It was twenty years ago this month that seminal Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd tragically lost singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backup singer Cassie Gaines in a firey Mississippi plane crash. To commemorate that time, the band released a new album, "Twenty," and are going to kick off a full tour.

Though the band subsequently broke up in mourning, Skynyrd eventually reformed in the late 1980s with original musicians Gary Rossington (guitar), Leon Wilkeson (bass), and Billy Powell (keyboards) and new members Johnny Van Zant (vocals) and Owen Hale (drums), and has been touring and recording successfully ever since. For their most recent album, Twenty, released earlier this year on CMC Records, the group was joined by ex-Blackfoot guitarist Ricky Medlocke and former Outlaws guitarist Hughie Thomasson.

"We are as serious about the new stuff as we are about the old hits," notes Van Zant. To commemorate the anniversary of the crash radio stations across the country are planning special programming throughout the month; VH1 is also planning to profile Skynyrd on an upcoming episode of "Behind the Music." The band, which is currently touring Europe, plans to participate in several television events before beginning another U.S. tour in January 1998.

Seth Hindin