturedthe originalband'sspark.
* the Allman Brothers,who madea promisingreturn with 1979'sEnlrghtenedRogues,
* releasedtwo rnorelamealbumsbeforebrealing up againin 1982.
"Southemrock becamea parodyofitself," saysAllman Brothers/Gov'tMule
* ist warren Haynes."Much like alternative rock did in the wake of Nirv3na." '
* Skynyrd'sEd King is evenmoreconcise and lessfriendly."Southern
*
eulrmlrerrls
1.3@
sayswith asnort "the day Molly Hatchetcameout."
But, ofcourse, a vibrant musical genre can'tjust
die. The music ofthe Allmans, Skynyrd,Marshall
Tucker,the Outlaws and others remained alive in the
hearts oflisteners and the music ofyoung players.
Then, in the late Eighties,the Allmans and Skynyrd
with anotherVan Zant brother, Johnny,taking over as
singer-reunited. To almost everybody'ssurprise,both
are still going strong.
And new generationsofmusicians havesoakedit
all in and createdtheir own bend ofsouthern rock,
heard most clearly in the music ofthe Black Crowes,
the Kentucky Headhunters,Drive-By Truckers, Kings
ofLeon, cator Country,Travis Tritt and Black Stone
Cherry.Not coincidentally,the key membersofall
thesebandsgrew up in the South at the height ofthe
southern rock explosion.
"It had a hugeimpact,"saysHaynes,who grew up in
Nonh Carolina."We all identiliedu ith and
a connection to the musicbecause itwas made bv
who lookedlike us,actedliLe us alrdlived like we
the first time the Southwastakenseriouslyas
rock musicto comefrom.Itletus know
male it without changing." *
 a
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fiAxDELHow did you put the Allnan Brothers together?
Au.ru 1 was working in Muscle Shoals, and [soon-to-beAIIman Brcthers' manager]
Phil walden liked my playing. He said, "Do you want to sigi on the line?" So I signed
up, and he said, "You've got to get a group and get ou! on the road." And I said,,,well,
yeah, that's for mc." And he said, "Listen, I've got this drummer over here in Macon
who plays so weird nobody knows ifhe's any good or not." And I said, "Send him over
her€ and we'll see." It was Jai Johanny Uoftdnson,d.ft.d.Jdimoel, ard wh€n he came
ovcr here, I said, "You're kidding. This cat's bulnin.' " So me and Jai got in a car, man,
and went to St. Louis andjammed a little bit and went to all the little towns looking
for pickers. Then we eased on down to Jacksonville, and Berry lodirley, bdssisrl met us
thcre. we didn't have any moncy, and we were huddled around a goddamn fireplace,
throwilgcoal )umps in the fire to keep warm. And Berry and Dickey petrs, Suirdrisrl
mef us, rnd tsutch Llrucfts, dr&mmerl was there, too, and theysaid, "Yeah, man,let's
make us a group." And so we all gottogether in a bighouse in Jacksonvill€, and Sanra
C l a u sc a m ea n d b r o u g h t u s a b e n d . I t w a s d y n a m i t e l
r,raxDEL Are vou particularly comfortable playing in a group with yourbrothcr?
AILIAN No, it docsn't matter lt'sjusr that he happens to be the best singergoing
'round
today. You want to work with as good a group ofpeopte as you can. I feel like
evclyborly in the band can smoke mc. That's why we're in the band together to keep
each othcr kicking.
MAxoE|'Who are some ofihe other artists you've been playing with lately?
Alula Just whoever calls me up. Delaney Bramlett is a partner ofmine, and I go play
with him and his band iDelaney & Bonnie and F endsl whenever I can. Eric Clapton is a
prilce, and it's a plcasure to go play with him anltime. Making records, well, a lot of it is
done ior thc mollcy, and a lot ofit is done for the fun. When I was doin€]Aretha Franklin'
records and wilson Pickett records, I needed the bread, and t was glad to have the op-
porhLnity to do it. And I wanted to gct away lrom theband.I was ljvingin L.A. and said,
"Boy, thc bard business stinks, and I don't want any part ofit, manl It's terrible!'' The[
I worked down there oD ihe sess;onsfor a wlilc, arrd I thought, wait a minute, manl lt
, r?g,f
20 t ourranLEcExDs
doesn'! have !obe rotten; youjust have to make a good
onc. Then you don't have to sniffanybody's fect to gct a
break, and youjust go ahead and do what you piease.So
rhat's what I did. I found five ofthe smokinest cats I've
metin my life, and we hit the road playing
[axDCl How did you meet Eric Clapton?
Attfiaf, I wentto watch him cut the rdyld album. I
said to Tom Do\rd broducer for both the AlmanBrothers
dnd Derekand the Dominosl, "Man, you've got to callme
when he comes to town,'cause I want to hear him play,
and I want to meet him-" He's a good piayer and I've al-
ways admired him a lot his style and everything he ever
did. So Dowd told me, "He's going to be in- Come down."
So I got down there, and Eric knew who I was he'd
heard some ofmy records and stufl And he said, "Okay,
man. We're going to make us a record here, and we're
goingto hav€ two guitar players instead ofone." Thcn
we made the rdyld album. And we worked our butts off
on it! Ifs agood record! Everybody got behind it, with
no [cgo] trip or anything. It's just good music:rllthe way
through. And itwas a pleasure to do it.
fi xDrt I understand that Eric was influenced by your'
slide playing. How did you develop your approach to
bottleneck?
All.[AI It's allin the wrist. Eric is comingalongon lis
slide, He's doingokay. He ain't no Duane Allman of the
slideguitar, but he's doilgall rightl I heard Rv Cooder
phyingitabout three years ago, and I said, "Man, tbat's
for mel" l got me a bo leneck and wcnt aroulrclthe house
for about three weekssaying,"Hey, man,we've
got to learn the songs-the blues to play on the *
stage.Ilovethis.This is a gas!"Sowe started
doingit. For a while,everybodywould look at
*
me lwhenI picked up a slidel,thinking, Oh, no! *
He' getting readyto do it againlAnd everybody
wouldjust lower their heads-asifto say,'cet it
*
over with-quick." Then I got a little bit befter at *
it, and now everybody'sblowing it all out of pro-
portion.It's j ust fine for me asarelief ftomthe *
other kind of playing. It's just playing.
flr|lDcl Are you planning to add horns to the
band?
a|'rra Yeah!We've got some horn players.
We'vegotsomesmokerslWe'vegot "Tic Tac"
and ".Iuicy"and "Fats."They'll comeand play
for us prettysoon,There'satenor and trumpet
and soprano.Theyare bad,boy,they'rekickin'
it! The baddest,smokinest,dynamitestdudes *
ever,man.They canplaylA soonaswe get the *
money-as soonaswe get famousand rich and
get to be stars-we'll hire somemorecats.We're *
waitingfor morebucksto comein, so we can *
hire thesehorns,man,and maybegetsome
strings.It doesn'tmatter how manypeople *
you'vegot in the band,aslongaseverybody *
knows what to do. As long aseverybody knows
howto play,and everybodywon't be getting *
into eachother'sway and hoggingit and not *
k i c k i n g i \l a h e r e i t d o e s n t n e e d k i c k i n g . H o w
do you thinkLeonard Bemsteindoesit? He sit *
up there and says,"Okay,you catsoverhere,you t
play something."That'show it's done-in rock
and roll orjazz or orchestrasor whateveryou're *
doing.Everybody'sgot to work togetheror it *
ain'tworth a damn.Youcan't getinto a musical
fistfight on the stage.It's aggravatingand it's *
obnoxious,and it's no goodat all. Either you *
play togetheroryou play like hell.
fiAxDC!Did you everfind yourselfagainst *
somebodyyou were playingwith? *
arurAx I've jammed with people like that. l've
packedmy caseand duffed very quickly; I don't *
stay on for that kind of a set.That's nowhere, *
that's just wasting time. Theret a lot of that in AltIAI I don't know!You can't askaboutsomethinglike
New York. One night, though, I had a good-ol' smokin' that. How doyou think it's affectedour music?Youcould *
jam there with a cat namedTodd Rundgren,and Buddy look at it objectively,but I'xasbusy doingit, so I don't know
Miles. Todd Rundgen, he was doing a little punching and
stabbing and Buddy Miles sat on him a liftle bit. He said,
Either AIDE Wher€ do you like to do mostofyour recording?
AllflAI It doesn'tmatter;anyplacewith goodfacilities.
"Okat man,just rel&x,let's do it all together."Sothen it There's a standard,and anlthing abovethat standard is great.
was all cool, man. What a night. And Buddy Miles blew I'd loveto cut somethinginJimi'sstudio,ElecfficLadyland,
everybody'sheadoffl He started screaminghis guitar line on Eighth Streetlin New Yor&].If it didn't costsomuch,we
into the microphone,andIjust split.I said,"Jesus, you would.I bet that placeis fantastic. *
don't needme up here.He cando it all." The Atlantic studio in New York is grcat, but my favorite
maxirflWho is the mostexcitingpersonthat you've thing aboutAtlanticisn't the facilities-it's the people.They *
everjammedwith? havedone me right. They've got heart. They've got guts. *
AUfiAI I'd rather jam with my own band than any- They've got balls. They are out of sight. Every one of them,
body aliv€!I've got thebest playersthere are.But I'd like starting with Ahmet [trtegu/1,Atlantic president],and down *
to jamwith anyonewho likesto play,and anybodywho to C.8.,the catwho answersthe door I haveno complaints.
likesto can comearoundto our setanltime, Now,Jerry
*
And I've beenthrougha lot ofjive-assrecordlabelsthat I'm
Garcia there'sone I loveto playwith. not evengoingto talk about,becauseitt not very pleasant. *
flaxDErDoyou lhink dlat asa resultofso mary musi- But Atlanticis the one.becausethev canfeelit.
cians playing in so manygroups,music is beginning to
*
fAxrnr What haveyou learnedfrom travelingacrossthe
soundrepetitious?I'm referringin particularto Eric country? *
Clapton'sfirstsoloalbumandthe DelaneyandBonni€ AllIAa{ That everything'sthe sameeverwvhere-thatthere are nice folks and as- I
alDums. sholes,andyou haveto learnto distinguishbetweenthe two in order to get by.And
A]lflAt{ You meaneverybody'stakingon eachother's someonewho's an assholeto somebodymaybe a nice folk to somebodyelse,soyou've *
style?well, that'sa lot offun. E c'sreal music,though, to learnto be nic€ to everybodyand showeverybodyrespect.That'sthe only way
is on ldyld. when you hearthat music,it's asifhe ple respectyou.You'vegot to havemutual respectand a little bitoflove ifyou can
*
selfwere playingin the room.That albumisjust it up.And don't be afraidto sharewhat's insideofyou with other people.That's *
he'slike. way you re evergoingto get free.or haveany fun ar all. Sojusr rocl on. and
{ xDll How hasyour southern time. IfI have a choice between having a good time and a shitty time, I'm
*
ch.F.l vn,'r m,,ci.? me agood time, because I've had enough shittytimes.:{€ *
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turur lrerlrs $@*
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{back roe, froh left) L6n wiltesn, A.timus Pye,
* AllenCollint BillyPomll,6.ry Ro$ingtonand
Stew clingi (front, fEm left) jo Silling3ley,tldie
I Hawkins,RonnleVa. znnt.rd c.si.6aids

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Skynyrd soundmal Kevin Elson is another who heard Ronnie foretetl ofhis early In Kooper'seyes,lynlrd Slf'nyrd werehis Allman
* demise. "I think it was becausehe lived hard everyda), and anyole who does that l;ke Brothers,thejewel in the southernrock cror.r'n. Skynyrd
* Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix-is gone by the time they're 28 or 29," saysElson, who transcended the southernrock genre*'ith their swag-
uent on to produce Journey, Mr Bigand Night Ranger,amongothers. "He and ldssisfant gering,dangerousmusicthatconjuredthe dark fury of
* road mdndgerl Dean Kilpat ck were the same.The,vwere like, 't have this tunny feeling betrayal,perlidyorjust plain ornerinessand hopelessness
* aboutthis.I don'tthink I'n goingto nuke it-"' overthe diminishedprospectsof the rural south.
Elson u'as also on that rented twin-engine plane the day it fell out of the Mississippi sL1'. Thesewereguyswho neverexpectedanlthingbut
* Had he been older and wiser, he says, he never would have climbed those rickery steel stairs. {.antedever}'thing. Youcouldhearit in the antebellurn
* "we had problems on the plane before that last flight," Elson says."We had a day off, talrntof"SweetHomeAlabama,"to the prosaicpleaof
then a show, then a da1'offlying." They flew a mechanic in itm Dallas 1,r,horvas sup- "GimmeThreeSteps,"andthe statelyrequiemof"free
* poscd to repair eveq'thing. Though the band remainedwary ofthe plane's condition, Bird."That anthe -turned albatrossbeganlife asawist-
* everyone had confidence in the pilot. "Except CassieGaines,"explains Elson. "But itwas ful lovesongabouta manwho wastryingto extricate
one ofthose things where intuition should have been followed. Cassiesaid, 'I'm going to himselfliom a claustrophobic relationship.Itglew to
* dde in the truck; but she changed her mind atthe lastminute. There was so much lea<i- epicstaturewhen the]'graftedon a mad combaliveclos-
* ingup to that. Now as an older perso[ I carrsee it. Man, allthe signs u.ere there." ing codathat buildsandtumbleson itsell then doubles
Itdidn't stop there. Van Zant told joun'mlist Jim Farber three months before the plane backagain,makinganine-minutesonicedificethat
t crash, "I wrote l"Ihdt.Snell'l when Garl had his car accident.ltwas lastyear and Allen stretchesrightacrossthe Mason-Dixonline,purloining
* lCollins, Skynyrd guitarisd and Billy LPowe[,fr€yboards]also were in car accidents,all in fills from DuaneAllman andtravellingall the way to ]-on-
the space ofsix months. I had a creepy feeling things were going against us, so I thought don to sit at the right handofJeffBeck,siphoningoffhis
* I'd write a morbid song." "Beck'sBolero"riffs.
* The oft-told, star-crossedsagaof Llnyrd Skynyrd has been potrayed as the conver- Skynlrd were alwaysmoreinfluencedby secondwave
gence ofopportunily, preparedness,talentand luck. Whatwere the chances ofDylan British invaders(Eric Clapton,Frceand the tough,ga-
* associate,Blues Projectfounder and producer extraordinaire Al Kooper, walking into an rageythud ofthe RollingStones,Kinks andYardbirds)
* Atlanta dive in the summer of1972 and spottingthis band? than by the Allmans'jazzy,free-wheelingimprovisations.
Kooper had just persuaded MCA Records to bankroll his Sounds ofthe South label in With their talesof beautifuI losers,thwartedromanceard
* an effort to compete with Phil Walden's Capricorn Records,hometo theAttman Broth- dashedambition,Skyn],Td were a moremenacingbunch.
* ers Band. Kooperwasbowied over by Sklngd's professionalism, arrangements andg!i- Peace,love and understanding nevermadeitto Jackson-
tar work, but mostlyb,vshort and stocky lead singer Van Zant, who shou,ed up in a black ville.VanZant'slip would curl into a surly halfmoon as
* T-shirt and droopy jeans. he spatoutthe lyricsto "On the Hunt," "PoisonWhiskey"
'Atfirst
* he annoyed me, becausehe u'as a mic-stand twirler," Koopersays Iiom his or "Thingscoingon."
home in Boston. "He was the drum major'ofLynyrd Skl'nyrd, but instead ofa baton he The attitudeandthe lifestylethat lurtureo rt u-ere
* had a microphone stand thatwas, by the way,lightweight aluminum-it only looked lik. capturedinthe sneeringlysarcastic"Workingfor MCA:'
it was heaq'. Thatjust got me. Plus, I was amused becausehe left his shoes on the siile of The songwaswritten lor the Soundsofthe Southlaunch
*
the stage.But looks didn't really matter to me. The music was incredible. How can vou party,held atRichard'sinAtlantaon Sunday,July 2q 1973,
* not respond to the firsttime you hear'lAin't the One'or'Free Bird'?" whereSkynyrdandotherhopefulsperform€dforjaun-
*
* 1?!> lutranLEGrx
Ds

*
dicedrecordexecutives, radioprogrammers, discjockeys,
promoters,rock cdtics andT.RexkMarc Bolan,allof
whom new in on McAs tab.Duringthe song'sperform-
ance,VanZantstoodiDonespotbarelymoving,hisbare
feetsquarelyplantedon the stageashe spatoutlyricsthat
told the m)'thbehindthcbtnd's creation."Sevenyearsof
I lovedond
hard h.rckcomin'downon me/Froma motorboat,yes,up respecled
in Nashville,Tennessee/lworkedin everyjoint you can
name,yes,everyhonkytonk/Theyall cometo seeYankee
RonirieVqn
slicker,saying'Baby,you'rewhat I want."' Zqnt.But
Behindhim.r wrllofguirarswailed.Ed King,lhe
StrawberryAlarmclock expatriatewhod beenhiredto
playbasson Skynyrd'sdeb\rtalbum,pronounced'\dh-'nird
I hsve
'sftin-'ndrd,hadswitchedto guiiar,rippedoffnotesthat
nibbledat the far endsofpsychedelia, his Stratocaster
seenlhe
fillingthe psychicgapbetweenCollins'cibsonfirebird
and Rossington's LesPaul.Behindthem,the rhlthm sec- munturn
tion of Powell,bassistLeonwilkeson anddrummerBob
Burnsplayedwith military precision. intothe
The pressand hangers-onwere out of their chairs fiom
the very first assaultof "\Morking for MCA' to the final
lingering note of "Free Bird." Sodevastatingwassk'.nlrdt
devilriqht
performancethat the other actsshowcasedat the event-
MoseJonesand Elijah-were forgotten.Lln},'rd Skln rd,
in lrofit
thatsevenyearwork-in-progress, werereadyat last
creggAllmansaiduponmeetingRonnievan Zant in
ol me
1972,'1{Ie you the guy that'stryingto soundlike me?" undhurl
Anyoneactuallyiisteningwould know that wasn'tffue.
Maybeit had moreto do with the factthat Allmanonce people."
datedvan zant'swinsomewife,Judy.Therewasalwaysa _ARTIMUS PY1E
whiffofcompetitivenessbetweenthe two of them.
with their take-no-prisoners attitude,SLTnyrd
themselves a formidablereputationascontenderc-
we get on that stage, it's war," Van Zant told me in
"There are no friends. no relatives.We are the3qt<ilt'lp."--
He drilled his bandmercilessly, drivingout to creen
CoveSprings,Florida,to a little tin shackon 90 acres *
north ofJacksonville. This swelteringshed, which quick- *
ly earnedthe nickname"Hell House,"becrme thc boot
*
campwherevan zant moldedhis raw recruitsinto musi
calmen.He pickedup hisbleary-eyedandgrumbling *
troopsin hisbatteredold'55 CheWtruck everymorning
*
at 7:3oA.M., stoppingforjugsofcoffeeat the donutshop
wherehis notherworked. By 8:30he'dbe puttinghis *
chargesthroughtheir pacesinworkdaysthat regularly
*
ran eightto 12hours.Sometimes they wouldn'tstraggle
backuntil the next morning.
It paid off.with Kooper'shelp,Skynyrdlandedthe
*
supportsloton the Americanlegofthe who's Qudd-
ropfieniatour Theywent Iiom headliningsmallvenues
*
*
in the southto performingin front of20,o0oat someof
Americat largestfacilities.Attheir first showatSanFran- i
cisco'sCow Palace, they sawhow dauntingit couldbe.
The audiencepeltedthe little-knownbandwith quarters,
*
ostensiblyto get them offthe stage.'Anddamnthat hurt," *
van zant said at the time.
But almosthalfan hour later,that sameaudience
*
calledSkynyrdbackfor an encore."No bandthat hasever *
openedfor the Who hasever gotten an encore,"Who *
managerPeterRudgeremarked at the time. Beforeyou
knew it RudgewasmanagingSk]'nyrd. *
"Theywere immediatelyaffectedby the presenceof *
the who," rememberedBill curbishlet Rudge'smanage-
ment partner and current managerof the who, "They *
wantedto be crazierthan Keith Moon.Theywantedtobe *
more everttling than the who. They were naturally a bit
crazy in various ways,and all that meeting with the who *
did was light the fuse.It alsogavethem a hunger and a *
drive anda motivation.
"I wastouringwith themquite a bit in Europe,and *
eurrulreerls J@*
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* I felt this was a band that could havegoneall the way. caughtstaringat a girl's breasts-Or when Ronniecaught
t I think they madethe qpe ofmusicthat transcended
fashion.Ithink theywouldhavestuckin there.Punkor
Skvnvrd Wilkesondrinkingwine during"Free Bird." Or when
he knockedout two ofBilly Powell'steeth.Or the time
*
*
alternative wouldn't hnvedamagedthem."
Evenso,damagewas alreadyhappeningwithin the
truniceinded in Hamburg,cermany,when he smasheda bottle and
goredthe backofRossington'shandswith it, hissing,
*
group'sranks.In late 1974,on the band'sfiIst ove$eastrek,
their first drummet BobBums,snappedin a northern
lhesoulhern "I'lldo it without you!"
"I lovedand respectedRonnieVanZant" sals Pyle."I
i Englandhotcl room, a breakdownthe others saywastrig-
geredby an unhealthynurnberofviewings of the hit film
rockqenre meanthat fiom dre bottom of my heart.But I haveseenthe
mantum into the devil right in liont of me and hurt pmple."
* ].hetirorcrsf. Burns,who d beenplayingpoorly and suf- withTheir "Ifwe were the Beatles,Ronniewasthe meanBeatle,"
* feringvan Zant'surath regularly,fiealed and tossedthe swllggenng, saysRossington. "He wassupermeandndsupernice:'
hotel'sbelovedrcsident cat out his fourth floor window. He "They were all mean around here," remembered
* later went after the road managerwith a pickax.Somehow
dungerousmusic Van Zant's mother Marion. "But Ronni€was the
I the bandgot through the two-week tour, but they madea lhul coniured meanestofthem all."
poiDt of putting Burns on a sepamteflight home. lhe durklury ol "Ronnie'smeanness-they allhaveit," remembersJeff
* As it happens,the membersoflynyrd Sklnyrdwere Carlisi, a neighborofthe VanZants and bandmateofRon'
I unitedby onestrangething:the bandmates, almostto a belruyul, nie'syoungerbrother, Domie VanZan! in .38Special."He
*
man,had losttheir fathersearlyon.ArtimusPyle'sdad perfrdy
or 8Tewup in Shantltown lJackson\'ille'srough-and-tumble
hadperishedin a planecrashthat chillinglyresembled ,esf sr'de].Violencewasjust part of the culture there. lf you
t the onethat felledthe band;it took off from the same
pluin
iust didnl fight for it, somebodywould take it from you."
creenville,SouthCarolina,airportfrom which the band's orneriness und By most accounts,Van Zant was largelyfull of ire
* planedepartedon its finalflight.Rossington's fatherdied hopelessness over when he drank.Judy Van Zant Jennessrecallsthe day
* while he wasstill a toddler andEd King'sdadhad com- Ronnieknockedout Billy Powell'steeth."I was there
mittedsuicide.AllenCollins'fatherhadn'tdiedbut had lhedininished that day,and that was not a pretty day.What set him
I beenabsent;hedreappealedin King'slife "aboutthe prospecls in lhe off? Alcohol...thetemper ofthe Van Zants.They all
* sametime the lbdnd'sroydlry]checksdid,"accordingto grew up in the housewith Lacy.One thingbreeds an-
onebandmember.LeonWilkeson'sfatherwasalive.as
rursl soulh. othet you know.It's passedon and on."
t wcll, but was"the weirdesthu- Lacy Van Zant was a colden
* manbeingl had evermet in my cloves boxet with no fewer
life,"accordingtoKing."He was than 36 bouts under his belt.
* abusive-anasty,meanlittle man From an early age he taught his
* with the personalityofa thumb." eldestson Ronnie named after
RonnieVanZantassembled his favorite movie star, Ronald
* this fatherlessregiment,all in Reagan-not only how to fight
* ncedofguidanceanddirection, but also how to hurt.
andhammeredit into atouring "I stafied teaching him how
* and recordingmachine. to box when he was two-and-
x "Hammered"wasthe opera- a-half years old," remembered
tive word. VanZant had no com- Van Zant's father in 1996. "He
* punctionabouthitting a band was very very intelligent, but he
* memberacrossthe mouth ifhe had a high temper Ifhe couldn't
sawsomederelictionof duty. get his way, he d run across this
* Like the time LeonWilkesonwas room and butt a hole ghtinthe
*
wa1l.l taughthirn ifyou rcallywanted to hurta m.rr youd
hit him lcross the facc. Don'thithim straight in the face,
you ll onlybreal his nose."
Over the coulse oihis life, Ronnie Van Zantwas arresG
ed 12 til1les Iive of them occurring during tLe last year-of
his life-and he hacl suffered enough bruises ofhis own to
shou, he didn't always pick on the littlc gu,v Parked out-
side a club in san Francisco, a rather large Clicaro man
wandered onto thcir tour bus, called "the Great White
Wonder," demardingto have a ltxrk around. Van Zant
took umbmge to the intrusion and lostno time n rars-
inghis fists and thunping the intruder on thc side ofhis
head.'l'he mar scrambled offthe tour bus, with Van Zant
in pursuit, only to be mct by a croud ofthe nan's pals
biggel brawnier and more lethalthar their ftiend- Before
t0 mirutcs had passed,cary Rossinliton hadjoincd Van
Zant at the botton ofabloody heap. The singersuffered
facial injuries tl'latrequircd hc wcar sunglassesonstage.
"I remember we were on the bus and Ronnie would be
lying thcre with two pieces of raw meat on his cycs, and
he'd weer suntjlasscsdlrring the show. A! the end of'l'rec
Bird' he'd get rid ofthc rnic and take offhis sunglasses
alld star-eat dre audience," recalls Billf' Powell-'And the
whole flont lou, wouJd go 'Wow' "
Chris Charles$,orth, a former M€lodl Mdler journal
ist \,r4rob€crme Skvnyrd's press ofliccr, belicves a sense
ofself lelialce rvas at the heart ofVan Zant's frcquentl).
ornery pcrsonalit"v."He was the sort of guy thatpullcd
himselfup by lis bootstraps. H€ 6gured, well, ifl contin
uc to do it my way, I'll do okay.l've plovcd this to myself,
so why shoul.l I listen to anybody else?That's thc fe€ling
you got from lim. Pctcr Rudge, whom I worked for was
a tough guy too. A brainy grry.lfthcr-e was any trouble, he
coull handle it. They were a good pair"
Van Zant and his baDd became known rs offstage booz-
ers and brawlers who would fighr anrong themselves ifl1o
external adversarieswer-eavailable.Their antics reached
such proporlions lhat nany viewed the air-planecrash as
asymbolic culmination ofthe bard's violclt lifestyle.
Charlesworth, however, chalks the planc clash up tojust "dumb bad luck.I don't be
lieve for one minut€ that dre indiscretions oftheir lifestvle woulcl have led to this- That s rt
superstitious bollocks."
As mean as hecouldbe, there was a Jckyll and Hyde aspect to RonnieVan Zrnt. "Hetl *
givc you the shirt offhis back," remembers his brothcr Donnie. "H€ xlwrys paid for every *
!hing," renembe$writcr Cameron Crowe, who partiallybased thc band inhis filmAlaosr
?'dmouson Skynyrd.'avher wc wcrc in Japan and.Iack Daniel's was $75 rbottlc, Romric *
said,'I'm buying'Hewas alwaysthe firstoncto rcach into his pocket." *
RecallsJo Jo Billingsley, one ofthe Honkcttcs, "Ronnie was such a gentlen]an, he
wouldn't let arybody messwith us." Although allthee Horlkcttcs wcrc stunning, there *
wasn't a man fbr miles whowould come near them ifVan Zantwas around.
"Ronnie had this here charlr abouthim," remembercd his molher Marion in 1996.
"He could charm anybody.But he was straightfon ard with everythinghe did. You could *
say he dlways kncw his own mind. He never ever changcd, cither He saw his old friends -t
when he came off thc road and hc lo\€d to fish and would fish with allybody. Onc thing
I surely lemember is he was very protective ofAllen. No one could messwith Allen. He
was oldcrthan both Allen and cary. He ligured he was supposed to watch rhem when *
thev were outon the road."
And ifyou believe ill such things, he's wrtching over them still.
****i****
BOUT T.WO-AND-A-HALEHOURSout ofCreenville, South Carolina, en route
to Baton Rouge,louisian a, and only three days into th€ .Stre€t.Survivorstour, *
the right engiDc ofLynyrd Skynyrd's chartered 1948 twin cnsirc Convair sud-
denly hiccupped and dicd. Thc pilot radioed to the Houston Air Route l raflic
Control Center, told the staffhe was "low on fucl" alld requested vedors for a *
tiny airstrip ir McComb, Mississippi. He and his copilot hacln't finished receiv-
ingthcir dircctions when rhe left engine quit. The small planc bcgan its dcath
glide into the Mississippi swamp. *
Chris Charlesworth was due to travelwith the band on that ill-starred n;ght ofOcto
ber 20, 1977At thc last miDute his plans had changed, and he decided to nect the band
in Baton Rouge. Ihrec decadcs later, his ne miss still chills hin1. *
"Thos€ in the front ofthe plane cane offworsc. That's where Ronnie, Ste\e caines,
*
CassieGaincs and road managerDean Kilpatrick were sitting," hc told uldssic Roc* mag-
azine. "Those at thebackwere lessbadly injured.Inevitably, the lroup and thosc who *
were closest to them were up frort. That's \(,h€rc I would have sat, becauseI didn'tkno*,
any ofthe crew, who sat in the back."
x
Rccalls Billv Poweil. "we hit the trees at what seemed like 1oo miles an hour. It
*
' - '-' Gurrrn
rEGEnDs
124*
 felt like we were beinghitwith baseballbats in a rrn
coffeecan with the lid on. The tail'sectionbroke off.
the cockpit broke offand buckledunderneath,and
both wings broke ofl The fuselageturned sideways,
and everybodywashurled forward. That's how Ronnie
died. He was catapultedat about 80 m-p.h.into a tree.
Died instantlyofa massiveheadinjury There was not
anotherscratchon him, excepta small bruise the size
ofa quarter at his temple."
Later reports would insist that the singer was decapi-
tated, causingJudy Van Zant to publish her husband's
autopsyresultson the internet.
The planewasmiredin almostthreeieet ofswamp
muck in a hardwoodforest.The survivorsw€renr aware
that the causeof the crashwasdueto the pilots running
out offuel, sothey fearedthe planewould burst into
ilame at any moment.
The sunwassettingquickly.DrummerArtimus Pyle
andcrew membersKen PedenandMark Frankstumbled
through the wreckageand into the darkening evening to
find help.Artimuq with abrokensternumandthreeof
his ribs pokingout of the skin in his chesgmadehis way
to a farm housea painfulthree-quarters ofa mile away,
impelled by one thought. "Every painful step I took was a
drop of their blood.I knew that I hadto keepputting one
foot in front of anoth€r-"
Scramblingin the dark-fearful of snakes,alligators or
worse-the three lina1lyflaggeddown a farmer named
Johnny Mote, who had come to investigatewhat the
mightynoisewasthat jaIred him out ofhis house.
Unnervedby the sightofa dirty,blood-drenchedhip-
pie runningtowardhim, Mote fired awaining shotgun
blast.Itdid nothingto deterPyle,who stillcontendsthat
Mote shothim in his rightshoulder-a claim Mote denies.
When the drumrner-could finallyutter lhe words "plane
crash.Morecalledfor help.u hichu r.long in coming.
Rescue$had to crossa 20-footcreekin orderto get to the
crashsite.The injuredhadto wait in the mud forhours,
while policeandemerg€ncyworkerscarvedout a make
shift roadthroughthe woods.
Horii'ingly, itwasn't onlyhelp that came.Looters
reachedthe siteandpilferedthe pocketsof the deadand
livingalike."Theywerehlrmanvultures,"recallsroad
managerCraigReed.'All the moneythat wasin mypock-
etswas taLen.we had beenpiaying poker ght before
the crash,andI waswinningbig.I had a coupleof grand
that wastaken.All my T-shirtswere taken.All my jewel-
lery askull andcrossbones cokespoon-allgone.They
went throughour suitcases. Theytook an)'thingthat said
'LynyrdSkl.rlyrd.'Theyevenwentout andtooLthe sideof
the planethat waspainted'LFlrd Sklnyrd.'"
"The thingl thinkofis the constanttelephone
callswith JudyVan Zant who wasat Ronnie'shouse,"
Charlesworthremembers.'1\ll the women,wivesand
girlfriendsofthe bandand the crew gatheredat Judy's
house.There must havebeena dozenwomenthere.I
just couldn'thelp but try to imaginethe horror ofthe
scene.Canyou imagineall thesewomen sitting around
a table in the houseand noneofthem knowing iftheir
husbandswere aliveor deadafter thev'dbeenin this
planecrash?The horror ofall thesewomenwaiting to
heariftheir husbandswere dead?"
By the next day,the injured were scatteredover three
hospitals,where somewouldremainfor weeks.Allen
Collinsinjuredhis spine.Back-upsingerLeslieHawkins
hadseriousfacialcuts,while BillyPowellandArtimus

I
Pylewere releasedfrom hospitalsaweek afterthe crash.
LeonWilkesonsuffereda brokeniaw.a crushedchestrnd
b l e e d i n g a n dw a " d e c l e r e dd e a d n o t o n c e . b u l
. three times, waking up only to say he had been sitting on
'ri
ildiirdshaped log with Ronnie and DuaneAllman.
"iRonnie told me,'Boy, get yourself out of here, it's not
y-oq time y,eI. Get on out of here,' " the bassist told me in

{@ tulrrn lrerros
 *
x
1997This would not be the lasttime the spectreof Ron- mostly becausehis wife, Judy,was falling apart.
nie Van Zant would pay a visit to fiiends and family. "l went into shockwhen Ronniedied,"shesays."I didn'twantto hold the funeral *
********* untilAllen andcary got outofthe hospital.Shelooksoffinto the distance,pushinga *
S NEWSOFTHE CRASHEMERGED,family and strandofblondehairoffofher eyes."Butthatwas impossible. And then I didn'twant
friendshurried to the smallMississippitown him buriedin the ground.I insistedon a crypt.I know I drovea lot of peoplecrazy,but I *
where the survivorsand deadwere gathered. wasn'tgoingto put him in the groundandput dirt on him. I know it soundssilly now.It *
Judy VanZant wasthere,aswasBilly Powell's didn't then.Sothey put up a temporarycr!?t. Laterwe had this specialmemorialseryice
ex-wifeStella.FormerSkynyrdguitaristEd just for Allen and cary and we moved Ronnieto his permanent place.TheresafGaines] *
King drovethroughthe night and arrivedthe decidedshewantedSteveandCassiethere,too." *
next morning to seethe membersofthe band Shewasn't the only one who had trouble keepingit together.Lacy Van Zant wore a
he'd left two yearsbefore."I alwaysknew LynyrdSkynyrdT-shirtto the l0-minutelongfuneralserviceand had to be hospitalized *
somethingbadwould happento them after I for nervousexhaustionfor three daysafter-'ward.But before that, he went up to Honkette
left,"the guitaristrecalled.
*
Jo Jo Billingsleyanddid sometiingthat unnervedher "Lacycameup andreacheddown
Skynyrd managerRudgechartered three planesfor andscoopedup a handfulofthe dirt andwiped it acrossmy mouthand said,'Kissthis *
family members.Don Barnes,guitaristwith -38Special, groundyou re walkingon. Ard walLedoff
accompanied RonnieVanZant'sfatherto Mississippi The reasonfor Lacy'sratherstrangebehaviorwasbecauseJo Jo wasn'ton that flight.
*
andwaswith him when he went to identit'his son. Shehadn'tbeenwith the bandat the beginningoftheStr€efSurriror tour-intimates say *
"The strengththat this man displayedwasmonumental," shehadbeenfired becauseshewashavingan affairwith Allen Collins-but accordingto
Barnessays."Lacywasin denialon the planeandhoped Billingsley, VanZantcalledher the night beforetheir showin creenvilleto comerejoin
*
*
*
*
R 1 ,",
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Ih. revampedSkynyrdln1994 *
*
that there was a mistale and that his son was not dead.I the bandon the road. *
had to 6nd out who was where, and we had to get to the "I thought, well, that's music to my ears,"Billingsley told a reporter from swampland. *
funeral home to identifu the body. com in 2003."I said,Yes,ofcourse.'WhileI wastalkingto him I felt this strangefeeling
'nve then went to the hospital and sawall the other andI heardthis word:'wait' My spirit wastalkingto me.I saidlto Ronnre],"lffell,yor: *
peoplewhowerehurt. They all lookedat Lacythrough were planning to com€to Little Rock an)'way.Why don't I just meetyou there?'And he *
stitches and swelling, and he told me not to sayanlthing said,'cood,bring all your stuff'I wentbackto sleepat my mom's,andthat night I had
about Ronnie.He just said that Ronniewas fine and You the mostvivid dream.I sawthe planesmackthe ground.l sawthem screamingandcry- -t
justgetbetter andrest.'Thisman hadjustbeentothe ing,and I sawfire.I wokeup screamingandmymom camerunningin going,'Honey, *
funeralhomeand seenhis sondeadanddecidedto keep what is it?'I said'Mam4I dreamedthe planecrashed!'Andshesaid,'No,honey,it'sjust
that to himself for theseguys to heal. I told him that it a dream.'AndI said'No.mom.it's too reall' rt
was the suongest thing I had seena marl do." "They had aheadysentme the itinerary,sothe next dayI calledGreenville.I called *
Lacy Van Zant alwaysinsisted he wamed his son not to everybodyon the list. Finally, late that afternoon,Allen called me back. He said, '.Io,what
get on that plane."On that last day,he was standing right in the world is it? I've got messagesall over creenville from you.' I said ,{len, it's $at *
on this step,"saidthe elderVanZan! who pointedto a :And I told him aboutmy dream.I said'Allen,pleasedon'tget on that plane.'He
'Jo,it's funny you d mention that, becauseI was looking out the window yesterday *
spot about l0 feet fiom where we sat,"and I beggedhinl : ,
nottogetonthecharterplane.Hetoldme,'Dadd, I sawfire comeout of the winq' " *
pilot can fly through the eye of a hurricane and recalls that when she heard about the crash,"the first thing I thought was,
com freld: It turns out that he was wrong."
*
life. The Lord gave rne that drearn ro warn me, and I did rhe only Ihing I
Ronnie'sfuneral wasn't held until almost rhem.It wasso\^eird.because
someof rhemthoughtthatma)be I *
*
g&r*
Guus LEGrrDs
*
*
had somethingto do with it, but I had nothingto do with it."
* A y€ar after the plane crash, creggAllman wanted to form a band with Gary Rossing-
* ton and Allcn Collins. "Iwas actingas the manager for Garyand Allen," saysJudy Van
Zant Jenness."l weirt down to meet with cregg, who wanted tojoin up with them. But
* Greggwanted them to call it Free Bird, so we dropped the idea. lt was probabty a good
* thiDg. Cary andAllen weren't ready."
Itwould take them two moreyears to launch Rossiryton-Collins. Byautumn oft979,
* the two guitarists felt corlident enough to talk to the press about their newvenrure,
expl ning "we've justbeer gettingtogether and messing around...doing a little playing
*
and a little thinking, but we're not worried about making any big rock and roll moves:'
* They hired singer Dale Krantz (who latermarried Rossington,after a rather torrid ro-
mance with Collins) d were eventLralJyjoinedby Skynyrd keyboardist Billy Powell and
*
bxsslsL t eon wrlkeson
* It was the closest they had come to any senseofnormalcy afier the crash, but it was a
fool's paradise.lt seemed fate was not done u'ith them yet.
*
Allen Collins suffered another gut punch while on the road with his newband-
* After a performance in November 1981,he got a phone calltellinghim that his hcav-
ily pregnantwife had started bleedingin a movie th€ater and was rushed to a local
*
hospital, wherc she later died. The glitarist never recovered fiom the loss. He became
t even nore extreme ir his habits, retreatingfrom friends and family. The only thing
that seemed to comfort him were rock and roll panaceas:drinking drugs ard drivirg
around in fastcars. Five years after his wife's deatL Collins'plunged his car over a
* ravine, killinghis passenger,girlfriend Debra Jean Watts, and paralyzing him from the
waist down. Iour'_vearslater, Collins died from pneumonia that resulted fiom injuries
* sustrined in the car accident.
'Aftor Allen's wife
* died, he dove into a bottle and never came out," Billy Powellsays.
Adds Rossington,'Allen was great. He was so fitmry, so happy-goJucky and crazy. But
* after his wife died, he became real bitter, even with me...He never krew how manypeo-
I ple he inspired becausehe died too early."
******t**
* HERE lS SOMETHING UNNERI'ING about the northem Flodda swamps at night.
t The brackish water is dull,with a green sheen,while Sparish moss drips from
the branches ofthe oal 3rrd c)?ress trees,coatingthem in poisonousputrid ic-
* ing. Jiftery t}?es like to avoid the still waters of Lake Delancy,one ofVan Zant's
* favorite iishingspots, where people have claimed to have spotted his ghost,
dressedin black and striding purposeiy towald the waterwith the yellow cane
* fisl,ingpole he was buri€d with tucked under his right ann.
* Judy Van Zant recalled a dream sh€ had, shortlyafter she had buried her
'About
six months after Ronnie's death, I woke up in the middle ofthe night.
x as it sounds, itjust felt like he was there. He said tl'nt he had three thinfs ro tell
me. The {irst, ofcourse, was to take care ofMelod}' lthe
co ple's ddughfer]. The secondwas notto worry aboutAl-
len and Gary thar tlrey could take care ofthemsclves. And
the third was he want€d me to know that he was okay.I
kept callingto him,'Come back, don't go away-'I didnt
The fact that VaI Zant would come back fiom the dead
doesn't nuch surprise anyone who knew hjm.According
to Sllnyrd lore, he had uncanny powers. One story ha.sit
that Ronni€ could point his finger at a spot in the water and
tellhis fishing companion to put his pole at exactly the spot
and within minutes a lish would be flapping on the hook.
And, ofcourse, lhere werc the lyrics to "That Smell," one of
the last songs VIln Zant wrote for Sfreef Sun irors. The line
"The smell of death'saround you" were chiilingenough,
but theytook on amacabre, prescient tone afterthe crash.
Van Zan! had wriften the song as a cautionary tale to his
band members,inspired byRossington's neaf fatal1977 car
crash end the feelingthat some ofthem were pissingaway
their future with excessivedrinking, drugging and carous-
irg.Itwasn't only the tragic prophecy ofthe songthat's
chillin6ll his owl circle, itwas common knowledge that
Van Zant didn't expcct to live much longer
"Ronnie could see the future, aiways hadbeen able,"
said his father "You know, prior to starting the Suryivors
tour Ronnie gave mybrotherhis bestblack hat and a
beautiful ring that he used to wear. He also gave ne sev
eralthings, includinghis lawn mower and his 1955Che\y
p i . k u p ( f u c k . T h a l l e d m e t o b e l i e \ e r l l a l R o n n i em r )
have knowr that he did not have longto live."
Could Ronnie have really foretold his own death?His
brother Johnny, who replaced him as the lead singerof
Llnlrd Skynlrd, isn't sure. "Things work out in nysteri-
ous ways,"he says-"Ronnie and Stevie [Gdrneslwere only
on this earth a shofttime. Cod made his mark on them for
lhem to maketheir mark on the world. Hell,I don'tlnow
if we'll ever figure it out.Iate takes you oD whatcver road
it wants. some ofus take a good road and some ofus tale a
bad road. But ifmy brother was .eaily so sure he was going
to gt), don't you think he would havc made a will?" lk
I pulledinto Nazareth,
wasfeelin'abouthalf pastdead
I iust needsomeplace
whereI can lay my head

- searching
lbr inspilation.he lookcdinsidchis D-18 andfoundNazareth.l96ll
*
*
*
positionbetweenthe middle and
* bridgepickups.This settingyieldsa FIGUBE
1 a) irtro {o:oFo:2a)
* spa:rkling, crystal-clearsound,even Em c G DA5
o ooo xxoxx
*
when he cranksup thevolume for FFFITI H ]Trl.N FFF'F
TrT-Ta
]TEFI'I
rTa-T l
somehigh-decibelamp-induceddis- ffi ffi
* tortion. The use of this unforgiving ffi ffi T-TTF] -TFTF]
tone only further illustrates Thom- . l =s o 2r t147,1| 43t21 II
* asson'sblindingguitar technique,as EmC G D A5 N.C.
he effortlessly movesfrom pristine, Gtr. I (slightly dirry, whevdb)
* Iet ring thrcuAhorl
Jimmy Bryant like countrylicks to
* torrid, Jimi Hendrix-inspiredexplo-
* sionsofsound,all the while display-
ing fl awlessarticulation.
i FIcURE ra illustratesthe slow,dra-
* matic,arpeggiatedchord sequence b) variation (0i24-0:37)
(played by Thomasson,ctr. 1) that
EmC
* begins the song.Be sure to allow
all notesto sustainthroughoutthis
*
figure, which is played "freely" (not
* in absolutely fixed rneter). Note the
useof the "c" shapefor the D major
* chordvoicing on beatsthree and
* four ofbar 2. This voicingsupplies
connective yoice ledding (each note, FIGURE 2 set-upto tempochange(0:37{:45)
* or "voice," of one chord movesto the ^ E m
ct. t C
Efr G
* closestnote ofthe following chord)
betweenthe c and D major chords
* usedhere,
* At 0:24,cuitar 2 (Billy Jones)
enters, playing the samebasic ar-
* peggiatedchord pattern asGuitar I
Gtrs.2 and3
* while incorporatingl6th notesinto
the iff(see FIGURE rb);compare
* this pattem with FTGURE ra to see
* the discrepancies betweenthe two
parts.Again,allow all notesto sus-
* tain throughout.
FIGURE3 primary rhlthm figure (0:4i'0:s0)
* FIGURE 2 depictsthe setup to
the tempo changethat occurs at Fast , = 200
* 0:45.At this point (0:37),Guitar EmCGD
Gtrs. I 3 (e. forone erJ.)
* l repeatsthe initial arpeggiated
figure while Guitars 2 and 3 strum
* the chords,also shown in FtcuRE
* r. This phraseis followed imme-
diately by FlcuRE3, which initiates
x the changeto the quite brisk tem- 3
*Thon^son s li.k (intto onlr)
* po of200 beatsper minute (bpm). FIGURE4verserhythm figure 11:(X-1:30)
(This four-bar rhythm figure is Itulf Time r=100
* repdsed later in the songbehind Emc Em
* all the outro guitar solos-) Gtrs. I, 2 od 3 (d. for onestr.)
In this example,the three-guitar
* rhlthm part is arrangedfor one
* guitar.Listen closelyto the record-
ing to hear the subtledifferences
* betweeneachg]litar part. one obvi-
* ous differenceis the little triplet
hammer-onlick Thomassonusesto
* end the phrase,shown here asthe
* down-stemmednotesduring beat
four ofbar 4. This lick is notplayed
* when the rhythm figure is recalled
later in the song. | ..1 t-.1-..1
*
Prior to the first verse,at
* O:53 O:sqThomassonplayssome
* improvised solo lines that give an in- 5 a) chorusrhl'thm ngur€, Gtrs. 2 and 3 (arr. for one gtr.) (1:s7'2t6)
FIGIJRE
dicationofthings to come.His licls
* acrossthesesevenbarsarebased
primarily on the E minor pentatonic
x
scale(E G A B D), with the bief in-
* clusionofthe ninth, F*. tught be{ore
he switches back to the rhythm part,
*
he tossesin a bit of chromaticismby
* quickly hammeringonto fiets 5, 6,
*
eolrrrrrerrls
1'B@
 I

*
*
and 7 in succession, altematingfiom
the A string to the lowE. b) chorusrhythm figur€ (Gtr, 1, Thomasson) (l:57-2:02) *
When the versebegins(1:04),the GCG c GiBN,C, *
temposwitchesto half time (100
bpm). ttcuRE4 illustratesthe verce *
rhlthm par! with all threeguitars
*
arranged for one guitar. Notice how
effectively this part combines chord *
accentswith single-notelicks,pro-
viding a solid and equallypropulsive FIGURE 6 Thornasson'sfirst solo (2:16-3:23) *
rhlthm figure. This type of rhythm Em G c D *
ooo
paft is not uncommoninbluegrass ?rr?ffi
r'taTTl *
music,which provideda largein- . T-ITT'
ffi ffi
fluenceon the playingofall of the I TI TTI *
Outlaws' guitarists. As you play this 2 3 2 t 3 J 2 | r72
figure,be awareof the singlebar of G *
2/4, which occursafterthe frrst two *
barsof 4/4 are playedfour times.
Followinga brieflead breakby *
Billy Jones,the songproceedsto the *
secondverse,for which the rhlthm
part shown in FIGURE *
4 is repeated.
This time, after the sametwo-bar *
figure is played foul times, the me-
ter remainsin 4/4, and aC chord is *
strummed repeatedly.After a C-G *
double-stopis slid up to D-A, the
song'schorussectionbegins. *
EmG
FIGURE 5ashowsthe chorus Gtrs. 2 and 3 repeat Rhy. Fig. t for rcnainder ofsolo *
rhlthm part (r:57-2:16), playedby
Guitars2 and 3.Alternatingthird- x
positionG and C barre chordsare *
accentedwith a subtlel6th-note
s]'ncopation and fiet-hand muted *
strums.Thomasson(cff.I) playsa *
slightly different rhlthm figure for
this section,addinga 16th-notelick *
in the secondbar ofeachtwo-bar *
phrase(seeFICURE 5b).After this
two-chord changeis playedthree *
times,the progressionswitchesto
G F C, setting up the return to the
Em G C Dversechord progression,
which is playedbehindThomasson's
first guitar solo.
rIGURE 5 illustrates this solo,heard
between2:16and 3:23.Here,Guitars2
and 3 play a simple rhythm figure con-
sisting entirely of first-position 'tow-
boy" chords.This two-bar rhythm
figure is repeatedthroughout the solo
with slight embellishment.
Thomassonbeginsthis solo sec- #e\7 5 2.9 -+9+9\7-5- 9+9+979 +9J-Z-9-7\5-
tion with a workout on blueglass-
type licks, usingthe notes E, c,
A, B and D for improvisation.As
previouslystated,this set ofnotes
comprisesthe E minor pentatonic
scale,but it may also be thought of
as c major pentatonic (c A B D E).
G 1sthe relativemajor ofE minor.
(The root ofrelative major chord
or scaleis found one and one half
stepsabovethat ofa minor chord
or scale;likewise, the root ofa
relative minor chord or scaleis
found one and one halfsteps below
that of a major chord or scale.)
when this group ofnotes is played
over an E minor chord, it sounds
like E minor pentatonic;when it's
playedover a c chord, it sounds
like c major pentatonic.

ll'|rlt tttE[!s {@1

 !.*lt{ta

* Thomassondisplaysnothing
* lessthan a master'stouch in his
articulation of thesephrases,many
* ofwhich are accentuatedwith
* precision bending,pre-bending
and unbendingofthe G string.
* Acrossthe first four and a half
* bars,the guitarist keepsthe D note
at the B string's third fret ftet-
* ted with his ring finger the entire
* time; he doesnt lift this finger
until beat three ofbar 5, when he
* plays the open high E. Thomasson
* usesthe first eight bars ofthis solo
to play in this bluegrassvein and
* doesn't deviatefrom the E minor
* pentatonic/G major pentatonic
scaleuntil the eighth bat when he
* throws in a C note,which relates
rt to the underlying C chord in the
progression.
* Followingthe doublebarline
(beginningat bar 9 of acuRE6), Tho-
*
massonlaunchesinto moreofa rock
x style,playinghard-edged, bluesier
* linesbasedon the same6ve-note
scale.Acrossthe 6rst eightbarsof
* this section,he playsfour vadations
t of what is essentiallythe sametwo
bar lick, with melodicdeviations
* addedalongthe way.ln bar 16ofFtc-
* URE 5, startingon the upbeatofbeat
two, he repeatsa fast,beautifully
* articulateddouble-stop(two-note)
*
tulur lrerrlr
1,3@
bendinglick, usinghis ring fingerto Em
barre and bend the D and G strings at *
the seventhfret. *
you will seethat
:, - ^ | ^ { ^.- I T+
Occasionally,
Thomassontossesin the C note, *
especiallywhen soloingover the *
C chord.Addingthis note to the E FlGllBE7 four bars preceding3rd verse (4:26-4:36)
minor pentatonicscalecreatesan *
E minor hexdtonrc(six-tone)scale,
spelledE G A B C D. This unusual
scaleis very similar to the seven- t
tone E Aeolian mode,spelledE F*
*
G A B C D. Another wayto analyze
this E minor hexatonicscaleis to *
think of it in relation to the rela-
tive major scale,c major,which is
*
spelledGAB C D E F*.withcas I
the root, it becomesG major hexa-
tonic (G A B C D E). (DickeyBetts
;
usesthis scale,in a variety ofkeys, x
to createsweet-soundingsolos
and harmonizedmelodiesin such *
Allman BrothersBand classicsas *
".Iessica,""Blue sky,""Melissa"and
"Ramblin'Man.")
In bars 19-23ofFtcuRE5, Thom-
assonplayscool licks with double-
stopsand lots ofhammer-ons,pull- *
offs and slides.Listen closelyto the *
recordingto hearhow thesetricky
licks shouldbe articulated.In the *
last four barsofthis section,the gui *
tarist playsa beautifullymelodiclick
that incorporatesa handful of two-
and three-notechords.Thomasson FIGUBEI Thomasson's
2nd solo (5.25-600)
usesthis lick as a supporting rhlthm Fast .l= 200
part behind Billy Jones'subsequent EmCGDA5
guitar solo(3:23-4:22).Jones,while Gt^. 2 and 3 play Fig. 3 /prina4 rhythnfgte)
alsobasingmuch ofhis soloingon
E minor pentatonic,playsthe fiist
six barsofhis solousingnotesftom *
the E Dorian mode(E Ff c A B C$
D). Noticethatthis scaleis almost *
identicalto EAeolian (E F# c A B C
D), with the exceptionof the sixth
scaledegree,
Em c
In the four bars preceding the
song'sthird verse (4:26-4:36),
illustrated in FIGURE 7, Thomasson
and Jones provide a briefburst
of guitar harmony,played across
the last two beats ofbar 2. These *
notes are fourths apart, with *
Jones fretting an E and Thomas-
son fretting an A note a fourth
above.The two guitarists create
an interesting harmon, as Jones
bends the E note up a minor third
(one and a half steps)to c while
Thomassonbends the A note up
one whole step to B. The resultant
pitches of the two bent notes,G
and B, are a major third apart; so,
while the harmony begins and
ends in fourths, the inteNal be' *
tween the two pitches contracts
briefly from a perfect fourth (E-A) EmC G DA5 *
to a major third (c-B), then ex-
pands back to a perfect fourth as
both bendsare released. *
Thomassonfollows this harmo-
*
nized bend with a fast,ascending
E minor pentatonicrun playedin x
*
{@a
i

*
't
l6th-note triplets. The sectionends
rt with the syncopatedfigure shown
* in bar 4 offlcuRE7.At this point of
the song(4:36),the guitarsreturn
* to the parts illustrated in F|GURES4
* and s for the third verseand chorus.
At the end of the last chorus,the
* tempokicksback into doubletime
(200 bpm), and the rh,'thm guitar
*
part shown in H6URE3 is reprised.
* At 5:25,Thomassonlaunchesinto
* his secondguitar solo,and it's a
longone. At one minute and 27 sec-
* onds in length,it doesn'tend until
* 6:52.FlcUREg illustratesthe first 32
bars ofthis guitar solo extravagalza
* (ftom 5:25-6:00).Theselicks are
basedprimarily on E minor penta-
*
tonic, with briefinclusions of the
* ninth (r{) and the minor (or "flat")
sixth (c). Thomassonbeginswith
* a bold one-and-a-half-step bend,
* from E to G, in the firstbar; he
repeatsthis wide bend later in the
* solo,asdoesJonesin his second
* solo, I Jones'secondsolo (717-8:00)
FIGURE
During this outro guitar solo, EmC
* Thomassonrecalls many ofthe
* catchy,improvisedmelodies
ftom his first solo.Comparethe
* two soloscloselyto seehow he
* elaborateson thesesignaturelicks.
when recreatingthesesolo lines,
* strive for the sarneperfection in
* articulation Thomassonachieves,
It will take a devotedeffort to
* make theselicks "speak" as clearly
* and powerfully as he does.
In the last part ofThomasson's
* solo section,he and the band add
* somearrangedensemblefigures
to keep things interesting.At 6:52,
* Thomassonplays a syncopated,
* octave-drivenmelodic phrasethat
is mimicked rhythmically by the ?oj
* rhythm guitars.At 7:00,he plays
* a dramaticallyrepeatingtriplet
figure that builds in a crescendo,
* from very quiet to very loud. This
* dynamic swell is also mimicked by
the rest of the band.
* The sectionculminateswith a
* forceful ascendingfigure played
by all three guitars.This eight-bar
* figure servesas the link between
* the guitar solos,asThornassonef-
fectively passesthe solo torch to Em
* Jones,who startshis solo at 7:lZ
* Jonessolosforjust aboutthe ex-
act length of time asThomasson, 9'=7 ?-9_ffi
i one minute and 26 seconds,from
* 7:U-8:43.FlcUREg depictsthe first
40 bars ofhis solo (until 8:00).
* Jonesbeginswith a seriesofre-
* versebends,in which the E note is
pre-bentone whole-stepup, to tr*,
* piched,and then releasedback to E.
* consistent with much ofthe solo-
ingheard in this tune,Jonesturns
* this lick into a repeatingmotifand
* builds the frrst eight bars ofhis solo
around it. LiLe his first solo,Jones'
* lines here are basedprimarily on E
*
eulur rrtrrrs
1.fl@
minor pentatonic,with the inclu-
sion of the ninth, tr*.
At bar 25 ofFrcURE 9 (at 7:43),
Jonesinitiatesa fastpull- off lick l7:43)
playedon the B string.This lick is ll.-4. I
harmonizeda third abovebyHenry ,-"I tm L; G DA5
Paul(ctr. 3),who playsa similar lick Em c GDAs *
on the high E string. Notice how, as
EmC *
athh.", G D A5
the lick is repeated,Jonesapplies *
and removesa right-handpalm
mute (P.M.),effectivelychangingthe *
characterofthe lick.
*
At 8:43,Thomassonjoins Jones
for some spirited dual-guitar so- *
loing, which was definitely the
southern rock order ofthe day
*
back in 1975.The two guitarists *
begin by doubling the fast E minor
pentatoniclick depicted in FIcURE *
ro. This lick is harder to execute *
cleanly than one might imagine;
approachit slowly at first and do
*
your best to make eachnote as
clear as possible.In the last bar FIGIRE10 tandem lick (s:a3-8:b1)
ofthis example,you'll notice that EmC E--__l
Jonesaddsa briefhigh harmony
line to Thomasson'spart,
At 9:15,the boyslock into ablaz-
ing,repeatingtriplet lick playedin
harmony,with eachtriplet begin-
ning a fourth apartand endinga LJr .r LJr 3
third apart.This licL, shownin
flcUREfl.,is playedeighttim€s and 11 a) trarmonizedtripl€t licks (915-9:24)
FIGURE
(plq, 8 lihel
is followedby the licks illustratedin
FIGUREflb (9:25-9:33).At this point,
Jonesmoveshis lick up to ahigh B
(which is pulled offthe G), followed
by E, while Thomassoncontinues
the samelick from FlcUREfla. After
playingthis newharmonylick six
times,Thomassonand Jonesplay +---_\
a different harmonizedlick in the
samesyncopatedrhlthm, setting up
the final cadenza(9:34 9:43).
This cadenza,depictedin FlcuRE|r,
featuresThomassontearingthrough J
second-positionlicks basedmostly on
E minor pentatonic(he beginswith 911
a bit ofE Aeolian).Notice in particu-
lar the beautiful"pinch,"or "pick,"
harmonics(PH) Thomassonsounds
ashe repeatedlybendsthe A note (c *
st ng secondfret) up a whole stepto *
B andback.His final touch is to toss FIGURE 12 enaing1s::l-srla1
in the G note,articulated asan F#, *
pre-bent up one half-step,which he *
quickly unbendsand then pulls offto
an openlow E. while Thomassonrips
through this passage, Jonesaddsa
unison high E bend,which he repeat-
edly picks and shalres.
As this masterpiecedemon-
strates,the Outlawsprovidedsome
ofsouthern rock'smostvital and ex- *
citing guitar wizadry Sadly,Jones *
and bassisttrrankO'Keefepassed
awayin 1995,and Thomassondied *
in September2002 Checkout the
*
albumBestoffhe outldwsrGreen
Grdss& Jtigh lides to hear more *
guitar masteryfrom aband that was
definitelyone ofthe prime practitio-
*
ners ofsouthern rock, lk *
*

I
* *
* *
* *
* x
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
)t *
* i
* *
* *
* *
* *
I *
* *
* (dockwirefrom left) trazetta's *
* Flittin' with Ditattet.ove\Hat het't
debut:thebandin its orime *

wilL*:?J
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *"
g,/ GEI{IIS ISSUEJvo..l06 7* I
* :
*
i The iconic-cnd ol l'l0l.t} HATCHET'S
albumsleeves. *
* *
HE TERM"SOUTHERN ROCK,conjuresup a Molly Hatchet's first two albums-their debut andFlirtin,withDisaster (tg7g) were
* wealth of all-too-obviousvisuals:cowboys,the verysuccessful. The forrnersoldamillion copies;the latterwasaTop-20smashin *
* Alamo,smokin'six-gunshoot-outs,the Confeder- America.Amazingly,frazetta-or atleasthiswife-clairned credit for the band,ssuccess.
ate flag,and a dust-blowndesertpopulatedby
*
As Molly Hatchet guitarist DaveHlubek recalled, "It was good working with Frank,
x cacti and tumbleweeds. but by the time we cameto the cover of [thegroup'sthird dlbum] Beatin' the Odds,the *
* But here'sone imageyou probablydidn'tex- pricehad tlebled.Frank'sbusinessmanagerwasalsohis wife; I askedher why somuch
*
pectwould seepthroughthe charcoalfilter: that ofa andshesaid:'My husbandtpaintingsmadeyourband!'
* mad,rampaging,ax-wieldingbarbarian,lessBillythe "well, we'veneverhada hit albumcoverplayedacrossthe radiowavessowe *
* Kid, more Conanthe Barbarian. stoppeddoingbusinesswith her"
Ior Molly Hatchet'sfirst, self-titledreleasein 1978, Havingseveredrelationswith Frazetta,Molly Hatchetcontactedperuvianartist
*
* the Jacksonville,Florida,boogiebandusedfamousfan- BorisVallejoto takeover the reinsfor fourth album?dfteNo Pnsoners and few fans *
* tasyartist Frank Frazettaasits album-coverillustrator noticedthe join.
It provedto be an unusualbut astutemove Hatchet's1983album,NoGutsNo clory, featureda straightforwardbandphoto,but
*
* Irazetta wasexpertat depictingbroadsword-waving it wasa shortlived departurefrom the barbarousnorm.'Yeah,Fmnk I razettadid the *
* beast-menand scantilycladsorceresses, and his images 6rst two,"saidguitaristBobbyIngram."BorisVallejodid a coupleofthem, then Ezra
somehowprovidedthe perfectlit for Molly Hatchet's Tirckerdid a couple.But PaulRaymondcregory out ofStudio 54 in London,hasbeen
*
* music.After all, MollyHatchet are namedafter a lTth our artist for the lastl0 yearsand is absolutelyfantastic." *
* centuryprostitutedubbed"HatchetMolly" who would In addition to Molly Hatche! cregory hasworhed for Saxon,Dio, Uriah Heep and
decapitateher customers.(Apparently,itwas a bad idea Blind Guardian."Paulgetsinvolved in the music,he getsinvolved with the conceptofthe *
* to askfor head) album,"addsIngram. "The music,the songs,the feeling,the cover are all tied together." i-lk *
* *
* *
*
1993,cnd a yerf later they plal cd theil hlst fomalshow Thetlio performcd about 80 gisi
irbctweenAllman Brothers tou|s before r-elcasingitsself-titled t995 debut on Relativity
Rcconls.ln 1992 Halnes rnd Wood_vlelt the Allmans to concentrateon the luule. Unfortu
nately thc lincup u-ould not last longrWoody died unexpcctcdly in Au$Ft 2OOO.
In the,\,earsbet$eell their clL'butand Dos.,,cov't Mule's sound deepencd,c'xpaldnrgin
alnost e\€l'v direction-becomingboth blucsicr ard heavier;more expansiveand tighter:
Doservas a bold and adrenturous powerhouse of a g'uitarlccord foom the proto,netal
minor ke,vriffof"Canc Face" and the Miles Davistdbute "Bifth ofthc Mule" to the psyche-
dclic freakout coda ta!€iedonto thc Bcatles"'she said, She Said" andtheacoustic, Zeppclin-
inspifcd "Raven Black Night."
" fhere's a lot ofrange in their nrusicl' Het{ield observed."But it ahvaysseemsappropri
nte,and it ahvavssouDdsfuckin'cool."
*********
GUFARwoRTD Jnnes, hou, did vou lilst hcar thc Mule?
JA$,E5 HElilELo Wc hrLl an accountantnaned Kenn! Silvaonthe road \rith us,n'ho had
been rvo|kingivith thcellmm Bfothel.s.I{e grve me a tepe aid saicl,"t think"vou'll like this.
It's seriousFluitarmusic *.ith ahearl'southern lock vibe." T threv, it in the maclinc, and I
just fcll in l(^.c {.ith it. Kilk got u,ind ofit arou[d thc slrnretirne and rlso fell in lo!,e.Itjust rrear, talk aboutguit invour fllce.This is it, nlan.
hit us right r\\.a}:
cw \ rh:rt attrected -!ou so sn ongl_l'1
HETFTEID I'nr Dot genemlly abig solo g'u1., bccauseI m not into showingoffthat \r'a\r But
this stufffit exxcdyu,ith the music, and it.just sourdcd like stuff I d want to hear and play.lf
I \\'as playirglcnd, thnt's hou,I'd like to play-but I can't. That thought struck me right away
so in arvan I feellike $arlen's plal.ing is the expressionofmysolo\.oice.
Ard then voLfve got a kjck rssbass pla]'cr flalring chords-which is incredibly cool but rs
notallowcd inoulband. larghsl \Ve're like,'lason, kccponc linger right here and plal'."
cw So you and Kirk cdoy Gov't Mule together,butconspirc to rnile sllre.Iasonne\€r
Lerr. rhen,?
H r r H t t t l / d u 8 fci r F Y l c r l \ l
A.tI wooDY That's xgood idea,James.I can give a g'uya lot ofbad habits ;f you're not
careful.Itendto think l\n Lesliewest with a bass.
cw \ iarren, \ahat did you guys rhink urhenyou heard that the guys in N,Ietallic.L . . HettlsRight. BecauseI'm the only chord, itt easyio
HrrFrErD LIduStulHe thought, Metelli-who?
w4RRtiin/,r rs l kno\r. whcrc M€tallica is comingfrom,
and I don t rhinl lx nr lilir; rr. t r".rr:urg. r. ir nry.e"m
to some people.First ofall, our stuffis a little hcavier than
mostpeople probablythink.I don'tciassil,f it ashald rock,
but everlthing wc do d€liniteiy h:Lsa hard edge, and I think
there are a lot ofMetallica fans who urculd be clov't Mule
fans iftheychecked us out. though they don't know rt.
Wc'rc definit€ly notjust forAllman Brothers fans.
cw Janes, do vou tlirk rrost N{etallicafanswould like
lhe Mule?
fiEraElDI think so.Without wevingthe guitar iiag too
high, there ae alot ofguitar fans who like Metallicabe
cruse there's a iot ofcrunchinggoingon and a lot ofgritars
in ]'our face.And I think the peoplcwho are ath-actedto
N,Ietallic:rfor that reasor will deiinitely dig Ciov't Mule I
cw Janes, yLru'vesaid ir thc past that I'ou really dig
Lynyrd Skynyrd, but never really got into thcAllnans.
Hllfr[LoYeah, thri s true. Actuall,v,I \aent back alld lis-
tenedto a lot of the Allmans catalogtoget ready forthis,
u n dl t h u u d l l l( 1 , r r r . r . i i r u J . l c n { i f l l r i \ ! e r } j r n ' n ' n g
on the surface,but there are many thin$j wlich car'i rcally
let go becauseI'ou've got two guitarists and t\r'o drunlnlers
and a keybGrdist.lt will sort ofgo offon ajam for awh'le,
but it doesn'tjust go crazy like sorneofthe stuffinthe Mule,
which I lo\€. Plus, ofcourse, lhe l,Iule dellnitely has a
rockie| edge; everl'one's coverirg a Ior nrore ground ratl, er
thanjustplal il1gtheir pdrts. and it is a ]ot nlore loose.Being
a three-piece,it has to be.
....' . . ..':;t
',
i/
, a"/,/r
 i

just tale off I think the lesspeopleyou havein aband,the

*
easierit is to tak€ offfor unchartedterritory Becauseifyou *
havethree chordal insbxments,the othershavero ertner *
lay out or listen really,really closelyto what oneguy'sdoing.
wooDYObviously,it's a lot more dangerousto tum seven *
guls loosethan it is thrce.With the Allman Brothers,you
*
could get into trouble real fastifyou go outsideof the pa-
rameters,becauseofthe two drummersand sevenguys x
bubbling under everything But with three guys,who's to *
sayit's a mistale? Ifyou can react,go for it. There aresome
really goodmomentson our recordswhich were, in facg *
mlsEKes,
*
NEIFETD Just play 'em tlvice, andthey won't be mistales.
That's cool.there is definitely somecruzy stuffgoing on in *
the new album.For instance,on "Thorazine Shuf8e,"your
drummer just goesfucking nuts at the end.Who's holding
*
the beat? *
wo@Ywe are.
HltrrEtDWow.That must havebeenpretty damnhard to
*
playalongwith. *
trAYtltSYeah.Woody and I arelayingthe beatand Matt's
soloilg acrossit. I think ifs very cool for the drummer to be *
setfiee fiom havingto worry aboutholding down the beat I
everyoncein a while, though it's a little const cting to us.
I
wooDYWhen we recorded"Thorazine Shufne,"we were
all within five feetof eachother,wiih our ampsoff in some *
other roorn.Thatt som€thingwe'vealwaysdone-you re-
ally haveto ifyou want it to be looseand flow.Your last few *
albumssoundlike you guysareheadingin that direction,so i

!!
I waswondering ifyou've ever recordedthat way? For instance,on "Blind Man" we pannedthe bassoffto the
HFrrrELt We'retryingto do that soft oftling, but five feet dgh! with the difty vocalup the middie and the guitars *
is a little closefor us.[au8fir] we don't want to be within offto the left; the dnrms aft stereo.In pre production,we *
chokingdisrance.We do the drum tracks first andwe're all talkedaboutwantingtofrndonesongwherewe couldpan
there for that, which is new for us.But when it comestime all the guitar to one sideand all the bassto the other side *
to do overdubs.it's like. "Getthe fuck out ofhere. I'm let- likerhel usedrodo.lr'"r redlt old-school mi-:,. *
ting loosel' It works better that way becausqfor instance,if w@DYlfyou listento someCreamor Beatlesrecords,
I'm there when Kirk is doinghis rhlthm stufi he'salready
I pickedupc you havethe bassand vocalson one side,and the guitars *
nervousdoing stuff he hasn'tdonebefore,sothe lastthing lolol thelust and drums on the other *
he needsis me glaring over his shouldexIt's really better if HErF,Ero That's sort ofwhat we tried to do on our last
I'm not there.Then, when I hearit, it's like, 'crrrr..I guessI
righl-hand coupleof records-just havethe guitarscompletelysplit. I
canlive with that." But it's cool,it's purg it's him. Youguys, lechnique lrom Kirk's in the right speakerand I'm in the left. Just makeit *
on the other hand,do almosteverl'thinglive-and point out real simple if anyonewants to know who's pla)rng what.
whateverisn t in dre liner notes,which is pretty awesome.
punk,which HAytEsThat's a really cool thing to do in a two-guitar *
HAYI' Yeah,we like to point out where the overdubs modemesorl format.We did that in the Allman Brothers a bit. I wish we *
are.SinceI'm the only glitarist, the rhlthm guitar dropsout
during solos.We usuallydon't changethat, but when you ol qn oulsider, had doneit morebecausethe old Allman Brotherswere al
waysDickeyon one sideand Duaneon the other when you *
do heara secondguitar,we overdubbed*re r$tlrm pa6 cndwhichwus havetwo guitar playeNplayingall the time it's very cool,but *
because allthe solosarelive. when you haveoneguitar comingin and out, aswe do now,
HErrE!.D
.wow!
That's awesome.Soyou don't overdubthe probubfu
lh€ you haveto pick your spot. *
solos which is backwardfrom the way most peopleap- GwListeningto ,ose, it really is clear that there'sonly *
pmachiL Your overdubsarcjust for filling in, so it's really
not chealingliom the liveapproach.
bestlhing oneguitar.James,I believeyou tend to like dual-guitar
bands.Is it new for you to be so into a one-guitarsetup? *
ltA\4t[' Right.On the new album,the only solowe over-
dubbedwas"Larger Than Life," becausethat's a new song
thulever HETFEI-D Not totally; I've alwaysliked Rush,for instance.
But it is true that in the early days,metal generallymeant
*
and we d neverplayedit live. SoI put the rh''thm down
andwent backto the solo But our main goal is to get the
huppened two guitars.In bandslike the Scorpions,UFo and Judas
Pries! you had the rhlthm guy and then the guy who did
*
*
jamming feel on tape,which is why I play the soioslive and
overdubthe rh''thm asnecessa{'.It's a very old-schoolway
to me. the solos.Thosewere their duties and it was clear cut,
sothat'show we alwaysdid it, too. But astime went on, *
,JAMESHETFIEID
of doingthings,and somethingwe haveto do in order to I startedthinking why doesit haveto be sostrict? I love *
get the three-piecevibe we want. If I didn't play a sololive, playingmelodies,soI startedsaying,"Okay,Kirk, you play
Allen and Matt would be gu€ssingwhat to play becausewe somerhlthm and I'll just fuck aroundhere."And it's beena *
really do play offeach other lotoffun. *
cw Do you carry that live approachall the way to effects? tlaY ESMore slow,melodicguitar parts arepoppingup in
MYiIE Yeah.I'm steppingon the pedalsasI solo The your stuff Is that you? *
only time I rememberrunning a lrecordedlsignalback HsrFrrtD Yeah.I love playingthe melodicstuff I love add- *
through an effectwasthe wah wah oD"Blind Man in the ing texturesand colors,and we'vemixed it all up now,with
Dark."I didn'tplayit livebecause I'm just not agoodwah Kirk doing more rh1'thmsand me doingmore Jeads. *
wah player I've neverbeenreally into it. I heardit for that cw Warren,the thing that alwayships me out at your *
' o n g . b u ( i f l b - i e dr o p l a l i r l i v e ,i t p r o b a b l l u o u l d h a v e showsis seeinghippie kids,whoseknowledgeof music
taken us 20 tal€s to get it right-and we fiever do 20 startswith the crateful Deadand endswith Phish,danc- *
GwThoughyoudid seemto utilizethe studio ing awayto a Black Sabbathgoove. It amazesme that they
time.
*
respondto music much heavierthan what they're usedto.
HAyxEsYeah, we really wanted to tale HAyNEi I thinl that kids todayare much more open *
*
eurrlr lre rlos @1.

*
i
s
*
*
m indecl.lt's ok.\' to mir g€nres,whereas in the old tlay's1ou coulcln'rclothat.l did, and
wood!' did-musici.rN did bur the general public tendcd to likcone style ofnusic. tr wirs
.,! likc, "I'm a rocker,Tdon't lister to country musici'or "I'm.r blues gt,v lllrd rocl{ sucks,"of
"lln intojazz and Eddie Van Halen sucks-"
woooY lt \rvaslikc a classwar
r{lri,tr:: Exactl}. You wcr'c cith€r in or out, and it was ll.rrd to go halflva} Like,I l;ked
nctal and plnrk, so I wasn't acccptcdby eithergoup.
rilir'rrti But it's norlike thatrnymore. Kidspick and chooservhat they like, dnd paft of
whrt makescov't Mule work is wc frn the wholeganut fftnn really hervl to r.eallysolt.ln
a trio,I'ou hllve to havethe dynamics.Ther c are lerlly solt urd delicate tromcnts rntl reallv
loud and obtlusive monrents,and every.thingir bctween. Becausedvranics is our fourrh
!,''fr:r:; Ooor)fi.Dccp. Lldryfisl
wooDY He's got lots oflittlc sal'irgs like that $,ritten dou,:r ol1 scraps ofpnper.in his
irr;'iii:t Yeah,crib notcs. Lldu8nslThe good thfig about havnrga bigger band is allthe
tliffcrenr soundsand texturcs and laycN it rllo$,syou to do. h atdo,yoLLdon'rhrve rhatop
tior. I'hat's why I use more el1lcts thar I would in a largerb.rnd,rrd it's alsorvh1,u,e reallv
( \ J g g e r r t ( t h , . . r )I i r r i ' \ .
r: ir:i[:r Yeah.h1a lot ofyoul songs,,vou'llgolrom.rlr iltcnscly loutt rnd hervv chorus or
bridgc to arery mellow vcrse,and it's like, "waiti minute, hLrwdid thc!'gerherc? I didn't
noticc how thc_v rived herel" ltsecms so natural, and that's the thilgthrt irnprcsscsme
so rnuch irbout volrr song strudures.It alwirys seenNfcallyhrrrl fof us to pulldlat off;thc
switches tend toseen tooobtlusivc and obvious.
!ix!:|lii Thanks. The chenistrv betwccn the rhree ofus hlls been gr cat liom th€ ger-€io,
*4rich is rcalll'crrrcial to pullingrhatoflbut it's alsosomethinli lveived iscussedatdcpth:
\mys to vary things and rcact to each othe| and adapf to nlakc a tull, rich sound withjust
thcthrccofus- IfWoody end Mattplaycd the u'ay they do in I largcr.band,wc u,oulclsound
empty'l hc bcauty is thcyjust beat and bang to clcath,but it'-sallperfectly tastctul :rnd fit-
ting.
wooDY I heve a sncaking suspici(m,however,lhat Nlatt and I would ph,vex.lctly likethb
in a largcr band.
:-::::r.-rrilaugfisl Vc"h, man, but nc,wit'-\ oka): No\r')ou're lerloose!You're h-ecofthc
rh].thm section cage.Thatnnrstbe xwesome.
woottY Yerh, irs a real tre.rt,cspcciallyconing from where I was.I played in thc AlLr.r,,
lrothers for eight i,cam and lo!'ed it.Itut thcr thc firsttime I pl.ryedwith Matt,I thought,
"This is it. This is thc gry I'm supposedto play withl'tt's amre opportunity rllthe u,ay
arourd:to be able topl,ry in r thrcc picce, r0 be able to plal'bus1.,ardto bc able to pLa!'wirh
peopiewho really knou,wha! thc).'re doingand digu'hat )'ou're doirg: Alrd it's alsobeen
vern excitirgto scc so much pro$ess.lfyou listen to the 6rst rccord rnd r.,sc bick to bac^,
" I 4 6 i G u r r a BL E G E x D S
I think tho groi\ah is o€mendous.
'rirr:!,ii "G ro Face" hrs a killer, extr'a lrcavl',Drino| dff.
Its heaviressrcallystood ourto me.Ir's even somethiDgthat
we would do. Actr-ra1l1'. it rcninds Inc of earl,vUFo.
nN,{ii Hnmrm- The,vwere egoodbrnd, Lrutl dul'tthink
t'vebecrr ilflucnccdby them atall.I nas, howevcl, a big
Ileep Purple rnd Ritchic Blackmorc fan, rnd r lor ol nv
attrrction lo the hrrmonic rnino| carlics ovcr iiom those
days.I don't rcmcmber exactly whefe thdr riffcamc tunn,
but it's dcfinitely prctty dark. I lor€ minof ke,-s,rnd it's.r lot
easierto be heavierin thelnihan in n majol
,; r! 1:.I Oh, )'es.\'Veknow all about fiat. Mnjof is too
happy for us.
i1;r{rjatAlthough I ha\€ rxn'ced th:rt you g!,vs har.estart-
ed trying sone songs*'ith maju thirLls,u,hich is cool. tt's
goorl togosomewhere clifferentoncc in a whilc.
:.i t,.rriirYcah.but ior us, thrt meaDsthe l]'rics havc k) bc
extr,r heevytobalancc itout. Ud.rg/rslWarren, voul solos
always seemso well fbrned. Are thcy \r!rittcn out?
r'tr'?r.it, No- All rhe solos:rreprettv nuch improvised. I
usrrellyurrulclplay it completely diflirrertly each tirrc, thcn
we'd decide which olc rve likecl-Once we pick one rnd re
cord it,I gener:rllyLerrn itltnd tn,tobas€ mypefformences
ar-oundit, or eisethe somgwilljust scclr *rong to people.
: rrii,.r i: Latcly, Kirli h:Lsbeen tryingto come up with
solos more like thirt. He'll noocllcalongwhile we recold
basic tracks,tn ingour dillercllt iclcas,and by thc time he's
re.rdyto rccofd, hc has r pretty good idca ofwhat will work.
Jasondoes r sinil tlinlj, tn'ing out dilTeren! besscs.so
heends up with rllthese arvcsomcsounds that alivrys Jlt
right into the song.It's sort ofa n$r, thingfor us, becnusein
thc pnstitwas alwa-\'sjustLa|s rnd T slu!+tingit outdurirg
basic h acksr"That sucks! Do it ovcr" Brck and forth, back
ard forth.I \rns the onl), onethcrc $,ith Lars, snLckin hell
firrevcr.Now L'vcrt'onegoeswith me, so jt's lcss ofa hcll.lt
liiDd oiintinlidates LaIs irto doing his homework more and
playingalittle bener Thatpftrccss has made the studio:r l(n
cwHow lnarytakos doyi)Lrglys do ro getthese livc
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fiAY rg It deperds.Sometimeswe do quite a few,but we
usuallyuseearly ones,the 6rst two or three takes- *
HEITIELI,II/ow!
*
WOODY But we will not piay anlthing 15times m a row-
we'll just moveon and comeback.Our producer,Michael *
Barbierolsonndgdrden,Blues?}dvelerl,is pretty goodat not *
letting us bangour headsagainstthe wall.
IAYNES He s€esthe magicdripping out after three or four *
tales and comesup with someexcusefor us to break. I
HEITTEIDWarren, do you feel the needto perfectyour
partsor do you just seewhat comesaboutthroughjam- *
ming?
i
HAYEslt's more aboutimprov I don't malcemyselfsit
down with a tape recorderar'rdwrite riffs asmuch asI *
should.Instead,I wait for cool momentsto happenwhen
we'rc jarrrmingor to get \rically inspiredand suddenly
*
think, I needa riff for this song.Partof it is lazinessand part *
is just my love for impmv I'm more intercstedin where the
jammingwillleadusthanin seeingwhatI canfigureout in *
ny living room. *
HE|IErDDo singingand playingever clashfor you?Does
one suffer becauseofdle other live?
*
tlaYr|lsYeah.I haveto play a litde lessrhythm guitar thar *
I would like. The guitar dropsout more than I d like it to,
and that alwaysbugsme when I listen to live tapes.At least *
I havethe option of droppingout I don't seehow bassplay- *
erslike JackBruce,Stingor GeddyLee manageto pull it off.
I
SEtfttLDDo you alsokeepscratchvocals?
HAYilElI end up keepingthe live vocalsfor three or four *
songson an album,and usuallyit's the morebluesysongs.
The onesthat are harder to play,I just play the guitar and woooYWorking with Michael Barbiero,you neverreally know what you're playing *
then go back and do the vocals.I'm gettingbetter at singing through.He'd constantlybegoingbackinto the isoboothsand playingaround.I had an SVT *
and playingat dre sametime, but it's tough. and a 120-wattOrangestackwidr two 4xl2s and a 200-watt Marshall head.
cW James,do you guyslisten backto your tapesto see Hr|artlDWarren,you play severalLesPauls.Do you havea favorite? *
what's working the way the Mule does? HAYiI!5Yes,a CustomShopbuilt in'89. It's not the best sounding,but it's the most com- *
HgIttELD Never,I do not listen to them ever Lafi keeps fonable and I canreally makeit work for me.I alsohavea semihollowbody that hasno
tapes.He'sgot the collection from hell, a room filled with f-holes,which I like a lot. And I havea fat-neckLesPaulwhich soundsgeat but you just *
setlists from 1981.He keepseverything,but he doesn'tlis- can't play asdexterouslyon. I pull it out for somerhlthm parts,or for songswhere I don't *
ten to it and I definitely do not. What happenedhappened, haveto play real fast.
and to get in fights over "the tempo of that songreally I alsoplayedwoody'sFirebirdon threesongs,including"Larger ThanLife" and"I Shall *
sucked"seemspointless.We'd rather keepmovingforward. Return,"andgothookedon i! soI askedGibsonto male meone.I like iq but I'm just getting *
HAYEsYou'drather fight by memory "The tempoon usedto how top healT it is.
that songsuckedbut I'm not goingto proveit." [dqfu] NEIF|ELDWarren,areyou schooled? *
Matt will sometimesplay a songfasterthan nornal or€ HAYtalS Not really.I look three or four lessonsfrom a guy back in North Caiolina.He was *
night and slower than normal the next night, but he'sdoing unschooiedhimsel( but he was my favoriteplayerin my homearea.After a few lessonshe
it on purpose,to seeif he likes it bettex said,''!Vhy dont youjust teachyounele That's what I did, and what a1lof my favoriteplay- f,
WOOOY He doesr't really carewhether or not we like it ersdid:' *
bettex HEIf,EtgI guesshe didn t maketoo much moneyasa teacher,
HETFELD [dq8t!s] That's fine, though.The problem with wooDYNope.The thing is,by the time you get the urgeto want a lesson,you probably *
us is Larsjust doesn'tknow where he is on a song and donl needthem. *
we're going,"Dude,we can't play that riff that fast!" HETBELD Yeah,you'vealreadyleamedbad habits.I learnedlfom slowing down UtrO
ItaY ts Although it seemslike on -LoddandReloddyou albumsand figuring the solosout. Justby listeningto musicand figudng out what notes *
guyspulled the temposback. shouldbeplayed.Man,I evenlearnedby lookingat livepostersandseeingwheretheir *
HEIflETD Yeah,we did. Lars likes to hit the snareway back. fingerswere ard thinking, Weli, that'ssomething.I nevertook any lessonsat al!. I picked
cWWaren, you are usingthat simulatedLesliesound up a lot ofthe fastright handteclnique ftom punk, which mademe soft ofal outsider,and *
more and more what is that? which wasprobablythe bestthing that ever happenedto me.I developedmy own bag,but it *
!IAYw!5It's a Korg G4 It helpsbreakup the monotony was anatu al thing for me.It wasn't like, "I'm goingto find the next hot thing."
ofoneLesPaulguitarplayingall nighLI evenusedit in the HAyt{[sIt's goodto listen to lots of different stuff,just whatever).ou like. The first two re- *
studio rather than a real Lesliebecauseit doesn'talter the cordsI everboughtwere Alice Cooper'sl(iller and Jethro 'full'sAg dlury,.That's two weird *
soundofyour guitar; itt like your tone with a Lesliesound. recordsto beginwith, but I think they hold up well.
Whereasif you play through a renl Leslie,you haveto start HsrErDDefinitely.,{qudlungis onethat my brother turned me on to It wasn't that hard *
over andbuild your soundfrom its sound.I nrn it stereoin rocking but Martin Barrehad a really goodsound.He knew what he wa,sdoing. I
the studio and monolive. I'm alsousing an octavedivider HAYt{ttThere wassomuch goodand different musicbackthen-you d just keepmoving
and a tremolo unig aswell asa few other things.While we thrcugh it and discoveringmore new stufl I went through my Black Sabbathphasebefore i
lovethe three-pieceformat, we haveto havewaysto alter I evenstartedplayingguitar.OnceI got into playing it was Cream,nd Hendrix. Then it *
the sound.SoWoody useda Rickenbackerand a Thunder- wasJohnnywinter and the Allman Brothers,then santanaand Billy cibbons and David
bird on the album,and I'm alwayslookirlg for new effects. Gilmour and SteveHowe ofYes.It was all different.but I loved it all. *
HmrElDDo voustill useSoldanoheads? rryooDY The conlnon thread wasall thoseguyscould really play.That wasa unique pe- *
H,AYESYes. tror the Leslie I use two Soldano heads run for popularmusic...
stereo,but on the new record I mostly usedmy '68 ' rimtro ...wherepeoplecould actuallyplay their irutruments. flaughs] *
*ftbooy yeah,
Pleri and my Diaz CD-100headwhich Cesarbuilt seriously.where the peoplewho roseto the top could play.where, by
ten, we ran three or four headstogether,then
*
band had superior musical ability you were going to gp somewhere.
and sawwhat we liked. otju'L havinga. ool haln ur. Lile us. ldughsl . *
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fi'srr **ns** A G D / S S U EN o . 1 0 6
$ li
I

*
* Thehurd-lucksloryol BIACKF00T, rock'sgreutunsungheroes.
southern
*
* T,s TIID SUMMER oFr97o.ln a tiny, sueltering,
fou.th Iloor aparlment in Manhattan,just around
* r h e c o r n e r f l o m t h e F i l l m o f e E J . r ,a r e e n a g e
* rock band from Ilorida, armed to the teeth with
guns, g t and guitars, sleeps seven to a room and
* dreams big dreams. Bassplayer creg T. Watker is
x there. In fact, the whole tiringwas his idea.
"The third day we were.ra) illg r\c'p. some-
* one broke into our van and took about haifofour
* I equipment,"he recallstoday-"we still managed
to get afew dates,though.We'dget paid $150or $200,
* and wed buy a sack ofpotatoes or some cereal. we'd €at
one baloney sandwich aday I rememberone time putting
*
water on Cheerios. This lasted through the followingyear.
* There were some very lean times, Butwe were young, we
*
g {@} outtont rerros
had achoice.We decidedto stickitout."
Nearly40 _vearslater aftereightalbums,couDtlessworldroursand manypersonal
tragedies, Blackfootarestill stickingit out,and proudly.
The bandbeganin late 1969asIresh carbageand soon after changedits name
to Hammer.The n1usicwas loud, ganglygaragerock inspiredb]' the Zombiesand
by Spirit, whosesong"trresh-carbage"inspiredthe $oup's first name.Most ofthe
band memberswere childhood friends\(.hogrew up togetherin Jacksonville,flori
da.They wer€ voungand brashand playedn'ith unparalleledferociry which earned
them ar early,life-chrngingbreak.
"we wereplayingNe{- Years'Eveherein cainesville,"saysguitaristandfounding
rnemberCharlieHargrett,"andthis girl h€r€that u'e knew had gottenthisjob in Man-
hattanworkingat a productioncompan\.in the Brill Building.f?fieBrlll Buildingwc.sd
centerfor musicwritin:gandpublishingfrom the Thirties throughthe Sixries.lSo she lTad
ajob up thereandcemehomefor the holidaysand san us.A coupleweekslater we get
aletter from New York.It says,'He].,rnybosswantsa tape;sowe put a demotogether,
^^"^-*"-'.-i2
-/
t,
., ) lt

and shesaid,
'C'monup.Youcan
stay rn my apart-
ment.' Sowe did."
And sobegsn
the lean months of
potatoesand wa-
tered-down Chee-
rios. 'w'e didn't
thinl we were
palng dues,but
we were," Harglett
sayswith a laugh.
'nve were broke."
Severalthingshappenedin quicksuccession then.For
one,mostofthe bandgot arrestedlor firearmspossession. record,and the hustlewas on.
'nvhen we firct showedup in New York, we had guns on
the dashboardofthe cai," walker says,with a shrug. 'nve
had no idea.we're from Florida, man."
Then the band discoveredanother group was using the
name Hanmer "we neededa new namequick," Hargrett
says."Sincewe were moviitg up north to start a big re-
cordingcareer. Oka),we ll callir'Free.be-
we thought.
causewe're fiee now. And then 'All Right Now' lth€ 1970
hit songby the Erglish bdnd-Free] cameout, and we were
like,'Shit,'SoJalsoncameupwith Blackfoot,becauseof
his Native American heritage."
Both drummer Jalson "Thunderfoot" Spiresand Greg
T. walker were Native funedcans,sothe nameseemed
appropriate However,neither is a BlackfootIndian. ".Ia-
ksonwas Cheyenne,Cherokeeand Frenchj'Walker says.
"He alwayssaidhe pt his creativity from the first two, and The band managedto squeezeout one more album, 19843dismally sellingvertical
blamedhis faults on the French.I'm MuskogeeCreek.No-
body wasBlackfoot,but it was a nice bold-soundingname." a pact to fully dissolvethe band,Rickey Medlocke continued to use the Blackfoot name
With a new nameand aworking knowledgeof the New
York justice system,Blackfootmovedto the Jerseyshoreto
plot their next move.And then they promptly broke up
"This place we endedup in was a real shithole," Har-
grctt remembers,"There wasn't really a club sceneup
there either, so we were surviving by playing frat gigs and Blackfootback-SoI calledCharlie,and I calledJak.CharliecalledRicty too,andhe said
high schools.When that stuff closedup for the summer,
we wereoutofwork."
Blackfoot frontman Bjckey Medlocke was askedto
drum for Lynyrd Slqnlrd. He accepted,and left the band.
Not soon after, Walherjoined Skynl'rd aswell. The re-
mainderofthe bandendedupin North carolina,where
theyjoinedup with a mystedous6gurenamedLennyStar
dler,who had a bandcalledBlackberrySmoke.But then
Stadlergotsick,found Godanddenouncedrock
RecallsHargreft, "By that time Fjckey wasba
bard, ard rhenGregcameback.roo.We gor
and movedto New Jersey,our old stomp-
ing grounds.By then there was a club
sceneand there were placesto play,and *
we could suwive the year.Rickey had
someconnectionsat MuscleShoalsstudio *
in AlabamabecauseofSkl'nyrd,sowe *
went down there and recorded an album
on spec.Theysoldit to IslandRecords:'
In 1975,Blackfoot's6rst album,the
cleverly titled No Res€r'vdhbns, was re-
leased,Its cover was a conical, pop-art
nightmare more suited for Kraftwerk
than a no-nonsensesouthern heaiy metal
band. Not surprisingly, it sark like a stone.
"It had the ugliest cover you've ever
seen,"Walkersays."I believeit actually
won an award for the guy who designed
it. Then, in 1976,we switched to Epic
Recordsand releasedFlfing H{gh.lt did
a little bettet but not enough to make a
difference nationally''
Both recordswere buried by more
commerciallysuccessfu l albumsissuedby their respectivelabels,includingBoston's
smash-selling Epic debut.Despitetheir flaggingrecordingcareer,the band continued
to provetheir mettleonstage."The first two recordsdidn't sell,"Hargrett explains- *
"But they got us goingenoughto be playingwith other bandsacrossthe counffy:' *
The bandtook the opportunity to hone its chops,particularly its relentlesstwin-
guitar attack.By the late Seventies,Blackfootbecamethe most terrifying undera- *
chieversin rock and roll. *
"Eaily on, we were opening for a lot of bands like Mountain, Rick Derringer, Edgar
Winter,peoplelike that;'Walker says."Sowe got a lot ofexposureand a tasteo{play- *
ingon big stages,full-on concertswith eight to l0 thousald peopleeverynight." *
'we alwaysplayedlike we were the headliners.HargreRadds.
Blackfoot'sbigbreak frnallycamein 1978.The bandwas playing a string ofsouth- *
westerndateswith BrownsvilleStationwhen Brownsville'sfrontman and Derennial *
rock-booster,Club Coda,introducedthem to his managementcompany.They soor,
signedon with Atco Recordsand releasedStriftesin 1979.It was their first Gold *
*
"Stflr<eswent Gold real fast " walker says."They were calling us an overnight success
andwe weresaying,Yeah.right a lo-yeal overnighrsuccess: *
The band spentthe next five yearson the road, taking breals o y to record new al- *
bumsor bmwlwith their touring-mates, asthey did when on the roadwith BlueOyster
CulL'nvejust didn't hit it offwith them,"walker says.'lryehad,like,30datesbooked, *
and there was alreadyfriction the first night ofthe tour. The secondnight was a little *
worse, and the third night we cameto blows. I didr't even Lnow what the problem was.
we were just playing our hearts out, and maybethey resentedit." *
ln addition to BOC,the band toured with Kiss, UFq AC/DC and Black Oal Arkansas. *
"In l97q we were travelling in a van," Walker says."By 1980,and we had two buses,two
tractor trailers, 22 guyson the crew. It just never stopped.we went 22 months without a *
break. But we didn't really want one.We loved it." *
In 1983,Blackfoot releasedSiqo, their first album with former Uriah Heep keyboard
player Ken Hensley.Despite the minor successof lead-off single "Teenagpldol," the *
lighter, more commercialsound ofthe alburn turned offmany long-time Blackfoot fans. *
smiles,before fnally collapsingfiom exhaustionand record company pressure.Despite *
*
for another decade,although none ofthe other memberswere irvolved. Later on, Med-
locke rejoined Ll.nFd Sk)'nyrdasa guitarist. Walker, Spiresand Haryrett playedwith the *
Southern RockAll-Stars over the years,but walker had alwayshoped the band would *
somedayrisefrom the ashes.Andin 2oo4,it did.
"I was out on the road with Patl}avers," he recalls,"And I thought, Damn, I just want
he washappy with Sl{}nyd and that he didn't want anlthing to do with it. But we had
three ofthe four and that felt good." *
Blackfootbeganplayingshowsagainto resoundingsuccess, but in March2oo5,trag-
*
edy struck when Jaksol Spiresdied suddenly ofan aneurysm."It still hurts to this da]',
and will probably hurt for the rest of my life," walker says."We spent a lifetime together. *
was truly a brother."
'Still, walker and Hargrett believeSpireswould havewanted them to carry on. And so *
survive.They havea new live D\aD ouq they're touring all summer and even *
somenew songs,The story is far from over
*
r o s l i l l b e d o i n g t h i s . w a l k e r s a y s . ) m e a n r h a t w i l h a l l m y h e a J r .l l s
.v"lrgrair-€ndwhat I am. It's all of us." ii* *
*
GUrrIrLEGEr(Ds
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roamed the middle ofthe band's sourd, and th€ rhlthmic onslaught ofdouble drumme$ feel his influence in even' single little thingat the l-illmore."
* Jai JohannyJohanson (a.k.a.Jaimoe) and Eutch Trucks, the $oupseemed r.eadyro blast "He called a spade a spade,and not necessaril]'in a lov
* offiD any direcrion at any time. Dickey Betts and Duanc Allman spurred each other onto ing rvay,"Allnan adds."Mr. craha was a stern man, the
new heights offi€tboard lerocity and creativity with their pioreeringguitar harmonies, most rell-jt like it is person I have ever n1eqand atfirstit
* whi]e Gregg Allman's authentic blues singing and surging org.n vanps kept even the most was off-putting. Buthe was thc most fa;rperson, too, and
* ambitious jams 6rmly rooted to terra {irma. aftcrknowinghim fo|r',,hile, you realiz€d that this guy, un-
"Ther€'s nothingtoo complicated rbout what males Filtnorc a Efeat alburr,,,saysfor- like most ofthc other fuckers out there, was on thcshaight
* mer Allman Brothers guitarist Betts."The thingis, we were a hell ofa band, and wejust
* got a good recordiDgthat captured tvLat we sounded like." To cuthe album, thc bandwasbooked into thefillmorc
Adds Jaimoe,'fillmore was both a particulart], great performence and a Bpicalnight,' for thrc€ nights-March u,12 and 13,1971,as the middle act
* To understand the album's importance to the Allmars, it helps to recognizcjust how behirld opcner Elvin Rishop and headliner Johnny Win-
* hungr,vand despente the band was at the time ofits release.Both cregg Allmal and then- ler. A mobile l6-h-ack recordingstudio \r'asparkcd on the
managerPhil Walden admit no$' that they considered cashinginthcir chips and cutting stre€toutside the theate\ with Dowd and a small crew set
* theirlosses. up illside. Things went smoothly until theband unexpect
* "It seemedljke I hadjust beer wrorg and that they wcr€ never going to catch on,,' edly brought out sax player ".Iuicy" Carter ard harmonica
Walden says."?eoplejust didn't $asp what the Allmans were all about-musically or ary playerThom Dolrcette seveml songs inlo the {irst set.
* other wry. Butthey kcpt touring, state by state,citv by city, going acrossthe country estab "One ofthe guvs askedme how to mic the horn, and I
* lisling themselvesas the best li\'e band around and building a base.,, thought he u,asjoking" Dowd recalls."They started play
Allman saysthat the band played 306 nights in 1970,with mosr of the remaining days of ing and thehornwls leaking allover c'veq'thing rendering
* thatyear spent traveling from one gig to th€ next. As the band continued tocrisscrossthe the songsunusablc.I mn down at the b.eal{ and gabbed
* counfry, jammed togL'therin 6rsr a Ford Econoline van and then a Winnebago, ils sound Duane and said,'The lTornhas togo!'and he went,'tsut ile's
evolved anddeepened. That developmentis well known to the heJdcoretape traders wh, right on, mrn.'And I said,'Dlrarre,trust me, this isn't the
* exchangc copies ofthese shows likc so manv piecesofthe Holy crail. But there was a price time to trl' this out.'He asked ifthe harp could stick around,
* to pay: "Thatkind ofschedule puts a lotofwear and tear on your ass,"Allman says.With and I said sure,bccaus€I knew itcould becontaincd and
thcir fan basegrowing stcadily by word ofmouth, the Allmans decided ttrat they neededto wiped out iinecessary."
* caDitalizeon their concert success. Though it u,as actually wiped fiom a few tracks (no
'n!'e simply realized
* that we were a better live band than studio oudit becausewe werc one cim remcmber which), Doucefte's iin€ playing adds
always ready to experiment-offstagc a,swell as on, I might add,"Allman says..,Ardthe dimension to'You Don't Love Me" and "Donc Somebody
* audiencewas a big pafi of ivhat we did up there, which is somethingthat couldn,t be du- wrong." Each night a{ter playing the band and Dowd
plicated in a studio."
* would head uptown to the Atlantic Rccords studio and
Oncethcdecision !o record live wa.smade,the choicc of renue was easv.PromoterBill listen to playbacksofthe night's perfonnance- "we would
* craham wes an early and important supporl€r ofthe Allmam, havingrepeatedly booked just glab some beeru and sandwiches and go tln ough thc
the band in hisbicoastal rock emporiums,the Fillmores East (New york) rnd west (San
* show:'Dowd says."That wali the nextlight, they knew
Francisco). (To this day,New York remains the Ats8's most supportive audience.)In those exactly what they had and which sorgs they didn't have to
* dark agesof rock promotion, the trillmores were the only venues run in a consistentlypro- playagain."
* By using naterial from the second and third niglrts, the
"New York crowds have always been great," says Betts. "But what made the Fillmore a gtoup had enough leftover material to hll more than half
* specialplace was BillGraharn. He \('asthe best promoter rock has ever had, and you could of its follow-up album, tar a Peaclr,including the epic,33-
*
.... '
culTrrLEcrxDs
*-3e)
 *
*
minute "Mounrain Jam," which was actually performed culture pantheon. Yet, thc recording wa-salmost never
directl)' aft€r Fillmore's 23-minute 'whipping Post." releasedin its extended, double album form. *
"Wc just felt like rve could play all night, and sometimes 'Atlantic/Atco
rejected the idea of releasing a double *
we did," Betts reca1ls."We could really hit the note. There's live alburn," Walden recalls."lAtldntlc ejrec&trvelJerry
not a single fix on Fillrnore. Everything you hear there is I've slowlycome wexler thought it was ridiculous to prcserve all these *
how we pla,v€d it-" jams. But we explained to them that the Allman Br'others
A few months aftcr cutting the album, the band mem-
lo reslizelhul werc the people'sband, that playing was what they were
*
*
bers were in Capricorn Records'Macon, Georgia,studio
laying tracks when they were informed that thc live album
Duanelell all about, notrecording thata phonograph record was
confrning for a $oup like this."
*
was done and coverarthad tobe selectedimmediately.
"we want€d to come up with a cover because,leftto
u hellol u Walden won out and was proven right whcn the
record "people priced" at three dollars below standard *
their own devices,the people at Atlartic did horrible
thin€is;'Allman recalls."l mean, these were the peoplc
legacy Ior list price for a doubl€ album slowly became a hit, and the
Allman Brothers became the most heralded band in the
*
rvho superimposed a picture ofSam and Dave onto a turtle
lfor the cover ofthe soulduo'sdlbullr Hold On I'm Comingll
dyingct the nation. RollingSfone proclained the Allmans "thcbest
damnrockand rollband" in the country and by fall, Fil/
*
x
We wanted to ale sure that the cov€r was as meat-and-
potatoes as the band, so someonesaid, 'Lct's just tale a
ogeol 24. morewas the Allman Brothers Band's firstcold album.
'All ofa sudden, hele comes fame and fortune," re- t(
damn picture and make irlook like we're standing in the Andc lol ol il calls Allman. "In a three or four week per-roo,we went
*
allcy waiting to go onstage.' " from rags to riches-from livingon a three-dollar a day
Photographer Jim Marshall alrived and snappedthe
hnslo dowilh per diem to 'Gct an]-thing you want, boys.'Butwe didn't
group sittingon its road casesoutside the Macon stucho. lhe Fillmore enjoy it for long. A lot of the initial impact ofthe joy
*
ontheback side ofthe albunr,the crew stood in the musi was absent because ofthe heavy tragedy that happcned
ciars'placc, probably the first and la.sttime roadies have ulbum." to mybroth€r we worked so hard so longto get there, *
ever been so proninentlv featured. CREGG AI,IJIIAN then, barn, hc was gone."
*

"Thatwas m,vbrother'-sidea,"Allman explains."Thc Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle crash on October 2q 1971,in MacoD,wfrite on *
|
crerl, always plaved a specialrole in ourband.Itgoes back a break fiom recordingEdt d Pedch.One month shy ofhis 25th birthday, he lived to see the l1
to the ver_vbeginning when we lived offthe disability bandl brealthrough comingbut was not able to fully experience it. I
checks ofRed Dog and TwigF lryndoa touDrdn4sPr].It 'At the time, I thought, Shit, my brothel reatl], got shortchrnged, *
b€cause he never |
was like, 'Want a job? cot any oDey?'Putting them in a quite got to see what he had accomplished," ellman says. "I fclt that way lor years,
| *
dann picturc was the least we could do." but I've slowly come to realize that he left a hell ofa legacy for dying at the age of I
Just 90 days a{ter recordingthe album andjust before 24 years old. And a lot ofit has to do with the Fillnlor€ album. I stilt listen to it and *
|
its relea,se,
theAllman Brothers tsandplaycd th€ Fillmore I marvel at how fresh his licks are and how great his tone is. That boy was one ofa | *
East's last show, havingbeen personally selectedby Gra- kind, man, jusr )ike Oakley was. lBdssist SerrJ Oakley died in a motorclcle accident I
ham to be the hallowed venue'.s6nal band.I! must have d lear dfter Dudne Allnrnn.l The chance that all six of us would meet up and form a *
I
seemeda bold, even wacky, moi€ to m y. But just \reeks b a n J i " . l i k e .u n b c l i r r r b l e . l *
aft€r the club shut its doors for good,At Fillmor€ Edst Allman pausesfor a secondto exhale a longbreath and let out a little chuckle. I
carne out, foreier linkingthe band end the club il the pop -t
"Ifyou want to hear what I'm telki[g about, go get you that a]bum." +.:
|

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II
? t

In u rollicking,rowdyroundtubleinlerview *
lromthelull ol 1992,lilelongsoulhernrochlun *
*
ZAKKWYtllEpcyshomcge to LynyrdSkynyrd's '*
&
GARY R0SSIlffiI(|tfandEIf KING.
yNyRD sKyNyhD MADEMEWANTTo pLAy cuITAR," Zakkwylde says.
*
"They were a sheer gr.ritarhurdcane."
while these sentiments may sound abit strange comilg from a man
who is far more associatedwirh "war Pigs" than "Free Bird," Zakk has
always been a Skynyrd fanatic. He cven dubbed the band with ivhich he
*
plays during Ozzy Osbourne's infrequeDt touringbreaks "Lynyrd Skyn-
head." And ifthe Skynyrd influence isn't readily appalcnt i[ Zakk's playing
*
with Ozzy, it practically leaps frorn the speakers when he proudly pulls a
Skynhead demo tape from the pocket oflis sucdc jacket and pops it in my 14
car's trpe deck. tu
we're on our wav to PhiladelDhia's trour Seasonshotel to meet with
skynyrd'sEd Kingard cary Rossington, and zakk canbarcly containhis excitemcnt.
At the hotel the still-manicZakk launchesinto a seriesofhilarious initations ofevery *
one from Ozzyto Rossington- He flips throughLynyrd Skynyd,ztfuee-CD boxedser,
brielly examinesthe list ofquestioN l've preparcdand conically affectsthe personaof
a jadedrock journalist/interviewer.He'sa three-ringcircusall by himself until King *
and Rossingtonwalk throughrhe door. 'k
Zakk shakeshands,then sits quietly asKing hoistshis PaulReedSmith Custom

fr.r- g.rJf"""* glit&" *

A

a n d d c m o n s h a t e sr h e " r c a l w a i r " t o p h y " S w c e t H o n r e , \ l a b a m a . "H e s h r k e s h i s h c a d we seltle dowD to begin the irtcNiew, the cocky fock
i n a m a z c m c n t w h € n K i n g s h o \ r , sh i D r t h e s e as h c l l sh e u s e sf o r g u i t a r p i c k s .I I e g r . i n s strr beconles the h rnble 25-year old guitarist nreeting
shf'l,vas fhe inlF)si ng Rossington tcases hin1 about his,vouth. Zakk is siaf-struck-and his heloes.
w i t h l i o o d r c a s o n .L y n y r d S l y n y r d a l c , q u i r e s i m p l l l o n c o f t h e g r e a t e s t ,n n ) s t i n f i u e n
tial roc 1{bnnds ever. fhcy v,,eredre l1losi criticall,v acclai mecl,conrnrer.cially succcss- drrilriii rrr)nriJOne of Lynyrd SkyDyrd's trademarks is
f u i a n d h a l d c s t l o c k i n g o f i h c A l l m a n B r o t h c r s i n d u e n c e dS e \ . c n t i e s o u r h e r r r o c k rhat, even with rhree guit,rrists, yolr colrld alwavs tell
b a n d s .W i t h l i c r c e r e g i o n a l p r i L l c i,b c . I a c k s o n v i l l e F . l ( n . i d r ,n a r i v e sa l w a y se v i n c e d wlm was playirg\,!'hat prfts.In large part that was i'e
trcmendous crcaiivity:rncl or.iginulitX llixingAllm rs csquc guitar har.llol1ics rvith causc you cach played diffcrcrt g!itrrc. Gar),,yo playcd
cruncbv, Stones-influcncerl r)rythns arrclCrcam-style distortcd L.uitars.Ar the hc.rrt of a Les -Paul,Allcr tlaved a !irebird, and Ed a Strat. Did
t h e b , r n d ' ss o u l l d u ' e r e t h e m r a z i l g g u i t a r . r r . n y o f R o s s i n g r o n ,X i r g a n d A l l e r r C o l l i n s yoLreverget togtthcl and work that out?
and the forceful plcsemce ol vocalist Ilonnie Van Zdnr, \rln) conlbined a courtr,v voice ED{lf,C No. I s,as the only one who switchcd for that
with a hear,r met.rlsrvagger. reason. IfI had playetl a Liibsoll, I u.ould have soundecl
And rl4rile some oftheir soutbern t.ock peers took the boogic cthic ro excess, too nuch like ihem. I rlways hated Stlats I'ecausc
Skynyrd ncver did, in large pal.tbccause they kre$, ho\l' ro wr.ite gr.catson[js. Almosf t h e y l e h . r r d e rt o p l i y , , 1 n c lI h a c l a l w a y sb e e n a G i b s o n
cvery Skynyrd album fe:rtured rD iDstant classic: "!ree Bird,",Sweet Honc Alabanra,', man, but I made thc switch and adjusted pretty quickly.
" Y o u C o r T h : r t R i g h t , " " W h a r ' s Y o u r N a n c " a n d o t h e r s .A l 1 | e m a i n r a d i o s t a p l e s . O f c o u r s c , n o n ' I p l . r ya P a u l R e e d S m i t h , w h i c h I t h i n k
S k y n y l d s u f f e l e d a t l r l s p c l l , b e g i n n i n g i n t 9 7 5 , a r o u n d r h e t i n c K i n g l e f t r h e b a n d . hasthe best ofboth worlds.
lt hsted until thcy added guitrrist Stcvc caines !lld r-ccor-decl the laidmar.k live alburrr 6arY ROtSr clo I've pllyed a Les Paul since the drv I
One Morefon tlt Raad.caines, a giftcd and \{,ide ranging guitarisr arrd son!,writer, bought this bab], llolds rr? his'.59S&nbursrl.
infuscd thc band with nleu'cncrgl and inspircd somc of Rossirlg'tonnnd Collirrs, lincst zAKx wYlDt Did AIlell e]{.ays play a Fircbird?
fretwork. Next cainc 1977'sStr€ct .surviyors, easih, their.best, nrost consistent Nlbunt. Rotslt{cro Prettv much. Hc piaycd a Melody Makcr
But befofe l-ynvrd Skyn,vld could r.capthe fr.uits oftheir sccond coming, thcir charer a n d r n S G i n t h c b c g i n n i n g ,b u t h e l i k c d t h e F i r e b i r . d
p l a n c c r r s h e d j n t o a X , I i s s i s s i p psi$ , a p , k i l l h g \ , ' a nZ a n t a n d c a i n e s a n d s e r n r u s l y bccause it looked diffcrcnt ftom our guitars ard rhe SG s
injuring thc othel band mcnbcrs. l e . l , s r . r , , , . l . i r r r r . h c n r , l r l r r ' . cl , i g .o r l o r r gr i l g l r . .
A decade latcf, L]nyrd Sk)nl,rd rcformed fof a tfibut€ tour, with Johnnic Van Zanr Thefe .lre a lot ofgreat ne\4 guitars olrr there not!, but
RorlDic's brorher, taking over as vocalist. But cven as they dcficd the odds in coming thc,v're too easy t{r pla}r I need to prill the strings to get
back, tlagccli' again struck thc band when Collins died. Still, thcy pr.essedon, { ith r h e r i f h r f , \ ' l ^ , r ,o i i r . P r o p l , J , , . r ' p
r r rl . r r i n g . u r r r , , r ' ,
King retnrDiDg and longrin1e associareRandall Hall joiniDg as third guiiarisr. t yn,l,rd lhe]' use lhe bar, irsteacl.
Sl_vnJrd/991 u,as a solicl, ii unspectacutar.,album, p,rving thc wr,\, for 1l:rc Ldst Rebel. KIIIGWe cenlc up ir a completeiJ, differcrt $ritar age.
A nuch more urbitjous and confident projcct than its predeccssor ?hc,Ldst,Rcbcl is Ifa pickup went out, thcrc were no replacenents, which
r e . t d n r , . | rl .o L \ r ) v | i lS L , r r ,r J . . , , . r r pe r er c j u r . l I ' r i n r . is somcthiuliyou probrbly can't relrte to, Zakk. tn 1968
A s a S k y r y r d j u n k i e , Z a k k k l o w s a l l t h i s . I n f a c t ,m n y b e h e k n o $ s i t a ] l t o o w e l l . A s I bought a 1955 Les Paul-a great!' itm and,,r,he[ the

. ( 58 I cutraBLEGEIDs *
 *
*
*
Leonplay bass,I wasn'treally interestedin playingbassanymore.
wYror He playsbassmorelike an upright player.
no'St|{cTotThat'sbecauseof the planecrash.His arm is setin a certainposition,
and that'show he hasto play.After the crashhe had to go to therapyand lift 6ve-
poundhalrdweightsall day for a long time to strengthenit. Today,ifhe shakesyour
hand,he crushesit. ftaughs]
cw Gary,I understandyou had a steelbar put in your left arm asa resultofthe *
crash.Did you haveto changeyour playingstyleat all afterward?
nos9rrcror Not really-Ijust had to get usedto constant,day-in,day-outpain. *
flaughs] Actually,we've been playing a lot ofoutdoor ampitheaters, and with the bar *
in my arm,I canalwaystell when it's goingto rain.
GwAfter the successof"SweetHome Alabama,"Skynyrdreally startedbeingla-
*
beledasa "southernrock" band.How did vou feel aboutthat? *
no'llt{cTot{ We had alwaysconsideredourselvesjusta bandfrom the South,not *
really a southernrockband.But everyoneneedsto putlabels on everything,sowe
just went with it. *
WYLD!Betterthan beingcalleddisco,man.fiaughs] -t
lOSSla{cTO Yeah,andback then,you were either southernrock or disco.
xlic But it reallydoesn'tdo us anygoodnow.I don't think the term frtsus.
*
Rostlxctox It's alwaysbeensort ofa vagueterm anyhow.When the southernrocl *
scete started,CharlieDanielswasreal big and that wasmore ofa countryband,the *
Allmanswere moreofajam bandand MarshallTuckerwas country...
xlxc ...AndRonniewasreally a country singerin a rock and roll band. *
Rosilf,ctox we were influencedby Cream,theYardbirds,theAnimals,the Stones *
andthe Beatles.We took that and mixed itwith our own styles,which I guesswere
largelyshapedby beingsorthern.Butwe neverreally thought aboutit.
*
cw Ed,did yourbeingfiom Los Angelescreateany problemswhen youjoined x
the band,sinceeveryoneelsewasfrom the South,and had beentogethersinceearly *
childhood?
rllc Musically,therewasno problem but it was a different culture,and that tool *
sometime gettingusedto. *
WYLDE Where did you guysmeet?
I
xlxc I wasplayingin aband,and Lynyrd Skynyrdopenedfor us on tour
cw Wasyourband StrawberryAlarmClock? *
Kic I'm afraidso. i
rO5glXGTOi Don't saythe "s" word aroundhim! [laughs]
xllc I prcbablyshouldnt be so bitter aboutit, but "Incenseand Peppermints"was t
the frrst so[gI everwrote.It went to No.l, and I got ripped ofl *
IOs9IXCTOX He got threecentsfor writing a songthat you still heartoday.We were
all kids backthen-we signedall our publishingawayto
*
*

!!
managersand accountants. We don't seemoley today
pickups finally went I sold the guitar for scrap. for "SweetHome,""FreeBird" or anyofthose songs. *
RossltlcTot And ifsomething fucked up on my'59 Les KINGEverybodygot screwedbackthen.
Paul, I had to find the original parts out ofanother glitar wYl,DE Ozzytold me that aslong asthe guysin Sab- *
to replace it. bath got all the booze,blow and weedthat theywanted, *
WYIDENowadays they can take a pricture ofthe inside they were happy.
of a guitar and make an exact replica right down to K|NGNo kidding That'show we all were.That re- *
exactly where the wires connect, where the cavities are
AlterEdlell, minds me ofa cool story When we first startedout, we *
and everlthing. LeslieWeslwus openedfor BlackSabbath,and the alldiencethrew cans, *
to'Slf,cto when we were in Japan,I was offered tomatoes anlthing they could find-at us.We played
30 grand for my'59 so they could do that. I laughed at
goinglo become four songsand leftthe stageto saveour nsses,and then *
them. The thing's not an investment-it's part ofmy arm. ourlhird Sabbathhad all kinds oftechnical problems.It was an *
cw Ed, youjoined Lynyrd skynyrd as a bassist. Had hour and a halfbeforethey went on, and the crowd
you played a lot ofbass p or to joini ng the band? guitorist,bul went nuts.Sabbathfinally hit the stage,blew out all their *
|(l c Bass is my primary instrument, but back then,
I wasn't the greatest bass player because I was tryirg
hewunled ampsafter two songsalrdwalkedofl Itwas insane.I
don'tthink they understoodthat we had a different elec- *
*
to adapt to their music. The day before I switched to
guitar, Ronnie came over, put his arm around me, and
to cull tdcal systemthan they had in Europe,andjust plugged
in their British gear I could tell you storiesthatwould *
said, "Ed, you really are the worstbass player I've €ver
played with." And I couldn't disagree with him. flauglrs]
the band
'Lynyrd
blow your mind from everydaywhen we were on tour
bnckthen.
*
GettingLeon back and moving me over to guitar, so wYrDEMy old lady and Ijust had a little girl, and Ozzy *
that Gary and Allen didn't llave to overdub to get allthe saidthatifwe wanted,the threeofus could stayon his *
guitar parts we wanted, gave us a real boost- We wrote
"Sweet Home Alabama" the first day Leon returned and
Slrynyrd tour bus,where it's quiet.But then he said,"I sweaf if
you bring that southernrock shit on the bus,you're out
*
I moved to guitar.
lLY!9E Leon's an amazingbass player, and he does a
undLeslie ofherel" fiaughs]Man,I drive him crazywith all my
southernrock.
*
*
greatjob of staying out ofthe way ofthe three guitars.
Kl c Actually, Leon plays bass like a guitar. While we
Wesl,"cnd cw what kind ofmusic do the membersof Lynyrd
Skynyrdlisten to? *
were recording the new album,I had to double one of weiuslsuid, tosslt{clox Lots of stuff that would probablyshock *
his basspartson a six-stringbass-andI suddenly '-F-you.'" people.Don't tell anyone,but we listen to a lot ofclassi-
*
ized how great his partwas. He's a genius, and cal music.
he Dlavs makes a statement. Just listen to the bass wYlDl Ozzy'sa hugeJohn Lennonfan. *
o n ' T h a t S m e l l " - i t s a m a z i n g .s o t h e 6 r s l ROSIIXGION Ohyeah,ustoo we listen to a lot ofBeades. *
*
Gurrrr
lEGrxDs
re>*
 r-;
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f'

,1

.|;
Kr c lhcodrcrdrr,onthebackofthcbus,Ilisrenedtosomcihinggr.eat,asongb,v plav hald and mern.
Mounuin crlled "Nc!cr in N,IvT-ife." t 1 ' S k y n ) . f di s p r i n r i r i l ! k n o w n f o r i t s r o c k c l s , b u t r h e
RosslNcroil You know, one time T broke my lingcr in Nen \i;r'k,.rnd rve still had to b a n dh a s a l u a y s t l l n c s L r c h s u b t l e s o n g s . r s ' l u e s d a r ' ' s
pla! r sho\r'. N{ourt,rin had brokcn LU, rnd T,eslie\{est camc into town to llll in for ( b n c " , r n d ' S i n r p l eX l r n . '
Itle. Wc all llc\r in together, .rnd Lcslic had to hrve tuo fucking scatbclts. Udo.qnrlWe |(lNG\ rben we $erejust aboutdonc curtinlithe
t h o u g h t h e u r s r e a l l l c o o l , b u r $ e h a . l t o l a u g h a t t h a r . A f t e r E . l l e f i , L c s l i c w : r sg o - hrst album, u,c pla,vecl Sinlple N{sn" for hrrodrrcefl Al
i n g i o b c c o r r e o u r t h i . d g u i t a r i s t .b u t h e r v c n t e dt o c a l l t h c b a n d L y n v r d 5 L v n 1 r . da n d Iiooper, and he laicl, "YoLrgr)s are nor gonna fecord that
L e s l i c W c s t , "r n d u e j L r s ts a i d ." F u c k y o u . ' s o n g . "S o R o n n i e t d J k K o o p c r - o l r rt o t h e p r r k i n g l o t ,
, . i ' h c n S t c l c c a i | e s j o i n c d , a l l d h c j u s t s e c n e d t o c n e r g i z ct h c b r n d . o p c n e d t h e d o o f t o K o r ) p c r ' st s c r t l c y .a n d s r i d , " c e t i n . "
tOSSlltlCIOxHc \r'rs a phenonlenrl plavcr. His sister, C:rssjc,\\.as onc ofour brlckup I ( o o p c r ' ' ss i t t i n ' t h e l e b e h i n d t h e u h e e l , a n c lR o n n i c s h u t
s i n g e r s ,u d s h e a s k e di f h c c o u l d j r n . i t h u s . I s a i d ," r l r c k , n o . N o b o d ; ,j a i n s r v i t h t h e d o o r a n d s a i d , ' \ ' V h c nu e r e d o n e c u t t i n i t , \ \ , c ' l l c a l l
u s l " B u t s h c c o n v i D c e du s t o g i r c h i m a s h o t . S o h e j o i n c d u s o l s t a g e o n e n i g h t , ! ' i t h yolr-" \ re cu! the \\.holc tunc n'ithout him. n'hen ! bard
n o r e b e a l s a lo l a n l t h i m g ,a n d r s s o o n a s h c s t x r t c d p l n f i n g A l l e n a n d I l ( r c k e da t e a c h kno*s rvhat it rvents to do. it has to go r.ith its heart rnd
other and our jurvs rlxr|pcd. \ re ollered hin1 thc job. aDd he quit his barld that nighr n o t l i s l e n t o p c o p l c ' o nt h e o u t s i c l e .
a n d j o i n c d t h e n e x t d a r ' .H e c o u l t t p l a i a n l ' t h i n g c h i c k c n p i c k i n ' , c o r . r n t r lbl l u e s ,h a r o RolslNcrox And lvc'vc al$ ays liked doiog the prett)
r o c k .A l l c n a n d I b o t h j u s t j u n 1 p s t a r - t c d o u r p h ! i n g w i r l r h i n o n s t a g c . H i s d e n t h w l s l songs. I mean, \ve gre$, Lrpon the Bcatics.
tfemendoos loss to thc grit:rr rvorltl. WYLDEY{)u can't rlu:rvs sounrl pissed ofl
wYl.D! l\rlan,the ncxt 81r_\'\|'hojoins Sk!ryr(l \\.ill prob:rblv fear.for.his life. you guys nolslxclo Ycah- Sometimes you just hive to light I
h a v e b c c n f L r c k i n b' f u t r l i z e d l . j o i n t ,s i t b a c k a n d \ ar i t c s o r r e t h i n g p r e r t | - .
R o 5 5 t t { c r o rI n t h e t l : r n e c r ' . r s ht, b l o k c j u s r n b o u t e r e r l b o D c i D m y b o d f ' ,| r n d E d j u s t ,! r.i AdLrall],, solne of J-Lrurnnrsr intense, snd son€is-
smashed his fingel a fc\r months ago. " A L lI C a n D o l s \ l i r e A b o u t I t , " ' A l 1 1I L o s i D ' ? " a r e
WYLDEI heard stories fhat r,ou guls rrsed to br.arl all the time.
Kla{GAoooo. not rs. [/du.gfirl l o t s l c T o a lT h a t ' s t r u e . l m f c a l p r o u d o f " A l l I C a n
w Y t D r O z z I o n c c t o l d m e : r b o u tI s h o \ . y o u g r y s d i d $ i t h S e b b a t h .' A l l I f e m e m , Uo," rr.1rich\r.as r songabout ecologl cvcn bcfole ther.e
b c r ' . "h e s a i d , ' l c s t h a t i h c g l L i t r r ' f l a y e f c a n l e o u n r . i t h a b u d a g e o r r h i s h a n r l ,a n d t h e \r',rs recvcling. lt tolll people to be careful, quit lruilding
s i r g e r c a m c o u r r l i t h a b a n d a g co n h i s h e a d ,a n d t h e v w c r c h u g g i n g e n c h o t h e f g o i n , thin€is rnd leive son1etrccs.
'l'm sor-r-1, brodrcr- I love vou, lnar.' " i,r! Did drat song feflect fcclings vou p}rys had about
rotslt{clo llduA'hslYeah, !te used to do thal stufl but \a,e'retoo old to no\r1\ rhen t h e S o u t h b e c o m i n g l e s sr u r e l ?
u'c strrted ourt,we'd plal clubs *4rere people rvoLrldness u irh us just becaLrscrrc had ROStlt{cIO Nah. \rc \r'eren't that heavv, man. Somc,
long hair: Al1d u,e'd.just sar "l'uck )'olr," rnd fight. tirnes u'e didn't even knor. \r'hai \l.e u.ere ivriting. In
xtt{c Things $'crc fough back then. r'hcrc r-eIe places in Flor.ida \.hcrc u,e had to fact, thc only reason u'e fifst stated writirllj songs was
lidc crouched dou.n in thc back serr to hide lrom ihc cops. becalrsethe:,d ihfow because lve ran out ofsongs to copll
"!oul
a s si n j a i l j u s t b e c : r u s et h e ] d i c l n ' t I i k e t h e u , a l y o u l o o k c d . xlNG\{re never reallv thought about rhings like that.
r',, Llo \'ou think rhe general tensions ofthe South came out ir your music? Ronnic r-oLrld alrvays sar that therc \ras no merhod to
RgSSlilCTO|\| Ye.rh,I g.LLess so.The *,ay that $.c li\€d came out in LruriDstl'lrmcnts,our. his madness.
sirgingand ouf song\'ritintj.I rememberon one ofour-lirst records,ourengineer saidthat wYrol Your boxcd set incluLles the ofigiral lersion
$e alrvays looked really mad uhcll rve pla1ecl.We u'eren't dlndt s mad, bur we learned to of"frce Bird," which doesn't have the extended ending.

{60t cutTtL
[ EGlnDs
*
*
*
How did you comeupwith the song'sconcludingjam?
* tottrrcto| Itwas a slow song,and itended too early.
* We were doing four setsa night,and Ronniesaidwe
neededto makethe songlonger,becausewe didn't have
*
enoughmaterialand were tryingnotto do any covers. Mcn,thenext
* Eachnight the songgota little longer,but Ronniealways guywhoioins
* saidto makeit longer.Finallyit waslO minuteslong.
*
XINGMCA saidwe couldn'tput a lo-minute songon Skynyrd will
an album,becausenobodywould play it. Ofcourse,that probubly leur
* wasthe songeveryonegravitatedtoward!
* f,YrDEDid you ever imagine that 20 years down the lorhislile.
line "FreeBird" would still be playedconstantlyon the
* radio? Youguys
* toslrractoi Believeme,that wasbeyondourwildest
*
dreams.
(|IG But I knew "SweetHome" was a classicthe min-
haveheen
* ute we wrote it. The samegoesfor "SaturdayNight Spe- brulalized."
* cial."I playedRonniethis riffone day in rehearsal,and
*
* hejust nodded.Ronnieneverwrote down or recordedanything Sothe next day I was
bummedbecausethe groovewas lost,but Ronniecalledme over and sangasongin my
* ear basedon that lost riff-and it was"SaturdayNightSpecial."
* tg9tlxcTox Ronniefelt that if you had to write somethingdown, it wasn'tworth
remembering.Hell,I wishwe had recordedallthoseearly songs,becausewe'dhavea
* lot more material now. [dughs]
* wYl,DE Ifit's a goodidea,it'll alwayscomebackto you.
* Klxc Well'.Gary beforeI everplayeda gig with you guys,we rehearsedfor four
weeks,and wrote a songeachday most ofwhich arenow lost.And that'sa damn
* shame,
* IYYIDE What wascool aboutthosedays,wasthat everybandsoundeddifferent.
Youhad Skynyrd,JethroTtrll, DeepPurple,Led Zeppelin,BlackSabbath-andno one
* soundedlike the others. . r|r{c Hewas the best,and I don't think he could have
* Klxc Yeah,but 100-wattampshadjustbeen invented,so it waseasyto be different.
* flaughs] None of us knew what we were doin6
rYYpEOzzysaysthatnowadays,all you haveto do to get a recorddealis grow your
* hair long but backthen,only the goodbandsmadeit.
* ROSIIXGTOi Youcanwatch MTV and closeyoureyes,andyou probablywon't be
ableto tell one bandfrom the other.All theserock bandssoundthe same,and all
* theseguita stsarejust jerkin' off. I love EddieVanHalen-he's so goodhe,sa freakof
* nature but onceyou'veheardhim play one songyou'veheardjust abouteveryfuckin,
* note there is to play.what's left?
nYIDEI didn't get hookedon the whole VanHalen thing,becauseeveryoneI hung
* aroundwith wasolder and listenedto Skynyrd,the Allmans,MarshallTircker,Charlie
* Daniels.And I'm only 25.
rostncrox Shit,I got scarsthat areolder than you! [dr€hs]
* xtr|c Who elsedid you get wean€don?
* wY[Dr Frank Madno, Jimi Hendrix and Tony Iommi. Then I got into country,
to me, that's the hardest thing to play.
*
|(l c Flatpicking?Absolutely.Youknoq I went to a guitar show in Dallas
* andjammedwith Tom Keifer ofCinderellaI don'tknow wherehis roots
* is one hell ofa bluesplayer.cary actuallywrote a few songswith him that
*
eutrrrlzetrrs
1,3@
Last Rebel.
WYIDIOnetime I wasat the HammersmithOdeonin
LondonI,ith Cinderella,and Tom askedif I wantedto
play "SweetHomeAlabama."I washalf-crocked,and
walkedup to the front ofthe stageand fell right into the
orchestrapit! [du8fis]I wasusingEric Brittingham's
fCinderello bassist]goldtop, and it fell right on top of
me.I tore up the cartilagein my knee,but th€ guitar was
fine and still in tune.
Ktxc Cinderellaoften closetheir showswith "Sweet
Home,"and onetime I saidto Tom, "l'll bet you a dollar-
damn-fiftythat you can't playthe choms the ght way."
He said,"SureI can,"and startedplayingit and it was
wrong.There is onelittle thingin the chorusthat abso-
lutely makesit-and nobodyplaysit correctly.I think it's
thosekinds ofthings that havekept Skynyrdalive the
little thingsyou only noticeafter you light up ajoint.
wyr,DE Whe[ do you think the whole southernthing
started dying?
Klxc When Molly Hatchetcameout. [aughs] I
meanlt.
lryytDrwhat's your impressionofthe Allman
Brothers?
xtlc TheAllmanswere the foundingfathersofthe
southernrock thing,and if it waslr'tfor DuaneAllman,
noneofus would be heretoday.Duanepavedthe way.
He was the greatest ever,
cw And he died when he was24.It's mindbogglingto
think of how much he had accomplished,andwhat he
could havedone.
g)tten anybetter;I think he died at the apexofhis ca
reer He had alreadyabsolutelymasteredslide-playing.I
sawhim play on October9th and l2th, 1971,and he was
deadon the 29th.I went to seeJeffBeck that night, and
when I was drivinghome,all I heardon the radiowas,
"...Allmanwasconsideredthe top contemporaryguitar-
ist of his day."I just pulled over and cried for an hour it
was all I neededto hearto knowthat he was dead.
totslicTol{ Duanewasalmostlike agod.I remember
oDetime they were playin' a free show on a Jacksonville
balllield. Duanepulledup in his old \{hite Cadillacabout
a half-hour late; the whole band was already playing He
ran up and grabbedhis guitar. It was tuned to standard,so
atfull volumehe tuneddownto openD pulledout
slideandjust tool over It wasmesmerizing. Allen and
to be the first onesthere, hours before the show-
describethe impactit had on us asyounggur-
there and seethat guy play.
6d Skynyrd'sapproachto recording
charged since the early days?
lotsltlcTox We didn't chang€ the way we
$rite. phy of recordon our ne$ album. Ue
stilljust plug in and do it, with no effects or
gimmicks, and we still recold everlthing ana-
log then mix it digitally. This is a live band,
and we still record rhatway.
wYrDEThe sound you guys got on your early
albums was a lot thicker than mostbrnds get
today using digital equipment. Ozzytells me
the same thing about the early Black Sabbath
xlt{c Digital is too brittlc.
TYYTDE So lhe whole band stillplays at the
nosslrclof, Ycah. I played hrlfmy solos
while recordirgthc basic track. Itgives you
a better feel when yolr're playing alongwith
thc band and feedingoffeach other, irstead of
using headphoncs.
rvYrDEI can't handlc thc sotrnd of h-^ad-
phones.Ijust go into the control room and
listen to the speakers, and it sounds huge.
ROSSlrcIOx I hatc recording.It makes you
think aboutwhat you're playing, and I hat€ to
think-it kills some ofthe magic.
TYYTDE I dig it. You can do anything in
therc it's like paiDting a picture.
totsl GIOI But we need to play together
Everyone has to paint the same picture atthe
same time, which is what we do onstage.
nrY[D! So whathappenswhen you guys fuck
up your guitar tracks while recordilrg do you
use the scratch track?
tOSSlIGrOx What doyou mean? We never
fuck upl [laughs] I'lo, we'll just go back and fix
thrt par!, and ifthere's any leakage,we'll just
8o aroun.l rt.
wY|'Dr Randall Hall's agert player-and
h e d h a v et o b e r o p l a l g ! i r a r w r r h ) , , u g u \ , .
How's he fifting in with the band?
Irxc Creat. His lbrte is solos.
ROSSTIGIoIHe's so good, it pisses me off
He's got the sane frcts, sanre strings and same
notes, and he comes up with shit that nevcr oc-
curred to me. He'll do somethingthat's wrong,
but it sounds right.
xlt{c Randall comes up with notes that
aren't th€re. He's the only one ofus who can
play 32nd notes in ablues context. If I tried
to do that,l'd soundlike an idiot.
cw It's amazingthat you glys have been
able to r€generate yourselves and contiDue
m a k i n g a l b u m s a n d b e i n g a m u s i c a lf o r c e .
IOStIICIOI You know, it is amazing. After
the plane crash,I honestly thought that we'd
rever play together agajn as Lynyrd Skyryrd.
Then,lO ycars after the crash, we did a tour
which wasjust slrpposcd to bc a one-time only
tribute to the band and our nusic. Evcrywhere
we wcnt, the reception was tremendousj we
saw pcople with their kids-and they both
knew the songs. Thcywcre singingalong,
crJin'to some songs, and just gcnerally having
a damll good time. That was really touching,
so we decided to try to keep it goiDg. Ir's a
real honor to see that peoplc still carc about
Skynyrd. *
currrr [EEExDs
{gL}
Lote night oi the-lhrine Auditorium
*
*
*
combinationofthings and Ronr e said,'Ifyou're going
* to shootme,it's goingto be in the assor in the elboq'
* And he took offlike a bat outofhell.
"We got in the car and split, and he told us what hap-
* pened,andwe were laughing,andwe kind ofwrote the
* song ght there, drove over to Allen's house,got his
guitar and finishedit.
* "The more wild experiencesyou have,the better
* songsyou canwrite.I'm not necessarilyproud ofevery-
thing we ever did, but that's just the truth. We always
* *TNEE justconsideredourselvesa working-man'sbandand
* BND"
'l6hin6rd 'skin- h6rd (1973)
thought everysongshouldtell a story that peoplecould
pronounced relateto. When we frnish a song,youknow what it's
* about,whereassomegroupshavesongsyou may digbut
.,ALLENrrAD THE cHonDs for the beginning part for not understand.I think that'swhy our songshavelasted
*
two full years.We were just beginningto write that aslong as they have:'
* was actuallyone ofthe first songswe evercompleted
and Ronniekept sayingthattherewere too manychords
*
sohe couldn't find a melodyfor it. He thoughtthathe
* had to changewith everychordchange.We kept asking
him to write somethingtothesechords,and he kepttell-
* ing us to forgetaboutitl
* "Then one daywe were at rehearsalandAllen started
playingthosechords,and Ronniesaid,'Thoseare pretty.
* Playthem again.'Allenplayedit again,and Ronniesaid,
* 'Okay,Igot it.'And he wrote the lyrics in threeorfour
minutes the whole damnedthing! He cameup with a
* lot of stuffthat way, and he never wrote an)'thing down.
* His motto was,Ifyou can't rememberit, it's notworth
*
remembering. "SWEET TTOTiIETI;ABIIt,if,
"Sowe startedplayingit in clubs,but it wasjust the ('ril)
* slow part. Then Ronniesaid, 'Why don't you do some- :e"T',_11e1e:':s
thine at the end of that so I can tale a breal for a few "I CAME TJPIdTTH TIIE banjo/steel guitar part it'sjusta
* minutes.'SoI cameup with thosethree fing€rpickedq C, c progression and the
* chordsat the end,andAllen playedover ; little openingriff, which I kept plalng
them,thenl soloedandthen he soloed. I over and over again.Ronniestaned writing
* It allevolvedout ofajam one night.So I lyricsatrehearsal onedayandsaying Play
* we started playing it that way,but Ronnie I rhatagain.Playtiar again.And afreraboul
kept saying,'It'snot longenough.Make I an hour he hadallthe words.ThenEd
* it longer,'becausewe were playing three I fKir€liook ithome andput in allthe licde
i or four setsa night, and he was looking to | fi11s andlicksard arrargedit.
fill it up.Then oneofour roadiestold us 'Ir wasbasically a joke We
* | "ong. used
we shouldcheckoutthis pianopartthat I to travel through Alabama a Jotand get
* another roadie,Billy Powell, had comeup I ontobackroadsandjustmarvelar ho*
with asan intro for the song.we did and I pretty it wasand how nice the people
* he went from beinga roadieto a member I were.And NeilYoungwas,andstill is,
* right then. I one our favoriteartists,so when he came
"Everybodytold us that we were I our with SouthernMan and Alabama.'
* crazyto put the songonour frrst album, 'Well,
I criticizing the South.we said,
I becauseit wastoo long.Our recordcom- I whatdoeshe know?Hes fromCdnada,
panybeggedus not to includeit. And I Sowe chrewthat lineabourhim in there.
i when it6rst cameout, they did all kind of I We were told by somepeopleto takeout
* awful editsuntil it got bigenoughwhere I the parrsaboutNeilYoungand [former
it didn'tmatter anymore.It humblesus I Alabamagovernorlceorge Wallace,but
* to think that it's beenplayedso much- I we said,'Heyit s just a song.andwe're
* and ith still played.Butit's not magic;it's I goingto recordit the way we wrote it.'
still just a songto us." I Mosrofour songscomethrough us.
* realquickor ir doesnt
I It eitherhappens
* .GIIIIIETHNEE STEPS" I happenat all. Actually.Ronniewrote
'l€hJDerd 'stin- I mostofhis llrics eitherdrivingaround
* prcnonnced h6rd I Jacksonvillecheckingout different
* g'1,,.... I neighborhoods especiallypoor ones,
I blackandwhite-or in theshowerYou
i qHIS IS ANOTHER TRUE STORY.Ronnie
I knowhow peoplesinginthe shower?
went into a bar to look for someone, and
* I WelL.Ronniedid that, but he madeup
me and Allenwere too young to get in,
I songs-melody.verse.chorus,bridgeand
* so were waiting for him outside. And we I all. Many timeswhen we were on the
were waitingand waiting. Then he came road,he'd end up running into my room
x
running out
running out with
with a big
big ol'guy
ol'guy chasing
chasing with a towelaroundhisu aist.dripping
* him, yelling He had starteddancingwith this chick,and 'Checkthis out. write somemusicto that
this guy camein andwasgoingtobeat him up. Ronnie : So I'd try to write a few chords to get a rcugh
*
said,'Justgiveme three stepsand I'm gone.'Theguy had the songwasgoing,then either Allen or
* a gun and he wasa redneckand he wasdrunk a nasty backand6nishrhesong."
*
eulrrnlterros
1.3@
 *
*
*
*GAttIIETHEBNEEZE" hotel room, he had his black Les Paulon. Hdd or-
*
der roomserviceandeatwith hisguiraron.Hed
Seeord Helping (1974) sit around and talk and not play it for an hour, but *
it would be strappedon. He'd watch TV with it on,
|TVE ALWAYSLIKED lJ Cale, and we heard play it during commercials,then stop It was like I
'Breeze'
one night sitting around the house and his third arm."
Roffie said. 'Let's do that!' But it didnt work the
*
vray he did it a real staight shuffle-so I wlote .IT|lilKYT|IIIK *
the arrangemeng which was completely diferent.
*
Ifwe had changed the \rics, it would have been a IIIGHT TII{EIiTAN"
Stteet Survivors (1977) *
*
"THIS IS A MERIE IIAGGARD song which
we did to show our love for him ald for country t
musicingeneral.Steveplayedan incredibte
solohere also,and it was a live first take.We
*
onlyknewthat itwas a G progressionand he *
went out and playeda mind-bogglingsolo.He
didn't evenhardly know the song,but he played
*
the shit out ofit. we were standingin the con- *
trol roojE-with our jaws dropped, and after he
finish'edplaying he strolledin and said,'How'd *
I do?'Wetold him to go homeand cali it a day, *
becausewe knew itcouldn'tget anybetter."
*
*cnossn0[lls"
One*More tor f.he Rood 0976)
'wtlT's nun mlitE" *
St-reel Sureivors (1977) *
gwE DrD TrrAT As A tribute to cream. one of our all-time
*
favorite bands.we sawthem on their farewell toul and 'ME AND RONNIE WERE JUST sitting in a hotel
they cornpletelyblew our minds,sowe madethis a regular room one night, and I had thosechords,which I had *
part of our set,In fact, it wasour encorefor years,until just written that day.And he right offthe bat started *
'FreeBird' becamesobig that we basicallyhad to do that
singing.The original lyrics werc, 'It's eight o'clock,and,
last By the time we recordedthe live album,it had been boy,is ittime to go.'Ronniehadjust gotten an itinerary *
such a part of our set for solong that we felt we had to ftom his brother Donnie,who was in.38 Special,and *
include it. Also,our producer,Tom Dowd, engineeredthe their frrststop was Boise,Idaho.So Ronniechanged
Creamversion and he told us the story abouthow lt came the fust line to'It's eight o'clock in Boise,Idaho,'which *
togethet and that really inspired us to want to re-record it." immediatelymadeit a real on-the-roadsong. *
'rButit's all basicallyatlue stoly.Oneofow roadcrew
got in a fight at a bar witi oneof the hotel guestsand they *
kickedus out, andwe saidwe'd leaveif theyd sendabotde *
of champagneto our room.It's just aboutbeingyoungand
free 21andunmarried.We'dgo to a town andmeeta chick, *
then forgether name And when you'dcomebackto to,a'n, *
*
*
*
*
*I KlilIf,A *
md
*nlu GOITHITNIGHT" *
Street Surviyors (1977) *
*
"I THINK THESETWOSONGS sum up what SteveGaines
meantto the band.He wroteboth ofthem andsangYou *THEIAST *
Got That Right' asa duet with Ronnie.He was a great *
songwriter and singer and an incredible guitarist. I've The Lcst Rebel (1993)
never heard anybody,including any of us,play the pick, ********* *
ing he did on 'I Know a Liftle' quite ght. Stevehad a lot "THISISA VERYMOODYSONG. We had to really get in the
to do with the writing and arangements throughout this
*
moodto recordiq then we just cut it live. I wlote the music
album, and his playing was sogood it really inspired us. andnamedit at my housein Wyoming.Then Johruie and *
When he joined, we were kind of in a lull. We were still Michael LuIm andRobertJohnsonwrote the llTics.The fiIst
doingwell-selling a lot ofticketsandrecords-butthe
*
velseis abouta Civil War soldier,andthe secondverseis
musicwasgettinga little boringto us.We neededa little aboutmg they say.And the third verseis sort of aboutus- *
spark of inspiration, and Steveprovided it. We staited get- the lastrcbels,out on the road,still doingour thing.
ting together andjamming at night. It put us back in
*
"It's one ofmy favoritesongsto do live,which is a
frame of mind we had at the beginning. goodsign.It reallyholdsup with our old material.when *
"steve wassogoo4 he was a freak ofnature He I seeit on our set list, I go, All right.' But we never get
pissusoffbecausehecoulddo somanydrings *
sichofplaying anyofour songs,becauseofthe adrcna-
Allen couldn'! Every time I everwent to his line we get from the audience'sresponse," * *
--J *,
GuIrf,nLxGExDs
3@*
 *fIINTIII,
WITHIIISASTER',
MOLIY
HATCIIET
,4sheardon FLIRTIN'WITH DISASTER(EpIc)
words and Musicby l !!'belgThomas, Brown (Molly Hatchet) * TrdnscriredbJAndy Aledort and JefrPerrir

E Intro (o:oo)
trastr=176 -r-
rriplet Feel(fl = J .l )
N.C.(E)
Gtr. I (el@. w/light dist.) (play 3 tines) ctrs. 2 and 3 (€lec. w/dist.) Gtr. I plays Rif A four tines
. kfA
(Gtis. 2 ed 3)

Gtrs. I & 5 enter second tine Gtr. I plars Rif Afow tines
Gtr. 5 (el@.w/light dist.)

Gt. 4 (elec. Vlighi dist.)

G t r s . 2a n dl

G!r. I plays RtfAl (see nex! page)

c 0 P Y R r c H{rc ) r e T eM r s r E ns
3@ culrrr lrttlls
 *FIINTIil'WITHIIISISTER"
E vers€(o:2i,1:a3)
(End half-time feel)
1. Im havelin'
2 . S p e e d l n ' down the lasl
13rGrs 2andl

0own lhe road an' I'm llinin' wlth disaslsr

lane an' honey we'replayin' lrom lorn to town
G5 A5

I got lho pedal lo tho floor an' my llle ts runnin' lasler

Theboysan' I Deen burnin'it up can't seem lo slow il down
G5 A5

l'm oulta money 0utla n0pe it looks liko solf-destruclion

I gol tho pedal lo lhe floor our lives afe runnin' laster
G5 A5
23

'T
I
Bast pla',s Bass Fis. 1 (seebar 15)

Rilf At 10:23)
Ghr
E5

GUrrrrLEIEIDsg@
*FIINTIN'WITHIIISASTEN"
Well horar nuch mole can we take withall ol this c0rluplion
W6 gol our slghl scl str.lght ahead but I ain,t sure wial w6'r8 aller
G5 A4
\Jft\. 2 ak.t 3 .Lb:titurc Rht. f tI
saond rine (see below)
27 pr'r.

@ r."-Cr'oro" (o:4e, 2:04,

4:08) (take both en.li"ss on each pre'chotus)
1. We're llidin' wilh disaster y'all know whal I rnean
I don'l know aboul yourself urhal you *anna be yean
2. We'rellidin' wilh disaster y'all damn Sure krow uhat I mean
I don'l know aboot youlsell 0t whal you plan lo be yean
3. WE'relllrtin' wilh disaster babo y'all know what I mean
I don'l know about youlself 0t wiAl you plan to bo
Bsus4 B Asus4 A85
Gtts 4 an.l5 play F l 6 ok 3rd Pre-Chorus

Andthe way l|in our lives ma[0s n0 $ersa t0 me

Youknow the way tun our lives ma(es n0 sensg t0 me
Youknow lhe way run our lives maxos n0 senso t0 me
Bsus4 B Asus4 B5
35

Bast plays B6s Fia. 2 tiice (see bar 31)

12.
with our tlme cho0seour
B

Rhy.Fill I (2:03J FiI6 14:08)

A5 85 B5

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 *FIINTIIT'
VIITHIIISISTEN"
Llrl Chorus 11.10,
2:25,
429)
r. I'm taavelin' down that lolesone i0a0
2. Ysahl'm tlavelln' 0own that lonesome 1040
3. YeahI'm liaYelifl' down lhls lonesome load
A5 85 D5
Gtr.4 playsFill t frst tine (seebelow)
Gtr. 4 ptoys Fill 3 secon.l time (see below)
Gtr. 4 plays Fill 7 thitd tine (see belotu)

F€cl llke I'm load

Fool liko I'm load
Fcel llke I'm load

Fill 3 \2:26) Fill 4 (2137)

Fi 7 (4:3t)

GUrrf,B g@)
[EGEfDS
*FLIRTIII'WITHIIISASTEN"
3r.l time,skipaheadtuA
Yet I've tried lo lun my head away
Though
I try lo lurn my head away
Though
I lry lo lurn
Gtr.4playsFill 2Jitsttiue (see
prcrioa pase)
Gt. 4 plays Fill 1 second tine (see pretious page)
B5

2n.l tine, skip ahead to@

Feel about lhe same ev€ry oay
I'm llinin' with disaster 6V0ryoay
A5 E5

@ tr,rst
Half-tim€ F€el
fspalr.,, Andyouktow whall'm lalkin'aboulman?
D5
*ctrs.2 and 3
57

eo brck b @ I,erse

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 *FIIRTIN'WITHIIISASTEN
@rz,ro
Half-time Feel
ftl' youare
E5
Glr.5

Ha ha ha ha
G

You aim for ev€rybody

Gtrs. 2 an.] 3 rcpeat Rh!. Fis. I (see bar 67)

Ctr.5

e u r u rl r r r r l s . @
*FIINTII|'WITHIIISASTER"
E lst Guitar Solo (3:05)

Gtr.5

Ba" r?pca^ Ba:s FtB. 3 (tc? bdr 83)

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 *F[INTII{'WITHIIISASTER

E 2nd cuitsr Solo (3:26)

Gtrs.2 an.l3 rcpeatRh!.Fie.2 6eebar 83)

tl:t'+iltE
3:l
Bass plays B6s Fig. 3 twice (see bar 83)

Ctrt. 2 and 3 play Rhf. FB. 3 fee bar 9l)

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*FIINTII|'WITHIIISASTEN"
E Hsrnonized Lead Break (3:a7)
E5
Gtrs. 2 ah.l3 plat Rh!. Fia- 3 (see bat 91

Gtr. 1 substitutes Fill 5 secoh.l tine

11.
so bdtk to @Pre-Chorus
B5
Gtrs. 2 and 3 substitute Rh!. Fill 2

Rhy.Fill2 g:47)

' yrap. pt.k ba.k unJlo hacras ntnss

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 *FIINTII|' I|TITH
IIISISTEN"

T;1
lJ | (4:41)
my away Bobmmbob [0b with disaster
A5 B A5
Ctrs. 2 atrd 3 |2
P.M.

I -J: +3J LJII6ILJJJJ

t J-

Gtrs. 2 ed 3

G U I T I nL [ ! E f D ! @ F
 *G[I{,T
MARSHALT
YllUSEE"TtlE TUGKEB
BAIII
As heardon THE MARSHALL TUCI<ER BAND (AJK)
words and Music by Toy Caldwell * ?rdnscribedby Dave whitehill and Jefr Perrin

Dsus4 Dsus2/C Dsus2 D7 D7sus4 DlC Dsus4/C

L9J 4- L9-
l-+*fl ff+#B
rrF-n
rT Tl-a ffi ffi FTT-T'
TTTTT' T-TT-I T-rT-a
ffi TTTT-- TTTI- ffi 2 t34
|32 134 2 13 l3 213 214 2 131

E Intro (o:oo)
Moderafely , = 84
D Dsus2/C
Gtr. I (acous.)
trnsersryle, Iet anq thtouqhout

'qute enters)

rTap on guitar botlr with picki"E hand.

Dsus2/C

Rhr.Fis.la

BassFiE. I

C O P Y R I C HTTC JI 9 7 5[ I A R S H A L
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 *G[N'TYIIUSEE"
Dsus4

DsusZC
Gtr. I plays Rhy. Fig. I tvice sinile (see bar 9)
Gtr- 2 plals Rhy. Fia. Ia obe abd one haftmes (see bar 9)
Gtr. I (el*. Vlight dist.0d echo)

Bass pt.tis Btts Fig. I twice sinile (see bar 9)

Dsus2/C

E lst verse (o:se)

connatak€a lreighllraifl
G D
Gtr I subsuturcsRhy. Ftll t $ee betow)
C1r.3 Go. I plays Rhy. Fig. I twice sinile

Rhy. FiA. 2

Bass ptays Bass Fig. I twice (see bar 9)

riohtdown at lho station Loid I don'l rarc whciell Ooes

D7sus4D7 D Dsus4

Rhy.Fi l \o:53)

GUrTrrLEGEXDS
3@l
*GAN'T
YIIUSEE"
Gonna firounlain
climba mounlainlhehi0h0st I iumpolt nobodygonnaknow Can'lyousee
DD7 GD Dsus4
Gtr. 2 repeats Rhr. Fig. 2 (see bar 2t)
Grr. l
25

E rst chorus (1:23)

whoa can'tyou
see whallhatwomanLord sh€b6endoin'lo m€ Can'lyousce
D DsusZC GD
Gtr. I plays Rhy. Fis- I trvice sinile (see bar 9)
CD ) pla$ Rhy FtB. ta rdi." shtlc 6cc bar 9)

B6s pldys B6s Fis. I twice (see bar 9)

ca['lyousee Yrhaltftat vrroman sh€becndol[' lo me

Dsus2/C G
Gtt. I substitutes Rhy. Fill 2 (see below)

E 2ndVersel'm(l:46)
gonnafindmo a holei[ lhe wall l'm gonnacrawlinsldeanddle
D 0
Gtt. t plays Rhy. Fis. I twice sihile (see bar 9)
Glr ? platt Rhy Fts. 2 twt.p wlp (rc. bar 2,)

B6s plays Bass Fig- I t,ice (see bar 9)

Comelalernost a meanold womanLord nov8rlold mo goodbye Can'tyou8oe

E 2nd Chorus (2ro)

can'lyousee whalthalwomanLord shebeendoin'to me Can'lyousoo
D Dsus2/C G
Gtr. 1 plays Rhy. Fia. I hrice simile (see bar 9)
Gt. 2 plays Rhy. Fis. ]a twice situile (see bar 9)

B6s plays Bass Fis. I 6ee bar 9)

Rhy. Fill2 (1:40)

(D) Dsus4D

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 *G[I|'TYIIUSEE"
can'lyousee whallhat womanLord sh€beondoin't0 m€
Dsus2/C
Gr- l

E r$ cuitar solo (2:33i

Dsus4 D Dsus2/C
Gtr. I plays Rhy. Fig. I twice sinile (see bar 9)
Gtr. 2 plays Rhy. Fig. ]a twice sinile (seebal 9)

G
Rhy.Fill 3 (seebelow)
Gtr. I substitutes

Rhy. Fi 3 \2:51)
Gt.I G

g@l
currf,r!EGEfDs
*G[I|'TYIIUSEE"
IGl rrd verse (256,
I'rngonnabuya tiDkotnow aslal asI can Ain'ta n6vo1comin'back
D7 D7sus4 D7 D

Bass plals Bass Fig. I tuice simile (see bar 9)

Gftb me a soulhbound all theyJayl0 Georgiano$r 'til thetrain il runoul ol track Can'lyousee
D7 D

E 3rd chorus (3:20)

whoa can'lyousee whatlhat womanLord $hcbeendoin'to me Can'lyousee
D Dsus4 D Dsus2/C G D Dsus4 D
Gtr. 2 plays Rh!. Fig. la twice sinile (see bar 9)
Gh. 3

Bass plals aass FB. I Iwice sinile (see ba,9)

can'lyousee whalthalwoman shcbeendoin'tome (oh Lord)

Dsus4 D Dsus2/C G Dsu64D

B6s substitutes B6s Fill I simile

E znd cuitrr solo (3:aa)

Dsus4 D Dsus4 D Dsus2/C
Ctr 2 play, Rht. Fte. Ia ttut." n e !\ec bar' .

Bassplays Basr Fig. 2

G Dsus4D

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 *G[If'TYIIUSEE"
Ca['tyou
Dsus2/o/C Dsus4/C Dsus2/C G Dsus4 D

. Tap oh bobt vith pickjng hand.

etitar

E 4th chorus (4107)

see whoa can'tyousoowhallhat womanLod sh6beendoin'lo me Can'tyousec
D Dsus4 D D5/C G D Dsus4D Dsus2
Ctr. 3

. Note is onited in bd 94. ++ Nor. in Darehthes is Dtsed se@n l

nn.ontf t6 66: ftz t)

whoa can'lyou soe urhalthal womansfteteen doin'lo me Can'lyou$ee

D5/C G D Dsus4

BassrcpeatsB6s Fis. 3 (seebar 85)

whoash6'ssucha clazy lady ohthalwomanshebocndoin'lo me

(Can'lyousee) (whatlftat
wofianshcbesndoin'lomB) (Can'lyousec)
D Dsus4D Dsus2yc GD Dsus4 D
G0. I ptars Rhf. Fig. 3four tina simile (seebar 69) Gtr. I substitutes Rh!. FiI a 6ee belo'')
Gt. 2 ptdysRhy.Fia- lafuur timessinile (seehd 9)
Ctr. 3

R^s pt.tys BAs F!s. I lour thes tsee bar 9)

Rhy. Fi 4 l4:4oJ
cE.l /nI

!EIrr!s g@).
GUrrrB
*G[N'TYTIU
SEE"
Lold I can't stand il no mol€ 0n shebeendoin'lome
(Can'lyousee) (whatlhatwoman) (shebeendoin'loms}
Dsus4 D Dsus2yc G
Gtr. 1 substitutes Rhy. Fill 5 (see below)

l'ng0nna take a lrelohl tr.in right dowl al lhe slalion Lod

(Can'tyou
see) (can'tyousee) (whatthal
Dsus4D Dsus4 D osus2/C

Bass subsutute\ Rlts Fll2 tsee belo||)

Ain't novsr comin' backwhoa Gonnadde mea soulhbound

tdoman) (shebeendoin'toms) (Can'l
yousoo) (can'tyousoo)
GD Dsus4 D Dsus4 D

Bass substitutes B6s Fill 2 (see below)

all the wayto GGorgiaLoid 'liltho trainit runouttalracl Lofll

(whatthatwomar) (sheheer doin'to ms)
Dsus2/C G D Dsus4D
Gtt. 1 substituta Rhy. Fill 6 (see belou)

E 3rdcuitar solo (5:17)

0sus4 D Dsus4 D Dsus2/C
Gtr. 2 pla),s Rhy. Fia. la one an.l a haAtine't sihile (see bar 9)

Bats plays Bass Fig. 2 sinile (see bar 53)

Rhy. Fi||5 (4:49) Rb). Fi 6 l5:t2)

Gtr. I Gh..l G

210

BassFiI 2 (4:52,5:o3J
(D)

S@ euttn"
""tt*os
 *G[N'TYIIUSEE"

E outro (5:ao)
D

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 *WHAT,S
YllURI{AME"tYl{YBD
SKYI{YRD
As fieardon STR.EET SURVMRS (McA)
wo s andMusicbycary Rossington and Rorurieva zanrt+ Trdnscribedh ChrisAmeler bnd Michad Duclos

c{5 D5 F5 E5 D5 A5
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?FEFFl IT tlEsfr FFFFtr'ofr+FwoTFFFFF]?t FFFT-FI
FFEFF

FEFF E]:lE
H+IH H{l'q FFF
tarln
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D5 G7 C5 C{5 D5 F{5 G5
.JI
FFITF l..rT?ts # i''i+i ffi.,, tr!trIsfi FFE+ 3fr t.lm?fr t]:m
IEEEE t4+fl itfrF tEStt ffi L|un $55! FE4 Tffiffi
ffifll ffi ffi Effi $ftn l'+1,rl

I Iot o 1o,oo1
Moderately J = 136
cs c{sDs F$5G5
+Glrs. 1,2,and 3 (Vlishtdist.) Gtr. I substitutes Rht. FiU I
1

Everse (0:08,
0:5o,
2:29)
1.Well it's eight o'clock in Bobe ldaho
2. Back at lhe hohl lord $e got sucha mess
o'clock lhe nextday andI'm
3. Nine rcady lo go
A5 G5

I loundmy Limo d ver ilisler lake us to lhe show

It seems lhal oneol lhe creuhada go wilhone ol lhe guesls Ah yes
I got sil hundred mileslo de !0 d0 onemote sn0w 0h no
A5
Gtr. I substitutes Rhy. Fi 2

Rhr.FiU I \o:aal Rht.Fill2 \o:18,1.t$)

Crr I U5 ct!.1 E5 A5

{@ rurrm lrerrls
 *If,HAT'S
NUNI{AI{E"
I done made some plans for later on lonlght
Well lhe pollce said we can'i dink in the b whata shame
Can I ge't yo! I taxi home lt surc was glano
A5 G5 05

l'll tind a llttle queen and I know I can lrcal her right
Won'tya' corEup stairs gld and have a ddnk of champagne
WhenI come back hec nextyeaf I wanna see you acatn
; Piaao plars Fill I ttirsl line
G5A ^J Hods play nU 6 rhird ride

@ clo."" (0:36,
1r8,215,2:s4
What's yourn.me)
lvhats yourn.meI linb ghl Whal'syou name youslay
Shouldn't
Whatwasyour nane)
c5c*5D5 FISGS Gri I substitutesRhy-Fitl3 c5cf5 D5
Pioao plays fill2first t'|o tines

lt.,3. go back to @ ve6e I

linb gll won't you do the s€me
Inle Eid for therc ain'l no
F5 E5 D5 A5 C5 85 A5

FiU I lO:33) FiU 2 10:39,1:221

(4 (c) 't5-15-
1515151515 15 15-
1515151515 14 13- 12-13-

FiU6 \2:54) R ). fillJ (0:39,1:24,2:19,3:01)

(A) Ctr. I
cs c+5D5

currrr r,EcEID!@P
*IYHAT'S
YIIUR
NAtrIE"
2.4 What's your name
ont!)(Whalwasyoutname)
(onlth.hotus
c5 c{505

2nd time, skip ahead to @

Shouldn't you llttle glrl won't you do lhe same
cs cfsD5 F*5G5

@ c,'it"" soto 1r,461

J5-15-t5-
15+15+15+
-15 16-15 16-15 16

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 *WHAT'S
YIIUR
IfAME"
A5 G5 45

let ina

so backto@Chorus
Whai'syour name
c5 cf5D5

@ io,zz1 Whew
B b 5 A 5G 5 Bb5A5G5
/i

eorrrrlrerrls @
 *R[MBI.III' BROTIIERS
BAIID
MAII,,TttE
AIIMAII
As heardonBROTHERS AI\ID SISTERS (PoLYDoR)
words dnd Music blDickelBef,t + Ttans$ibed by Dave whitehill

c DG
'.ffi'" Em Fb EM

ffi'" ii#'" ffi'" FFFFtr

n-rlll

@ Iot"o 1oool
FastRock .l = 184
N.c.(G) (D)

1^ ,11

*All et6. are elec. lightdist.

E]kt Chorus(o:05)
Lord I was 00n a ramblln' man Tryin' to makea
llvin' and
G c G
*Gtr. I

*Guitar's voLune contol tumed lowe/Jol cho/.! plarire

doin' lhebosl I But when il's lime tor leavin'

c c

C O P Y R I C H (TC ) 1 9 7 3D Y U N I C H

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 *N.[MB[IN'MAN
hope you'll understand lhal I vas bom a ramblin' man
Em D G
15

E] 1st and 2nd Verses (0:26,

1:3s)
l. My hf|et was a gambler 00|n in Georgia An' he
on my w8ylo New orleans lhis mornin'
GC6 G

ud Bas Fig.2 RassFig. 3

w0un0 uP on the wrcn9 end ol a gun And

Leavin' out ol tiashville Tennesse€ TheyIe
D
25G

I was bom in the back seat of a Gcyhound bus rollin' down

always havin' . good time down on lhe Bayou Lord Them Della women lhink
c uEm c G
00'
29

Bassplals Bass Fig.2 sinile (seebar 13)

pj2nd and 3rd Choruses (o:47,

1:56)
highvray lony
the worldof Lod uas 00n a ramblin'

34D
F c

Bassplays Bass Fig. I (see bar5)

currrr!EerrDs.5@)
*N.[MB[II|'MAN"
man Tryin'lomake
a llvin' and doin' the besl
39G .c

Bul nhen il's lime for leavin' I nope you'll understand

c G Em

Bassplarsf6tJout ba6 of Bdss FiE.2 (see bar I3)

2nd tine. skip aheod nE

lhal I

(1:08)

D N.C.
Glr.2
I

E lst Guitar Solo (1r4)

G
Gr. 3
Lis G--dst ri rz is-rs-iz

Bass plals Bass Fig- 3 simile (see bar2l )

@F enttn"t"tt*os
 *RAMBI.IN'MA
Alrloht
6t- D

2' 12-14-

so back to E
2. t'm

E] rzror @ outro-clorus \2:17)

Lord I wasbom a ramblin'
c

LOrd DOn a ramblln' man

G F c

Rass repeats Bass Fi8. 4 three tircs 3

Bas! rcpeats Bass Fig. .1 simile

(2:50)
Gtrs. J aad 2 reped| tidd Ft8. I unnl{ade GtB. 5 and 6 plat FiU I until fade

GUrrrr
rEeErDs
3@)
*RATIBIII|'MAN"
E 2ndcuitar solo (3:oo)
GtA. 3 an'14 repeat l2ad Fis.2 untilf.lde

rtr l (3:co)
Crr.5

repeat until fade

S@ tulrrn lrcrrls
 *NAMBIII|'MAN

Bass repeats Bass Fie. 5 sinile *C stita Eets 'cataht up un Lr tip ofnB fnger.
"atilJade

10 10 10-J10-10-

surrrr!EGExDs
5@l
*N"[MB[II{'MAN"

ll I ll

I r^ .-l-\ .)-:
fl.(n 15 1r (14_ 17 17

@ totrrr lrerrls