Personalities | Lynyrd Skynyrd | Country Rock & The Outlaws | Country

(Vocal/istrumental group, 1970s–present)

Lynyrd Skynyrd were finally recognized as the major influence on country music that they were when the tribute album Lynyrd Frynds was released in 1994. At last artists such as Alabama, Hank Williams Jr., Travis Tritt, Steve Earle, Charlie Daniels and Wynonna Judd acknowledged how much they had borrowed from the Jacksonville, Florida, band that buried some classic country songwriting beneath their three-guitar onslaught. Lead singer and chief lyricist Ronnie Van Zant (1949–77) wrote about the same kind of blue-collar workers, beer joints and rocky marriages as his fellow southerners in the honky-tonk and Outlaw movements did and with a vividness matched only by a few. Lead guitarists Gary Rossington (b. 1951) and Allen Collins (1952-90) invented fetching hillbilly melodies that turned songs such as ‘Free Bird’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ into southern anthems.

Styles & Forms | Country Rock & The Outlaws | Country
Personalities | Wes McGhee | Country Rock & The Outlaws | Country

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

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