Lynyrd Skynyrd (Undated photo: Jim McCrary, via UMe; used with permission)
Lynyrd Skynyrd are being celebrated with a new collection. The Southern rock legends are the subject of a 50-song set on 4-CDs, aptly titled Fyfty. The career-spanning release, that arrived on October 13, 2023, via Geffen/UMe Recordings, commemorates the enduring legacy of one of rock’s pre-eminent bands. Fans will trace the band’s roots by way of their early Muscle Shoals recordings through an abundance of iconic songs from the ’70s along with live cuts from the historic 1987 tribute show that ignited the band’s ensuing reunion. It continues with such fist-pumping latter-era tracks like “Last of a Dyin’ Breed” and “Last of the Street Survivors.” It concludes with a previously unreleased live performance of “Gimme Three Steps” that was culled from the band’s final show with co-founding guitarist Gary Rossington at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in November 2022. Listen to it—and several other tracks—below.
Fyfty comes housed in the sturdy, vinyl-size 12×12-inch format, with a gatefold jacket that holds a detailed 40-page booklet featuring opening notes penned by a longtime friend of the band—rock journalist, screenwriter, and director, Cameron Crowe—along with detailed liner notes and track-by-track analysis by Detroit rock journalist Gary Graff. Fyfty is also filled with unreleased photos of the original band and the reformed band.
Watch the lyric video for “Sweet Home Alabama” made especially for this new collection
From the label’s announcement: The legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd is etched in stone, and it is most readily accessible through the band’s deep, rich catalog of great songs — a half-century’s worth of material spread across 14 studio albums and myriad of compilations and live recordings that, over the years, have unearthed unreleased gems and rarities that have only served to enhance one of rock & roll’s richest bodies of work. “We just kind of notice what’s going on around us and write songs so people relate to them,” Rossington observed in the liner notes. “That’s always been our style. We learned that from Ronnie [Van Zant]; he always had a great way to take a subject and write a cool story around it so people could relate. We’re just trying to keep that going.”
Skynyrd’s story is a well-told tale of triumph amidst and over tragedies. After five years of touring small venues under assorted monikers with varying line-ups, the band officially became Lynyrd Skynyrd in Jacksonville, Fla. in 1969. The group’s handle, a sly twist on the name of a long hair-hating high-school gym teacher they all knew firsthand, Leonard Skinner. Skynyrd spent years honing its craft through relentless touring, hard living, and hot material including the down-home mission statement “Sweet Home Alabama” and the anthemic opus “Free Bird” — the latter represented here on Fyfty via a previously unreleased live version from the band’s performance at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 7, 1976. These and other iconic Skynyrd tracks like “What’s Your Name,” “Gimme Three Steps,” “Simple Man,” “Call Me The Breeze,” and “That Smell” all contributed to making the band one of America’s biggest acts by the mid-’70s.
The group’s ascent abruptly and tragically stopped on October 20, 1977, when the plane taking Skynyrd to its next show in Baton Rouge, La., crashed in a Mississippi forest, in turn killing three band members — vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines. Guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, bassist Leon Wilkeson, keyboardist Billy Powell, drummer Artimus Pyle, and backing vocalist Leslie Hawkins were all seriously injured, but all survived. As a beyond tragic result, Lynyrd Skynyrd ceased to be for a decade.
The band’s re-emergence in 1987 for what was supposed to be a one-off tribute tour was surprising and controversial — until the group hit the stage, that is. With younger brother Johnny Van Zant now out front — of whom Ronnie had told others was the best singer in the family — Lynyrd Skynyrd became a formidable force once again, releasing nine more studio albums to date and continuing to do what they do best out on the road. Skynyrd also welcomed a myriad of additional band members to the ranks to carry the torch as others sadly passed on — namely, Collins in 1990, Wilkeson in 2001, Powell in 2009, original guitarist Ed King in 1996, and, most recently, Gary Rossington, the last co-founding member, who died in March 2023.
As Johnny Van Zant wrote in the liner notes about his lifelong friend Gary, “We miss him so much. What kept me going was calling [Rossington] and having these conversations. He was my cheerleader. So now I’m gonna have to remember his voice to keep my spirits up and keep this thing going. . . as a tribute, and so people remember him and Ronnie and all the others who have been part of this.”
Listen to the previously unreleased live version of “Gimme Three Steps” from Rossington’s final concert
Skynyrd’s current lineup most recently joined forces with spiritual Southern brethren ZZ Top for their first co-headlining tour — cleverly dubbed The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour — in turn getting to rock out together in over 22 cities in North America over the summer. Lynyrd Skynyrd may not be done touring just yet, though they have previously described their ongoing run as a farewell tour. When they do announce more dates, tickets to see them are available here and here.
As Crowe succinctly pointed out in his opening comments in the Fyfty booklet, “through it all, doggedly making one authentically great record after another, Lynyrd Skynyrd had risen through the ranks to become one of America’s greatest bands.”
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Lynyrd Skynyrd: Fyfty 4-CD Track Listing
CD 1
1. Comin’ Home (Original Version)
2. I Ain’t The One
3. Gimme Three Steps
4. Tuesday’s Gone
5. Simple Man
6. Sweet Home Alabama
7. The Ballad Of Curtis Loew
8. Workin’ For MCA
9. On The Hunt
10. Made In The Shade
11. Whiskey Rock-A-Roller (Live)
12. All I Can Do Is Write About It (Acoustic Version)
13. Gimme Back My Bullets
14. Double Trouble
CD 2
1. Saturday Night Special (Live)
2. T For Texas (Blue Yodel No. 1) (Live)
3. Travelin’ Man (Live)
4. Free Bird (Live – Previously Unreleased)
5. What’s Your Name
6. You Got That Right
7. I Know A Little
8. Down South Jukin’
9. White Dove
10. Was I Right Or Wrong?
11. Georgia Peaches
12. Mr. Banker
CD 3
1. Call Me The Breeze (Live)
2. That Smell (Live)
3. Smokestack Lightning
4. Southern Women
5. The Last Rebel
6. Born To Run
7. Devil In The Bottle
8. Talked Myself Right Into It
9. Berneice
10. Voodoo Lake
11. Tomorrow’s Goodbye
CD 4
1. Mad Hatter
2. Pick ‘Em Up
3. Red White And Blue
4. Skynyrd Nation
5. Simple Life
6. Still Unbroken
7. God & Guns
8. Gifted Hands
9. Start Livin’ Life Again
10. Mississippi Blood
11. Last Of A Dyin’ Breed
12. Last Of The Street Survivors
13. Gimme Three Steps (Live – Previously Unreleased)
3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationI was listening to “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” the other day. Apparently one of his pals at camp grew up to be a teacher.
You remember Leonard Skinner . . .
He got Ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner
Ronnie would be so ashamed of these clowns, that call themselves Lynyrd Skynyrd!!! The tribute band is a joke! Now that Gary is gone, Lynyrd Skynyrd is officially dead…Ronnie and Gary couldn’t even stand Medlocke!!! And now he is part of the tribute band.
I always thought the tribute band was called Rossington Collins Band and the lead singer was Dale Crantz?