True to 'Freebird!' form

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

From left, Rickey Medlocke, Johnny Van Zant and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd performed in May in Nashville. The pioneering Southern-rock band has seen tragedy and triumph, and is an enduring presence on the music scene. Skynyrd headlines the BayFest entertainment Monday night. Associated Press photos

Papa Roach, which will perform tonight at BayFest, is an alt-metal rock band whose latest CD is "Getting Away with Murder.

Neo-traditionalist country star Brad Paisley performs Sunday.

The duo Montgomery Gentry (from left, Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry) headlines the entertainment Saturday at BayFest.

McKenna Motors Bayfest 2005 5 p.m.-2 a.m. today, noon-2 a.m. Saturday-Sunday, noon-midnight Monday Headliners in concert at 9:15 p.m.: Papa Roach today, Montgomery Gentry on Saturday, Brad Paisley on Sunday, Lynyrd Skynyrd on Monday Marine Corps Base Hawai'i, near Kane'ohe $15 general, $10 kids 4-10 after 5 p.m. today-Monday at the gate; $5 and $3 before 5 p.m. Saturday-Monday at the gate; $10 and $7.50 ($8 group rate) through Ticketmaster; free for keiki 3 and younger (877) 750-4400, ticketmaster.com

"Yeah, sometimes I'll do it. It's fun when we do it ourselves," said Rossington, laughing, discussing the taunt/Skynyrd tribute inspired by the pioneering Southern rock band's nine-minute 1973 rock epic.

Lead-vocalist-since-1987 Johnny Van Zant — younger brother of "Freebird" co-author and still much beloved Skynyrd founding lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant — has admitted yelling it at a Cher concert. Rossington didn't say at what poor band's concert he'd last invoked the song's name.

"All that I can say is that it's a big compliment to hear people doing that," he said, via telephone from a New York Skynyrd tour stop. "I've heard it on TV. I've heard it in crowds. Even at a ballgame, somebody will scream out 'Freebird!' "

The memory of a greeting card depicting a drunk with a lighter yelling "Freebird!" at wedding musicians still cracks Rossington up.

The song itself?

"I love it," said Rossington, seriously. "A lot of people might think playing it would be monotonous by now and we'd be tired of it. But every night, it's like playing it brand new again. We dedicate it to the guys who aren't with us anymore and the original band members — all of the freebirds.

"It's got as much energy as it ever had. It's a magic song, you know?"

Yup, we all know a good ol' good ol' boy anthem when we hear one, too, Mr. Rossington. And no one showing up at Lynryrd Skynyrd's July Fourth BayFest Hawai'i headlining gig will have to resort to hollering "Freebird!" to get Rossington & Co. to play it.

Back in the day ...

It's a rock 'n' roll formula for the ages.

Hold any group of musicians together for more than three decades, and its successes, setbacks, tragedies and rebirths are bound to multiply like gators in an untamed bayou. Lynyrd Skynyrd has had its share of all of these, and then some.

Founded by Jacksonville, Fla., friends Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Allen Collins and Rossington while still in high school in 1964, Lynyrd Skynyrd a decade later was Southern rock royalty.

Propelled by FM rock radio hits like the Duane Allman tribute "Freebird" and swamp-boogie stomper "Sweet Home Alabama," Skynyrd's first pair of albums — "Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd" and "Second Helping" — sold millions. With one platinum and three gold albums to its credit in October 1977, the band was looking forward to its first Madison Square Garden headlining gig in November and a tour-ending Honolulu show in February 1978.

Skynyrd wouldn't make either.

On Oct. 20, 1977, Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister vocalist Cassie Gaines, road manager Dean Kilpatrick and two others were killed when the band's rented plane crashed into a wooded swamp near Gillsburg, Miss. Four other Skynyrd members were seriously injured. Rossington broke his leg and sufffered a severe concussion.

With the band's heart, soul and lead voice Ronnie Van Zant gone, none of the surviving members even pondered continuing on at the time.

"Allen Collins and myself thought that we were just gonna stop at first," remembered Rossington. "We were so hurt. Our minds were blown and our hearts were broken. ... We kind of freaked out for a year or so.

"Me and Allen and Ronnie were best friends. Ronnie, Dean, Steve and Cassie were only in their 20s at the time of the plane crash.

"I still miss their friendship, their companionship and just the normal kind of human-being stuff. We had a great time writing together and playing. Things like that get you real close. ... When you hang out with people 24 hours a day for years, it's hard all of a sudden when they're just gone."

A handful of band members got together in 1978 to form the Rossington Collins Band, but stayed away from playing Skynyrd songs.

"We didn't want to get away from the name or the music," said Rossington. "We just wanted to get away from that band, because we were no longer that band at the time."

Encouraged by promoters, founding members Rossington, keyboardist Billy Powell and bassist Leon Wilkeson finally agreed to a six-week "tribute" tour in 1987. Johnny Van Zant, who'd had minor success as a solo artist in the early part of the decade, was asked to take his brother's place as lead vocalist.

Eighteen years later, Lynyrd Skynyrd, part deux, still hasn't called it quits on that six-week tour.

No end in sight

Not content to rest on its musical legacy, the band has continued to write, record and, more importantly, sell new music since reforming.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's most recent CD, 2003's "Vicious Cycle," peaked at No. 30 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart. A single, "Red, White & Blue," hit No. 27 on the magazine's mainstream rock chart.

Keyboardist Powell and Rossington are the only founding Skynyrd members still touring with the band. But the 53-year-old Rossington promised Skynyrd was far from calling it quits.

The band is currently writing material for a 2006 disc of all-new material. And thanks to classic-rock radio's near nonstop spinning of "Alabama" and "Freebird" over the years, twenty- and thirtysomethings remain a large segment of Skynyrd's concert audience.

"Maybe a few years down the road, we'll think of doing a farewell tour or something," said Rossington. "But we don't want to be like the Eagles or a lot of bands that have done two or three years worth of goodbye tours."

Rossington chuckled.

"I think by the fourth or fifth goodbye tour, people are over it."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.