“He said, ‘I never want the band to go by the wayside and the music just disappear’”: Rickey Medlocke defends Lynyrd Skynyrd’s decision to continue with no original members

We’re in an era now where many bands from the proverbial ‘golden age of rock n’ roll’ are not quite so golden anymore. Time, in the end, gets to us all.

As such, several bands on the touring circuit rely on newer, younger members to keep their legacies going – Judas Priest are a fine example of that. Meanwhile, bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd continue to exist without original members in their line-ups.

Guitarist Gary Rossington, who founded the Southern rock legends in 1964, passed away last year, and in a fresh interview, his former co-electric guitar player Rickey Medlocke has defended the band’s decision to continue in his wake.

Talking to WDHA FM (via Ultimate Guitar), he mentions how, on several occasions, it was clear Rossington was “struggling to be on the road”.

However, Medlocke says Rossington would turn to his bandmates and say: “‘I never want the band to go by the wayside, and the music just disappear along with myself and the rest of the original guys, only to just be heard on the radio, or just be heard by cover bands.'

“So when [his passing] happened,” Medlocke expands, “Johnny [Van Zant, vocals] and I talked.”

Rickey Medlocke - Freebird Solo - 6/3/16 - YouTube

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He says “it was a hard decision”, but asserts that “the one thing that was really powerful” was their fan’s reaction to the news.

“When it did happen,” he explains, “tens of thousands of stuff rolled in on the Skynyrd website, and each one of our websites and Facebook and Instagram. The one deciding factor was the fans always said, 'Please don't let this be the end of it.'”

Buoyed by fan power, he and Van Zant set the wheels in motion: “Let's go to all the people that are involved… let's see if we can't work it out, to where we take the band out, and we continue as Lynyrd Skynyrd.”

On the surface, it’s easy to deride a band without any original members as a mere cover act. However, Medlocke holds firm on his belief that the band remains an authentic experience.

“Look, our time in the band, it is Lynyrd Skynyrd,” he says,=. “Johnny, the original singer's little brother [has] been there since '87. I've been back with the band since '96 – going on 29 years now, two and a half years in the very beginning. So my tenure is over 30 years with the band.”