Lynyrd Skynyrd 50 Years and Counting with Johnny Van Zant

Johnny Van Zant is always a pleasure to hang with.  And the person who has the coolest take on his brother Ronnie. 

In this Carr Stereo episode Johnny and I discuss various Skynyrd band documentaries, Gary Rossington's final show, teaming up with Jellyroll and friends for their "50 Years Live From the Ryman collection, their massive fanbase and memories of being Ronnie's Little Brother . 

Catalog, Character and Camaraderie - To me that's Skynyrd. 

TC Out! Tune in next week! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, it's Terry Carr, and this is the Carr Stereo Podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in. You can always hook up with me on my website, terrycarr.com.com. My YouTube channel, by the way, has a mountain of new stores, including Mitch Cars, Alex Lyson, Paul Gilbert, and John Stelter. Well, of course, it is international, so why not? This week, turn it up as I hang the collection. Johnny Van Dance from Leonard Sinner. What song is it you want to hear? Of course. We discussed the Leonard Sinners like this. The 2025 collection, 15 years live alignment, why the band is still going strong. The 8 to 80 fan base and what it was really like being Johnny's little brother. Johnny's always a cool guest. I love having him on. And you won't see why at the Car Stereo Podcast. Welcome, Johnny Van Zant. So I am so psyched. I am with a legend right now. When I get like where I'm around the legend, I have to wear my tank top because I'm sweating in Jersey. I swear to God. I'm so excited to have Johnny Van Zant on with me. It is so great to see your smiling face. And I just said to you, I said, You're always smiling. And you said, you know why? Because there's nothing to be sad about. If things are sucking, they're gonna get better. I love that attitude.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Sure is, sure is. It's been that way with me forever. You know, I used to be an old drunk and all that good stuff. And I was talking to a preacher one time, and he said, Why are you so angry? I said, Am I angry? And he said, Yeah, you are. I'm sorry. He said, You know, it's much better. Life is better when you smile and look at it in a different way, son. And it really clicked to me. I went, you know what? He's right. I'm gonna be happy about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

That's clicking with me, man. Clicking with me. All right, so I've got to tell you, this is a very exciting time for Skinner. There's always excitement going on. I had Ricky on with me, I guess it was the end of last summer, and he said, Wait a year next year. We are busy, we've got a lot. So he gave me a little bit, uh, he spilled the tea a little bit. So let's talk about a collection I can't stop watching. The Leonard Skinner celebrating 50 years live at the Ryman, the incredible live collection that came out last year. Featuring Jelly Roll, Brent Smith from Shinedown, Marcus King. It's just unbelievable. So I see the video, the first song that you released, Tuesday's gone, with jelly. I'm telling people right now, you can watch this video. I dare you. Not to get the lump in the throat, the oh my gosh, there's pollen in my eyes, and a little bit of tightness in my chest. I literally could start crying now. It was so emotional for me to watch for so many reasons. Not only because it was Gary's final performance, I saw Jelly's face too. And Jelly Roll kind of looked like he was looking around. He looked emotional, and he looked like he's thinking to himself, holy, you know what? I can't believe I'm sitting here singing Tuesday's gone with Skinner. That place is a magical venue. So talk to me about that night a little bit. And what do you remember about the filming of this whole collection?

SPEAKER_02 3:11

You know, Jelly's a real humble guy, and I don't know if you've seen a lot of stuff on him. He's a crier, and he had definitely tears in his eyes that night. He was uh he he uh came in, and I really didn't know him at that time, and uh, but I'd heard his first single, and uh, you know, I loved what he was doing, and I went, you know what, he's the real deal, and he loves Leonard Skinner, you know. His old saying is, which I'm glad he put this person first. He said, There in the South, it's Jesus, then Leonard Skinner.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

He said that that's great. That is great. Yeah, you could see it in his face, the emotion in his face where he was almost taking a step back because he seemed a little overwhelmed in a good way.

unknown 3:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

And you know what? I'm so proud of him because of his success. You know, myself, I always like seeing people do good and uh love watching him grow here in the entertainment business. And and uh now my running joke is that uh he's asked of me to wash his cars and take out Well, he's definitely the it guy.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

He is no doubt the it guy. And I have to tell you, I mean, did you feel that could have been Gary's final performance? The emotion at the end on his solo just it went right through me. And I had I had major, major goosebumps. I'm listening to it, and I'm like, how did these guys hold it together that night?

SPEAKER_02 4:34

You know, he was very sick the week before that, and then he called me up. Gary was always messing with his hair, called me up and said, Hey, Bubba, I might have to sit down. And I said, Well, hell whoa, I'll sit down, you know, whatever we need to do. And uh, you know, because he had less and less gigs at that time. And uh he uh came in, stood up, he said, I ain't sitting down, you know. So he was just a war horse, you know. He loved playing that music, and and uh I knew that night was special. I was having a great time, things were awesome. You know, sometimes you get to a gig and you're kind of like, oh well, okay, it's just another gig. But then you get there and you feel that presence, you know, and that was one of those nights. It was funny because myself, Medlock, my brother Donnie, and Gary all shared a little dressing room in the back. And we were stepping over each other's luggage and telling past stories, you know, things that we can't talk about. Only uh only us guys were talking about. And somebody brought us a cold pizza, and we were like, yeah, man, we're starving, you know. So we're in there, we're eating pizza. And we started laughing. We said, you know what? This is kind of like the old days in the clubs, you know?

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Well, circle moment. Yeah, because the Ryman, as legendary as it is, it's not even 3,000 seats. I was thinking about how did these people get these tickets? Was it like a lottery? That must have been incredible for that intimate group to be there for such a legendary night. And you mentioned that Donnie was there and he's you're gonna see him on Red, White, and Blue. And Brent from Shinedown came out and did Simple Man. Simple Man, definitely a song that put that band kind of on the map. I remember when they first came out, and uh Atlanta kicked me up and they said, We got this great band from Jacksonville, you know, they're a combination of like this uh heavy skinnered and blah, blah, blah. You know, they'll come out and they'll play for you. And I remember I brought them out to a little barbecue place. The the caveat was they'll do their single and then they'll also do a cover of Simple Man. And I thought, well, that'll be cool. Our listeners will really like that. Yeah, bring them out if they'll do a cover of Simple Man. So I always remember that day, you know, and uh it coming full circle moment for a band that is now, you know, one of the biggest bands in current bass rock music.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

You know, he was nervous, Brad was nervous. I was like, what the hell are you doing nervous? You're a great singer, you know. And yeah, and uh came in and blew us away. And you know, we had Marcus King and just amazing. And uh uh, you know, so we had a great time and everybody wanted to be there. You know, sometimes you get asked to do things with certain artists, and you're kind of like, okay, yeah, I'll do it, you know. But you could really tell that everybody was into it. Little did we know that was going to be Gary's last performance. Uh I'm so proud that we actually videotaped this and had it on film, and uh we got a great documentary for your listeners and our fans uh that's that we put together that's pretty much a tribute to Gary, and it's just all of us talking about him and talking about the night. And so maybe that's at the end of the collection.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

That's like the final. We've got 15 songs, and then we've got this 16th celebrating 50 years of Leonard Skinner. And what a great, I mean, it's so hard to pick songs, but what's your name? Working for MCA, which also features John Osborne from the country uh duo, the Osborne Brothers. Uh, you got that right. I know a little down south juking, that smell, Cry for the Badman Saturday night special with Marcus, um, red, white, and blue with Donnie, Simple Man with Brent, Three Steps, Sweet Home, Call Me the Breeze, Freebird. I mean, just incredible.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Ronnie at the end, old Freebird.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Oh, amazing. Amazing, amazing. But let's talk about the 2018 documentary, which is now on Netflix, if I leave here tomorrow. Uh, directed by Steven Kayak. I bel I really believe it. I'm a doc maniac. I I watch everybody's documentary. I love them. I love documentary series about everything, music especially. I thought this was probably the best music documentary that I have ever seen. I got Ricky's take on it, and I'll tell you why I thought that. I just thought that Steven Kayak got you guys. A lot of times a director will come in and they want to get all the facts straight and they want to include the music and stuff, but there might be a little bit of a connection that's missing. Maybe they don't just get the essence of everything. From my perspective as a fan, I thought this dude, he nailed it. He got you guys, he got what that whole Skinnered experience was about. What did you think of the documentary? I've literally seen it, it's gotta be 30, 35 times. I love it so much.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

You know what? We took very good care of that because there's been so many of them that wasn't correct. Yes. And our whole that was getting it from Gary's aspect, you know, because he was the last original member, and he was there in the beginning. And uh for my part in it, I was driving Mr. Gary. That's what I called it. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

He was the narrator, he was the main narrator of the of the dock. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Drove around, went to my parents' house, went out to the graveyard. So it was from his aspect, which I really dug. We went over to Robert E. Lee and the school and just went around Jacksonville reminiscing, ended up where the hellhouse was. And uh, you know what? I'm real proud of that one. I'm real, real proud of that.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

I I love it. Uh I love it. I love it so much. I can't watch the end without crying, too, because it was just so beautiful with that whole explosive free bird, you know, and it was just I blew me away. I mean, it gave me chills, and I still love watching it. So I'm so happy that it's back on Netflix. And uh, I want everybody to check it out if you didn't. It's hard to believe that was 2018 because it feels like it just came out, came out yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

I love it, and you know what? I'm still enjoying it, and this whole video, the whole thing from the rhyme was a blessing to us.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

And and I think the thing that drives that Skinnered bus is that amazing catalog. There's nothing like it. The it it's songs that are the the story of our lives.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

You know, that makes me feel good you saying that because my brother was a great lyricist. You know, he just wrote for people and hit people's hearts and and so many songs. The other night we did uh one of the rock the countries with out of Knoxville, Tennessee. And when I was looking at the crowd even earlier because I got the best seat in the house on stage, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

You do.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

I'm checking out the crowd, you know, I'm looking at them. I'm going, there's a lot of younger ones here tonight. And uh when we went into Simple Man, it was a spiritual thing that night. Yeah, I mean, that was just Saturday night. Man, we got to the course, and usually I don't do this, but something told me, tell him to sing it. So I just stuck the mic up in there. I said, You sing it. And there was about 30,000 people singing, be a syllabus. I mean, I was just like, look at I'm getting cold bombs, right? You are, you should, as you should.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

As you well, it's eight to eighty. That's the Skinnered crowd now. Yeah, you're like, Who's my Skinnered crowd? Yeah, it's everybody from eight to eighty. I mean, uh, and above eighty if they can make it out to a Skinner show, right? Isn't that true?

SPEAKER_02 11:43

I'm using that. Yeah, I'm using that. I'm using that. It's the eight to eighty crowd.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah, I I look around at learning Skinner concerts, and that's what I see. I see the kids, and the kids are there, and I see the parents, and I see the grandparents, and it's wild. It's it's the eight, it's the eight to eighty crowd. Look, we are so grateful for you. You're an American treasure. What is it like to because you've got the most different perspective? Not only do you have the best seat in the house, but Ronnie's with you every night. He has been with you every night. You're the one person who doesn't remember life without Ronnie in some aspect of your life. When when he was here in the physical, sure. And then when you carried on, when you carried on the legacy. So you've got such an interesting, I think, perspective. Um, doing something that no one else has ever ever done. You've been in Skiddern since 87. I was at some of those early shows. You had big hair too. You had the big 80s hair, everybody had the big 80s hair back then. But your perspective has been so different on that. And what has that been like for you? Just having him with you, you know, from when you were a kid carrying this legacy on.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Yeah, yeah. You know, for me, Ronnie, even to this day, was never the person that other people see or listen to him sing. He was just my bigger brother who picked on me, wanted to make me tough, you know. And uh still I get that, you know. I mean, that that's who he was to me. He was the guy that I'm wearing a Beatles shirt today that if I said, Man, I love that shirt that you got, you know, he'd be like, Go give me one of yours, you know, and take it off. So he was that guy who we talk fishing, you know. That's who I that's who I come to whenever I think of him. And uh but on the singing side, you know what? Uh uh he was uh uh the way he sang these songs was just so cool and different. And uh, you know, I've had people go, Well, you don't sing it as good as Ronnie. I said, I never will. I didn't write him, but I'm here to carry it on. And I sing it the way I sing it, the way I think it should be sing. And I I've had people go, hey, you need to put a hat on. I said, I don't look good in a hat, not unless it's a baseball cap backwards, you know. So I gotta be myself. But uh, I know that he's there every night, and I know that he had a lot to uh me being here, being put in this position. I really feared to feel that spiritually. And uh for me personally, I was a Skinner fan before I was offered to be a part of this, but I walked in a room in 1986 with his little brothers because he was the alpha dog and the oldest one, and they are all still really hurting from this horrible, horrible crash, and asked me to be a part of it. And I know sitting here today, and I did the right thing. And before Gary passed, he told me and Ricky said, Man, you know, I've spent my whole life keeping this music alive for my brothers who passed in 77. I don't want to see it in. And uh to me, that was him telling me, hey, keep going, man, as long as you can. So as long as I can, I'll be out there playing these songs and seeing that 8 to 80 crowd.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

8 to 80. And I think the both of you, the comp the most common thread is that neither one of you I don't think of as singers. I think of you both, you and Ronnie, as deliverers. Certain people deliver songs to the audience, and you you deliver these songs in a way that no one else ever, ever could. And he had that quality, and you have that quality. And and that's the thing I think that has kept the band in the hearts of so many for so long.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Yeah, you know what? I uh I don't know. Whenever I think of singer singers, I think of Paul Rogers who just got into the rock and roll hall of fame.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

So overdue, one of my favorite rock vocalists of all time. There's nobody who sings them like Paul. Yeah, you guys just deli you guys just delivered that music and uh still delivering it. How lucky are we? Celebrating 50 years live at The Ryman at leonardskinner.com. A beautiful collection, 15 tunes. We've got the documentary at the end. And Johnny Van Zant, I'm so grateful to spend some time with you today. What a great way to spend my afternoon. Thank you so very much.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Me too, and hey, thank you for having me. And uh wearing your neck of the woods, come out.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

They will live on forever.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

I say there's some kids skipping school learning.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

I sure hope so. That's what rock and roll's all about. I sure hope so. I love you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Take care, bye-bye, have a good one.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Don't forget to like this podcast and subscribe to the Car Stereo page on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Rob Fourhead, Tasty, and I will see you next time.