The Southern/Lynyrd Skynyrd Thread

[MadScreamingGallery]

First part of the thread: My all-time favorite southern rock band (and one of my very favorite bands ever) is the Allman Brothers. I've already written about the Allmans in the Allmans thread. http://forums.ledzeppelin.com//index.php?s...ic=3209&hl=

Next on my list of "southern" rock (southern is in quotes here because the band was from LA) is Little Feat. I saw them several times during the early '70's (some guys we knew in LA were talking about the band) and I still remember the buzz and excitement that surrounded the them. To this day, I still love to listen to Rock & Roll Doctor and remember dancing to that song at the Little Feat concerts:

Second part of the thread: I love the early, pre-crash Lynyrd Skynyrd. Another band that I was fortunate to see live before the tragedy. Despite articles like the one below, my husband and I are both unapologetic about our decades-long love for "Freebird".

March 17, 2005

Rock's Oldest Joke:

Yelling 'Freebird!'

In a Crowded Theater

It's a Request, a Rebuke,

A Cry From the Heart,

A Tribute to Skynyrd

By JASON FRY

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE

March 17, 2005

One recent Tuesday night at New York's Bowery Ballroom, the Crimea had just finished its second song. The Welsh quintet's first song had gone over fairly well, the second less so, and singer/guitarist Davey MacManus looked out at the still-gathering crowd.

Then, from somewhere in the darkness came the cry, "Freebird!"

It made this night like so many other rock 'n' roll nights in America.

"Freebird" isn't the Crimea's song; it's from the 1973 debut album by legendary Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band's nine-minute march from ruminative piano to wailing guitar couldn't be less like the Crimea's jagged punk-pop. But it was requested nonetheless.

Somebody is always yelling out the title. "I don't know that I've ever seen a show where it hasn't happened," says Bill Davis of the veteran country-punk band Dash Rip Rock.

"It's just the most astonishing phenomenon," says Mike Doughty, the former front man of the "deep slacker jazz" band Soul Coughing, adding that "these kids, they can't be listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd."

Yelling "Freebird!" has been a rock cliché for years, guaranteed to elicit laughs from drunks and scorn from music fans who have long since tired of the joke. And it has spread beyond music, prompting the Chicago White Sox organist to add the song to her repertoire and inspiring a greeting card in which a drunk holding a lighter hollers "Freebird!" at wedding musicians.

Bands mostly just ignore the taunt. But one common retort is: "I've got your 'free bird' right here." That's accompanied by a middle finger. It's a strategy Dash Rip Rock's former bassist Ned Hickel used. According to fans' accounts of shows, so have Jewel and Hot Tuna's Jack Casady. Jewel declines to comment. Mr. Casady says that's "usually not my response to those kind of things."

Others have offered more than the bird. On a recent live album, Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock declares that "if this were the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and you were going to die in 20 minutes -- just long enough to play 'Freebird' -- we still wouldn't play it." Dash Rip Rock often plays "Stairway to Freebird," a mash-up of the Skynyrd epic and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" that Mr. Davis boasts lasts "less than two minutes. ... You're finished before people get mad."

A few years ago, Mr. Doughty started promoting the Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men" as the new "Freebird," asking audiences at his solo shows to call for the disco chestnut instead. Now, he says, he gets yells for both songs at every performance.

A harsh reaction to "Freebird" came from the late comedian Bill Hicks during a Chicago gig in the early 1990s. On a bootleg recording of the show, Mr. Hicks at first just sounds irked. "Please stop yelling that," he says. "It's not funny, it's not clever -- it's stupid."

The comic soon works himself into a rage, but the "Freebirds" keep coming. "Freebird," he finally says wearily, then intones: "And in the beginning there was the Word -- 'Freebird.' And 'Freebird' would be yelled throughout the centuries. 'Freebird,' the mantra of the moron."

How did this strange ritual begin? "Freebird" is hardly obscure -- it's a radio staple consistently voted one of rock's greatest songs. One version -- and an important piece of the explanation -- anchors Skynyrd's 1976 live album "One More From the Road." On the record, singer Ronnie Van Zant, who was killed along with two other bandmates in a 1977 plane crash, asks the crowd, "What song is it you want to hear?" That unleashes a deafening call for "Freebird," and Skynyrd obliges with a 14-minute rendition.

To understand the phenomenon, it also helps to be from Chicago. When asked why they continue to request "Freebird," Mr. Hicks's tormentors yell out "Kevin Matthews!"

Kevin Matthews is a Chicago radio personality who has exhorted his fans -- the KevHeads -- to yell "Freebird" for years, and claims to have originated the tradition in the late 1980s, when he says he hit upon it as a way to torment Florence Henderson of "Brady Bunch" fame, who was giving a concert. He figured somebody should yell something at her "to break up the monotony." The longtime Skynyrd fan settled on "Freebird," saying the epic song "just popped into my head."

Mr. Matthews says the call was heeded, inspiring him to go down the listings of coming area shows, looking for entertainers who deserved a "Freebird" and encouraging the KevHeads to make it happen.

But he bemoans the decline of "Freebird" etiquette. "It was never meant to be yelled at a cool concert -- it was meant to be yelled at someone really lame," he says. "If you're going to yell 'Freebird,' yell 'Freebird' at a Jim Nabors concert."

Still, Mr. Matthews treasures his trove of recorded "Freebird" moments -- such as baffled comedian Elayne Boosler wondering why the audience is shouting "reverb." And he argues that good bands simply acknowledge it and move on. "The people who are conceited, the so-called artists who get really offended by it, they deserve it," he says.

But did "Freebird" truly start with the KevHeads? Longtime Chicago Tribune music writer Greg Kot says he remembers the cry from the early 1980s. He suggests it originated as an in-joke among indie-rock fans "having their sneer at mainstream classic rock."

Other music veterans think it dates back to 1970s audiences' shouts for it and other guitar sagas, such as "Whipping Post," by the Allman Brothers Band, and "Smoke on the Water," by Deep Purple.

They may all be right: It's possible "Freebird" began as a rallying cry for Skynyrd Nation and a sincere request from guitar lovers, was made famous by the live cut, taken up by ironic clubgoers, given new life by Mr. Matthews, and eventually lost all meaning and became something people holler when there's a band onstage.

But as with many mysteries, the true origin may be unknowable -- cold comfort for bands still to be confronted with the inevitable cry from the darkness. For them, here's a strategy tried by a brave few: Call the audience's bluff. Phish liked to sing it a cappella. The Dandy Warhols play a slowed-down take singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor describes as sung "like T. Rex would if he were on a lot of pills." And Dash Rip Rock has performed the real song in order to surprise fans expecting the parody. For his part, Mr. Doughty suggests that musicians make a pact: Whenever anyone calls for "Freebird," play it in its entirety -- and if someone calls for it again, play it again.

"That would put a stop to 'Freebird,' I think," he says. "It would be a bad couple of years, but it might be worth it."

So what do the members of Skynyrd think of the tradition? Johnny Van Zant, Ronnie's brother and the band's singer since 1987, says "it's not an insult at all -- I think it's kind of cool. It's fun, and people are doing it in a fun way. That's what music's supposed to be about."

Besides, Mr. Van Zant has a confession: His wife persuaded him to see Cher in Jacksonville a couple of years ago, and he couldn't resist yelling "Freebird!" himself. "My wife is going, 'Stop! Stop!' " he recalls, laughing. "I embarrassed the hell out of her."

Write to Jason Fry at jason.fry@wsj.com17

URL for this article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB111102511477881964.html

Hyperlinks in this Article:

(1) http://www.real.com/

(2) http://play.rbn.com/? dowjones/wsj/demand/wsj_vid/050315_ls_freebird.rm

(3) http://play.rbn.com/? dowjones/wsj/demand/wsj_vid/050315_md_freebird.rm

(4) http://play.rbn.com/? dowjones/wsj/demand/wsj_vid/050315_sp_freebird.rm

(5) http://play.rbn.com/? dowjones/wsj/demand/wsj_vid/050315_bh_freebird.rm

(6) http://www.lynyrdskynyrd.com/

(7) http://www.thecrimea.net

(8) http://www.dashriprock.net/pages/1/index.htm

(9) http://www.superspecialquestions.com/

(10) http://www.jeweljk.com/

(11) http://www.hottuna.com/

(12) http://www.modestmousemusic.com/

(13) http://www.billhicks.com/

(14) http://www.kevhead.com/

(15) http://www.phish.com/

(16) http://www.dandywarhols.com/

(17) mailto:jason.fry@wsj.com

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Edited April 3, 2008 by MadScreamingGallery

[ally]

MSG, I am envious of you. Not getting to see Little Feat in the Lowell George era is one of my few regrets. Great band. I'm a huge fan.

As for Skynard, as MSG said ,pre crash, one of the best live acts I've seen.

[MadScreamingGallery]

MSG, I am envious of you. Not getting to see Little Feat in the Lowell George era is one of my few regrets. Great band. I'm a huge fan.

As for Skynard, as MSG said ,pre crash, one of the best live acts I've seen.

Thanks, Ally. The Lowell George era was, by far, my favorite Little Feat time. They were absolutely great live during that time period. For me, Lowell's passing changed the dynamic of the group. I've often thought that he was the soul of Little Feat.

When I was younger, I used to wonder what it would have been like to have been around when Lowell George and Frank Zappa were hanging out together in Los Angeles during the era of "The Factory".

And, yes, those pre-crash Skynyrd concerts were great.

[bouncing~ship]

Gary Rossington and Ed King and Me 92 Meridian Mississippi. I posted these in a different spot but I guess i can do it again.

Lynyrd Skynyrd and My Friend Cheryl and Me 2006

My Skynyrd Tattoo

Charlie Daniels and My Friend Cheryl and Me 2003

Leroux and Me onstage Gulfport MIssissippi 2001

Looks like we got ourselves a man of God

[ally]

Thanks, Ally. The Lowell George era was, by far, my favorite Little Feat time. They were absolutely great live during that time period. For me, Lowell's passing changed the dynamic of the group. I've often thought that he was the soul of Little Feat.

When I was younger, I used to wonder what it would have been like to have been around when Lowell George and Frank Zappa were hanging out together in Los Angeles during the era of "The Factory".

And, yes, those pre-crash Skynyrd concerts were great.

Yeah, Lowell George was the soul. I saw them in the early 90's and although they puy on a great show. The definitely needed LG. Still, a great live act and worth seeing. They did a great versions of "Skin It Back" and " Red Streamliner"

[JethroTull]

Question....Will Southern Rock ever experience a resurgence in popularity? It seems to be plodding along with it's core of fans, but will it ever return to it's 70's heyday?

[ally]

Question....Will Southern Rock ever experience a resurgence in popularity? It seems to be plodding along with it's core of fans, but will it ever return to it's 70's heyday?

If your talking a resurgence commercially I don't know. We all know who controls that. I don't think Southern Rock has ever left. It's pure music and even though it may not be number 1 on the charts, It wil alway'sl be with me and other's forever. For me, it's the same with all forms of music. That's why I'm such a big fan of Jafhin's threads. He takes me back and he moves me forward. I like to think of myself as someone who's up to date with the music scene but Jafhin alway's seems to give me the boot up the arse that I really do need from time to time

[Swede]

I believe Southern Rock is quit big nowdays as well, but it hasn't got the exact form that it used to have in the 70's. I think bands like Black Crowes and Drive-By Truckers are todays version of Southern Rock. If you listen to those bands, you can hear the same influence of blues, soul and country that Lynyrd Skynyrd, Outlaws and Little Feat had. But unlike the classic bands they also got the past 30 years to pick up influences from.

[Pb Derigable]

I not making a joke, but isn't southern rock today is just called country. All of the country bands today play a little bit heavier, and they use alot of the old riffs and chord progession from the 70's. like i said, im not making a joke.

[dragster]

I love the reason for the name of the band too!

That was my first approach to L S too

[dragster]

I not making a joke, but isn't southern rock today is just called country. All of the country bands today play a little bit heavier, and they use alot of the old riffs and chord progession from the 70's. like i said, im not making a joke.

It might all be called country today, but I would distinguish the typical L S sounding bands like Molly Hatchet from the typically Nashville sound!

[jimmie ray]

As it seems that I'm this forum's official Hot Tuna promoter, here's some related information to an above post from MSG:

1- Little Feat is touring with Hot Tuna for several shows this spring. (Colorado and Florida)

2- Jorma Kaukonen is the guy who provides the middle finger and "here's your freebird" response to hecklers who request the song at their shows. Jack Casady's fingers are too valuable to be used this way.

[LednyrdZepnyrd]

I not making a joke, but isn't southern rock today is just called country. All of the country bands today play a little bit heavier, and they use alot of the old riffs and chord progession from the 70's. like i said, im not making a joke.

Id have to give that one a big no-no. Country is not rock, there is country rock, but country is not rock. Southern rock from the 70's is basically blues-rock with a southern swagger and a TINGE of country. The Allmans were all blues-rock, Skynyrd had a little country in them, ZZ top also all blues-rock. Sure there were some southern rock artists that had alot more country in them like Charlie Daniels and the Kentucky Headhunters which kinda swung both sides, they were country, yet they had some blues/rock in them, and were from the south.

Im kinda an "afficianado" of this subject

[dragster]

Id have to give that one a big no-no. Country is not rock, there is country rock, but country is not rock. Southern rock from the 70's is basically blues-rock with a southern swagger and a TINGE of country. The Allmans were all blues-rock, Skynyrd had a little country in them, ZZ top also all blues-rock. Sure there were some southern rock artists that had alot more country in them like Charlie Daniels and the Kentucky Headhunters which kinda swung both sides, they were country, yet they had some blues/rock in them, and were from the south.

Im kinda an "afficianado" of this subject

Quite right you are!

[albionremain]

Did any of you guys get a chance to listen and/or see the Artimus Pyle interview with Howard Stern last year? He explained the plane crash in vivid detail, and how he went for help and was shot, etc...

[Pb Derigable]

whats southern swagger? do you hold the 8th notes longer!

[dragster]

Did any of you guys get a chance to listen and/or see the Artimus Pyle interview with Howard Stern last year? He explained the plane crash in vivid detail, and how he went for help and was shot, etc...

Hell no, I didn't see that.......any links?

[LednyrdZepnyrd]

whats southern swagger? do you hold the 8th notes longer!

The image of the band, and the confederate flag and all

[Jahfin]

Thanks for the kind words ally.

A few years ago the music press had a field day writing about the "resurgence of Southern Rock". At the helm were the Drive-By Truckers, Kings of Leon and My Morning Jacket as well older acts such as Gov't Mule. Of course nearly all of those bands denies any sort of Southern Rock influence and says they're not "Southern Rock" at all. Kinda comes with the territory, at one time or another even the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet tried to distance themselves from the Southern Rock tag. I think Gregg's quote was something like, "wouldn't it be sorta like calling it 'Rock Rock' since rock n' roll pretty much originated in the South?"

In regards to the debt a lot of current country music owes to Southern Rock, I most definitely hear it. I mean, they didn't pair Skynyrd with Gretchen Wilson at the Grammys a few years ago for no reason. Same for the CMT Crossroads special Skynyrd did with Montgomery Gentry. Thing is, if today's country music is the heir apparent to Southern Rock, it's not the type of Southern Rock I like. Like so many forms of commercial music it suffers a great deal from a pre-packaged, market-tested sound that simply doesn't appeal to my ears.

In regards to Little Feat, they're one of my all time favorite bands but I have never once thought of them as ""Southern Rock". Same for groups like Foghat who also sometimes end up on Southern Rock compilations.

[albionremain]

Hell no, I didn't see that.......any links?

Here's the best link I could find. It doesn't have the whole interview, but describes it pretty well...Visit My Website

[Jahfin]

Hell no, I didn't see that.......any links?

The crash was also covered in intimate detail on Skynyrd's Behind the Music special that aired on VH1 years ago. Thing is, some of their stories had changed dramatically by the time VH1 got around to their Lynyrd Skynyrd: Uncivil Wars special that aired a few years ago. Unfortunately a great deal of that had to do with the network purposely pitting the already feuding band members against one another. It may have made for some dramatic viewing thanks to the popularity of "reality TV" but very little of it had any actual basis in truth.

[bouncing~ship]

Question....Will Southern Rock ever experience a resurgence in popularity? It seems to be plodding along with it's core of fans, but will it ever return to it's 70's heyday?

It will come in due time...i hope. we just got to let things cool down

[dragster]

It may have made for some dramatic viewing thanks to the popularity of "reality TV" but very little of it had any actual basis in truth.

I dislike reality TV!!

[LednyrdZepnyrd]

Thanks for the kind words ally.

A few years ago the music press had a field day writing about the "resurgence of Southern Rock". At the helm were the Drive-By Truckers, Kings of Leon and My Morning Jacket as well older acts such as Gov't Mule. Of course nearly all of those bands denies any sort of Southern Rock influence and says they're not "Southern Rock" at all. Kinda comes with the territory, at one time or another even the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet tried to distance themselves from the Southern Rock tag. I think Gregg's quote was something like, "wouldn't it be sorta like calling it 'Rock Rock' since rock n' roll pretty much originated in the South?"

In regards to the debt a lot of current country music owes to Southern Rock, I most definitely hear it. I mean, they didn't pair Skynyrd with Gretchen Wilson at the Grammys a few years ago for no reason. Same for the CMT Crossroads special Skynyrd did with Montgomery Gentry. Thing is, if today's country music is the heir apparent to Southern Rock, it's not the type of Southern Rock I like. Like so many forms of commercial music it suffers a great deal from a pre-packaged, market-tested sound that simply doesn't appeal to my ears.

In regards to Little Feat, they're one of my all time favorite bands but I have never once thought of them as ""Southern Rock". Same for groups like Foghat who also sometimes end up on Southern Rock compilations.

I know what you mean bye "its not the southern rock I like" Ive said this before, I guess people of today think of country when they hear southern rock, but I guess ill guess ill have to start saying Southern blues rock. I dont like country music, and I hate that "modern" southern rock is labeled that way.

[Jahfin]

I know what you mean bye "its not the southern rock I like" Ive said this before, I guess people of today think of country when they hear southern rock, but I guess ill guess ill have to start saying Southern blues rock. I dont like country music, and I hate that "modern" southern rock is labeled that way.

When I hear groups like Montgomery Gentry on country radio I don't think "country", I think Southern Rock. Like it or not Southern Rock is equal parts country, blues, soul, etc. There are some newer bands out there like Tishmango that have much more in common with the type of Southern Rock I like but you aren't going to hear them on country radio or see them on CMT. You just might hear them on former Blackfoot member Charlie Hargett's Southern Rock show Smokestack on XM though.