Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9507030124
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIRA L. BILLIK ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And that's what Southern rock stalwarts Lynyrd Skynyrd did for their latest, ``Endangered Species.''
The band's 16th album is a mixture of current songs written with singer Johnny Van Zant and older material written with Van Zant's late brother, Ronnie, who was killed in the 1977 plane crash that also took the lives of guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister, back-up singer Cassie Gaines.
Original guitarist Gary Rossington said that unplugging Lynyrd Skynyrd was not an attempt to jump on any bandwagon. All of the group's material begins on acoustic guitar, he said, and then gets transferred to electric.
But the current acoustic mindset started when former guitarist Randall Hall broke his finger before the release of 1993's ``The Last Rebel.'' Part of the tour backing that album was scrapped, so Rossington, Van Zant and guitarist Ed King hit the radio station circuit.
``We did acoustics and we just found it to be a lot of fun,'' Rossington said in an interview last fall from his new home in Jackson Hole, Wyo. ``So we went back home and wrote some new songs and it just all came out acoustic.''
Rossington calls playing acoustically more intimate.
``When we sat down at radio stations and played acoustic, we kind of got back with the people,'' he said in his rich Southern accent. ``That's what this band was always about the working-class people, and anything we wrote or sang about, you knew what it was about, whether you liked it or not.
``I think people relate to simple stuff easier.''
Rossington thinks audiences want to get back to music's roots, hence the proliferation of unplugged albums, the popularity of country music and the success of a current tour featuring the Allman Brothers and other rootsy bands.
``I think everything's going back to the roots,'' he said, ``and that's why Southern music came back around, because people wanted to see the real deal. They're tired of all the fakes and stuff, because it's so easy to just get some gimmicks. We always use the music for our gimmick.''
Hearing some of Lynyrd Skynyrd's classics stripped down is a refreshing insight into how they initially were created. ``Sweet Home Alabama'' has a front-porch vibe to it, leaving plenty of sonic room for the clear, lovely voices of backing singers Dale Krantz-Rossington (Rossington's wife) and Debbie Davis.
The anti-handgun missive ``Saturday Night Special'' becomes darker and more ominous with the electricity gone. Van Zant's voice is hoarse and mournful as he tells two stories of people who thought too little and shot too quickly.
Rossington says the band has been criticized for the song, and during its tour last year with pro-gun activist Ted Nugent, he said they received death threats.
``I'd say we've gotten a lot of flak for that song, but a lot of praise, too,'' he said. ``Besides, it's just the way we feel. Handguns, really, they ain't good for nothing but killing people. I think that if you're carrying one, you're going to shoot somebody, not something.
``It's crazy out there, but there's a lot of people who think since it's so crazy, they should have a gun. And I can see that - if they've got one, you should have one, too, so to speak. But it's just a hard thing to figure out. I don't know all the answers - I'm better off out here with the birds and the elk,'' he said with a laugh.
Johnny Van Zant's ``Devil in the Bottle'' and his brother's ``Poison Whiskey'' fit together nicely as warnings against the perils of alcohol. Rossington said the band had its problems with the bottle.
``We got smart and quit,'' he said. ``If you drink, it just always ends up trouble. You always end up hurting the ones you love. ''
Johnny Van Zant's ``All I Have Is a Song'' says that music makes its creator immortal. It's especially poignant considering Lynyrd Skynyrd's ill-fated history, but Rossington sees it another way.
``You get seven guys and a crew and singers - everybody's got their own lives,'' he said. ``You see lots of tragedy and life experiences happen to all [of] them. If you took any seven people out of a town and wrote about them every day, you'd see their lives would have ups and downs, too.''
\ Lynyrd Skynyrd: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Roanoke Civic Center coliseum. With Tesla and Bloodline. Tickets, $15, $13.50 in advance, at box office (981-1201), Ticketmaster outlets (cash only) or charge-by-phone (343-8100).
by CNB