How Lynyrd Skynyrd Are Honoring Gary Rossington’s Final Wish

Before
his

death
in
March
2023,
Gary
Rossington
—
the
last
original
member
of

Lynyrd
Skynyrd —
told
his
bandmates
that
he
wanted
the
legendary
Southern
rock
group
to
live
on.

“He
knew
his
health
was
getting
bad,”
Johnny
Van
Zant,
the
current
lead
singer
of
the
group,
tells Fox
News
Digital.

“And
he
told
me, ‘I’ve
spent
my
life
carrying
on
this
legacy,
and
after
I’m
gone,
I
don’t
want
to
see
this
band
go
away.'”

That’s
when
they
brought
in
Damon
Johnson,
a
guitarist
who’d
previously
been
a
member
of
Alice
Cooper’s
band
and
Thin
Lizzy.

Johnson
first
started
performing
with
Lynyrd
Skynyrd
in
2021,
when
Rossington
was
recovering
from
emergency
heart
surgery.
But
Van
Zant
says
that
he
was
being
prepped
to
take
Rossington’s
place
before
he
stepped
up
to
join
the
group
on
a
regular
basis.

“Gary
kind
of
mentored
him,
you
know,
some,
and
came
to
rehearsal,”
Van
Zant
remembers.

“He
wanted
this
music
to
go
on,
man,”
he
continues. “I
don’t
think
me
and
Rickey
[Medlocke]
would
be
here
if
Gary
said, ‘Hey,
after
I’m
gone,
I
want
this
to
go
away.’
So
we’re
carrying
out
his
wishes
as
long
as
we
can.”

• Rossington
  joined
  Ronnie
  Van
  Zant
  and
  Allen
  Collins
  to
  form
  My
  Backyard
  in
  1964.
  The
  group
  was
  a
  precursor
  to
  Lynyrd
  Skynyrd.
• He
  was
  among
  the
  survivors
  of
  the
  plane
  crash
  that
  killed
  much
  of
  the
  band
  in
  1977,
  later
  leading
  the
  re-invented
  group
  into
  the
  21st
  century.
• Johnny
  Van
  Zant
  —
  who
  took
  over
  for
  brother
  Ronnie
  in
  1987
  —
  is
  now
  the
  longest
  tenured
  member
  of
  the
  group.

Read
More:

Remember
the
Horrifying
Plane
Crash
That
Nearly
Destroyed
Lynyrd
Skynyrd?

The
group’s
commitment
to
honoring
Rossington’s
legacy
is
also
the
reason
they
put
out
their
live
album, Celebrating
50
Years
—
Live
at
the

Ryman
last
week.
The
live
record
features
special
appearances
from

Jelly
Roll,

Marcus
King,
the

Brothers
Osborne‘s
John
Osborne
and
Shinedown’s
Brent
Smith.

Read
More:

Watch
Lynyrd
Skynyrd
Give
Gary
Rossington’s
Guitar
to
an
Emotional
Jelly
Roll

“This
was
never
supposed
to
be
a
live
release.
It
was
done
for
PBS,”
Van
Zant
explains.
But
that
show
turned
out
to
be
Rossington’s
very
last
with
the
band.

“And
after
Gary
passed,
we
were
like, ‘You
know
what?
We
think
all
the
fans
need
to
have
this
in
their
collection,'”
he
continues,
saying
he
thinks
Rossington
would
be “very
proud”
of
the
album.