SKYNYARD NATION
Lynyard Skynyrd Returns From Tragedy to Rock with ‘God & Guns’

BY ELEANOR MCCOLLOCH

Whether you’re just old enough to start borrowing your parents records in order to burn them into mp3s for your iPhone, or you’re so old there’s a little black and white dog that looks into your cylinder phonograph while you adjust your ear trumpet, there are a slew of upcoming shows that will get your Walkman rocking.

With Daryl Hall & John Oates (Sunday, May 30 at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, 1806 N.E. Sixth St., Pompano Beach); Yes and Peter Frampton, (Tuesday, June 8 at the Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Boulevard, West Palm Beach.); and Jethro Tull with Ian Hunter (Friday, June 4, Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton) all playing this week it was quite hard to decide which glory days of rock to write about.

But it had to be the trifecta of the classic rock station in the flesh: Lynyrd Skynyrd on a “God & Guns Tour” with Bret Michaels of Poison (health permitting) and 38 Special, on June 10, that jumped out ahead.

Although 38 Special is clearly there for purposes of comic relief, it is a bittersweet tour for the remaining legendary rockers in Lynyard Skynyrd.

“God & Guns,” released in September, was Lynyard Skynyrd’s first new studio album since 2003’s “Vicious Cycle,” and was recorded over the preceding year in Nashville.

However, the deaths of founding member/keyboardist Billy Powell and longtime bassist Ean Evans last year came as a sad, albeit, familiar, blow to the process.

After forming in Jacksonville in 1964, the band’s work was halted for a decade when, in 1977, a plane crash killed three band members —Ronnie Van Zant, and Steve and Cassie Gaines. The band later lost Allen Collins, Leon Wilkeson and Hughie Thomasson.

But the Skynyrd train kept chuggin on, until last year, when the band faced another morbid setback part of the way through recording “God & Guns” with the loss of Powell and Evans. They returned to the studio after the death of Powell (whose keyboards grace more than half the songs on “God & Guns”) powered by core members Gary Rossington (guitar), Johnny Van Zant (vocals) and Rickey Medlocke (guitar), along with longtime drummer Michael Cartellone.

Now with more than 60 albums and sales exceeding $30 million, Lynyrd Skynyrd rocks out for all members of the ‘Skynyrd Nation’ — past and future.
 
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bret Michaels and 38 Special will perform at 7 p.m., on June 10 at Cruzan Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansbury’s Way, West Palm Beach. Tickets are $19 to $53.50, and available at ticketmaster.com or by calling 561-795-8883.

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