Lynyrd Skynyrd

Twenty is the ninth studio album by Lynyrd Skynyrd released in 1997. The title of the album refers to the fact that it had been twenty years since the plane crash which killed original lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backup singer Cassie Gaines. For this album the band brought in two Southern rock veterans, Rickey Medlocke, who had been a drummer for the band briefly before forming Blackfoot, and Hughie Thomasson of the Outlaws. The track "Travelin' Man" is the first studio recording of the song from the original band's 1976 live album One More From The Road. Making use of modern technology, the band was able to use original singer Ronnie Van Zant's vocal tracks on parts of the song, in order to create a duet between Johnny and Ronnie. The Album Cover is a fictional drawing of Monument Valley on the Navajo reservation.

Second Helping brought Lynyrd Skynyrd mass success and for the follow-up they offered Nuthin' Fancy. It was a self-deprecating title for a record that may have offered more of the same, at least on the surface, but was still nearly peerless as a Southern rock record. The biggest difference with this record is that the band, through touring, has become heavier and harder, fitting right in with the heavy album rock bands of the mid-'70s. The second notable difference is that Ronnie Van Zant may have been pressed for material, since there are several songs here that are just good generic rockers. But he and Skynyrd prove that what makes a great band great is how they treat generic material, and Skynyrd makes the whole of Nuthin' Fancy feel every bit as convincing as their first two records.

Having endured the loss of yet another bandmember with the passing of original bassist Leon Wilkeson, Skynyrd picks up the pieces yet again and delivers the goods the way only it can. Lyrically, the band hasn't stretched out its list of topics in any new directions, but quite honestly, who cares? This is Skynyrd. This isn't music to study to or scratch your chin by – this isn't the soundtrack to relaxing nights sipping instant coffee and talking about deep feelings. This is homegrown music that's about partying and rock & roll, with a little bit of contemplative soul-searching mixed in for good measure. The music is still top-notch, probably the best it's been since the early '90s.

On August 21, 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd took the stage at Knebworth Park in England as part of a daylong festival. With Ronnie Van Zant on vocals and the Rossington/Collins/Gaines triple guitar attack, Lynyrd Skynyrd delivered an electric performance in front of a crowd estimated between 150,000 and 200,000, which has gone down as one of the band's greatest performances…

The first compilation to cover the entire career-all "thyrty" years-of the quintessential Southern rock band! That means tracks for the Atlantic, Capricorn and Sanctuary labels as well as the classic MCA material; includes Free Bird; Sweet Home Alabama; Gimme Three Steps; Saturday Night Special; Tuesday's Gone; That Smell; You Got That Right; Gimme Back My Bullets (live); All I Could Do Is Write About It; Workin' , and more, even an unreleased, 10-minute blues medley from 1970. Over 150 minutes available for a limited time only!

The Allman Brothers came first, but Lynyrd Skynyrd epitomized Southern rock. The Allmans were exceptionally gifted musicians, as much bluesmen as rockers. Skynyrd was nothing but rockers, and they were Southern rockers to the bone. This didn't just mean that they were rednecks, but that they brought it all together - the blues, country, garage rock, Southern poetry - in a way that sounded more like the South than even the Allmans. And a large portion of that derives from their hard, lean edge, which was nowhere more apparent than on their debut album, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd. Produced by Al Kooper, there are few records that sound this raw and uncompromising, especially records by debut bands…

So named because this consists of Skynyrd's earliest recordings and was released after the tragic plane crash, thereby seeming to close the door on the band's career, Skynyrd's First and… Last is more than a simple historic curiosity, but not too much more. This music is more notable for being interesting - in how it's possible to hear Ronnie VanZant coming into his own as a writer, or hearing future Blackfoot leader Ricky Medlocke's early songs - than it is for being good, which it certainly is. Taken on its own, separated from the rest of the group's catalog, this would likely be seen as a great forgotten hard rock album from an obscure Southern outfit, but since Skynyrd went on to greater things, this winds up as a footnote - enjoyable, yes, but not quite necessary.