We write stories about common people and common things. That's what Skynyrd always is about - the real working class of America.

We have to make a living, sure, but it's about the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd and what it stands for, what the fans are all about.

Some of the songs on the radio are really outrageous. I listen to the lyric. If the lyric doesn't make sense, I don't like the song.

It is a scary world out there, and believe me that if someone were to try to come into my house, I want to be able to protect myself.

I think country music is Lynyrd Skynyrd. I think a lot of the country music is what we do, but I don't think rock & roll is dead at all.

I saw B.B. King in concert one time where he had this guy that would bring him out a glass of water and towel to wipe his forehead with.

When we were kids, we said the Pledge of Allegiance because we were proud of this country, and we said prayer. You know, we thanked the good Lord above.

We have fans that come up all the time and say, 'This song helped me through this tough time in my life' or whatever. The music helps us through it, too.

We are not saying that every idiot out there should own a gun - and there should be better background checks on guns. Not everybody should have the right.

Some of the country stuff in the past has been so polished - if you were a guy with a nice pair of jeans, a big belt buckle and nice hat, you were country.

I was a Skynyrd fan before I was approached to be a part of Skynyrd, and they always ended it with 'Free Bird,' so I've been watching it since I was a kid.

My dad was a truck driver. We all used to ride along with him. And the way he'd keep awake was to sing while he was going down the road. So we all joined in.

I was a Skynyrd fan all along. But I was also the brother of the lead singer who passed on. I just didn't want to do anything that would harm the band's name.

Lynyrd Skynyrd has always been about writing songs and talking to people through them. That's what we do, and that's what we'll keep doing for as long as we can.

I kinda feel that my brother wrote some of the best country lyrics ever - 'The Ballad of Curtis Loew,' 'Mississippi Kid' and that little hit 'Sweet Home Alabama.'

My favorite singers in the world have been black singers, and you can go to any church and hear the best singers in the world - and I'm a singer, and I love singing!

Lynyrd Skynyrd has always been a bunch of rowdy, crazy people, but we love our fans, and that's what the music is all about: touching them. Touching them touches us.

I like George W. At a time when this country was hit hard, he stood up for America. He's been the leader of the free world during the hardest time America's ever had.

I think people relate to Skynyrd; it's a working class band. They're just songs with messages. To this day, there's never been a song written that didn't have a message.

People are asking us, 'Why have you gone country?' And we say, 'Man, we were born country.' They gave us the tag 'Southern rock' years ago as a way of not saying country.

Johnny Colt is a character, and most people in Lynyrd Skynyrd are characters, so he fits in great with us. He's got an attitude, man, and I love it, and that's what we need.

On our Web site, we have people complaining about us not playing new stuff. But there's so many classic Lynyrd Skynyrd songs, you can't go out and just do a bunch of new things.

David Allan Coe actually went to jail one time. Some fan cursed Lynyrd Skynyrd, and David Allan Coe kicked his teeth in. He ran and kicked a guy's teeth in for saying something about Lynyrd Skynyrd.

If people want to own a rifle or something like that for hunting purposes only, I tend to agree with that. But semi-automatic weapons and handguns, that's just unreal. I mean, what good are handguns?

We have a lot of friends who are hunters. And you know what? Come hunting season, man, they head to the woods, you know. And again, this country was built on God and guns, folks. I mean, it really was.

If it wasn't for Al Kooper, there might not be a Lynyrd Skynyrd. He's the one who found us at Pinocchio's in Atlanta, Georgia, and signed us to Sounds Of The South through MCA, brought the band to attention.

We always joke that our road crew will have to wheelchair us up onstage soon because this is what we do. This is what we love to do. This is what God put us on earth to do until the day we take our last breath.

Everybody in Lynyrd Skynyrd loves different styles of music, and our minds are very open when it comes to writing our songs and making the band true to what the band is, but also stepping out and doing something current.

Two of my favorite bands, Blackberry Smoke and Black Stone Cherry, I just think both of those bands are a good new progressive kind of Southern Rock that's a little different than us but still has a rootsy thing going on.

When we are out on the road, running up and down the road playing shows, you have to be not only a member of a band but, especially with Lynyrd Skynyrd, you have to be a part of the Skynyrd nation. You have to be a part of the family.

Not every song of Lynyrd Skynyrd's was a single, but songs like 'Tuesday's Gone' and 'The Ballad of Curtis Loew' and 'Made in the Shade,' 'I Need You,' people learned those songs from the radio because radio played albums, not just singles.

Whatever people want to say, we go out there every night, and we give tribute to the songs that my brother wrote, to Ronnie and Allen Collins and Steve Gaines and Leon Wilkeson and everybody. We pay tribute every night to those people who have gone on.

Our newest member is Johnny Colt, who was bass player with The Black Crowes. Colt fits right in with us. He's loony as heck, and so are we. We have a great time and love doing what we do. I hope Johnny is with us for a long, long time. He is quite the guy.

We go to Europe, and they think we're totally prejudiced 'cause we hang the bars and stripes. But for us, the bars and stripes doesn't mean we want to see anybody in slavery or anything like that. It's just our heritage. To us, the bars and stripes means grits, 'y'all,' and the beauty of the South. There's no prejudice at all in that with us.

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