Lynyrd Skynyrd: ‘Genuine Southern hell-raising’
by Bill Brina, The Knickerbocker News, June 19, 1975
Lynyrd Skynyrd, the North Florida band with an aggressive pro-Dixie stance and an unspellable, unpronounceable name, drew about 12,000 to SPAC Tuesday night for an evening of genuine Southern hell-raising.
Atlantis, an out-of-place German band, opened with a brief set before Wet Willie, another Southern band, settled in to warm up the audience with a solid hour of blues, gospel, honk and boogie. Wet Willie’s improved enormously over the past two years since their last area appearance. The band has matured into a crisp, confident crew of entertainers, fronted by vocalists Jack and Donna Hall, who richly deserved the two encores an eager audience demanded.
So much for prologue. In a brief interview right before the band came on, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s leader, writer and lead singer, Ronnie Van Zant, had discussed the sources of the band’s music and had explained the political content—or rather the lack thereof—of the band’s repertoire.
There’s always been a tinge or coloring of aggressive Southern populism in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s stance, most noticeably, of course. in the band’s controversial hit single, “Sweet Home Alabama.”
That’s what they’d come for, and that’s what Ronnie gave them. The musicians in the band are competent but hardly exceptional; certainly there are no virtuosos among them. Their only musical claim to fame, the presence of three lead guitarists, has been negated by the recent (hopefully temporary) departure of Ed King because of exhaustion.
The musicians do play well together, but the major attraction is Van Zant. Despite his lack of education and schooling (a lack that he seemed compelled to mention to both the press and then the general audience as well), the man’s a true artist.
Working within the seemingly constricting confines of the rock and roll singer role, he creates miniature dramas of the Southern male confronting whiskey, boredom, challenges to his manhood, weapons and effete Northern snobs. Handling each in turn, this potent specimen can succumb only to his own untamable psyche. Though that myth’s been worked often before, Ronnie works it attractively and successfully. The audience loved it. In return, Ronnie and the band were effusive in their statements of love and praise for the audience’s responsiveness.
The band is apparently quite disturbed by the recent reports by New York City media that they have taken to backing Governor Wallace and will tour to promote that gentleman’s political ambitions. Ronnie stated vehemently that there is no truth to that rumor.
He readily admitted a respect and admiration for Mr. Wallace’s courage and perseverance, noting fondly that “he’s what we call a real rebel.” But he emphasized that “we disagree about a lot of things” and noted that “only one member of this band finished high school. I don’t know nothing about politics; in no way is this band political.”
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