Skynyrd's Johnny Van Zant Finds His Country Heart

Today, Billy Powell, 54, still tears up the keys and Rossington, 53, delivers some of rock's best-known licks on a Gibson axe, a re-issue of a 1959 Les Paul he named "Dottie," after his wife. (The venerable guitar company even issued Rossington his own signature-model Les Paul.) It's the combination of that tough, gravelly Van Zant vocal, Powell's painful piano fills and Rossington's searing guitar riffs that pack in three generations of fans to hear "Freebird." Rossington says he never gets tired of playing the epic anthem.

"Every time I play it in front of people, I see their emotions come up," he says. "Some people have old memories of it, and they just lose it -- they're crying, and they're singing every word. You just can't stand in front of thousands of people doing that and not feel some emotion. Sometimes they sing louder than us and you can hear them over the PA."

For Johnny Van Zant, 47, music is as much about a love of performance as it is about a love of family. Little more than a year ago, he teamed up with middle brother Donnie to do something that Ronnie always wanted to do: make a country album. As the country music duo Van Zant, the brothers released Get Right With the Man last May and watched as singles like the earnest "Help Somebody" and the deviant "Nobody Gonna Tell Me" climbed the country charts, putting Get Right on the path to go gold by summer's end. Now they've just released another single, "Things I Miss the Most," and they're up for the Top Country Music Duo award at the Academy of Country Music awards the end of May.

"We've already won, really," Johnny says. "Who would've thought that we'd even be in a category like that? especially with folks who've been in the country music business for so long, like Montgomery Gentry and Brooks and Dunn."

But the transition has felt natural, having grown up in Jacksonville, Florida, watching the Grand Ole Opry. "Rock & roll has kept us alive for all these years," Johnny explains. "But we just love country music. It's in our blood. It's the steel guitar, it's the violin, it's the banjo. And not only that, but just the people in the country field. It's the down-home feel, and that's what we're about."

So while Skynyrd was just inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Johnny and the crew are rocking amphitheaters across the U.S., he's also carving a place for himself in the world of country, out on the road with Donnie singing about the "dogs out barkin' in the yard and the tractors in the field."

Says Johnny, "Sometimes, hell, we get around these rock bands, and they're like, 'You guys are hicks!'"

Lynyrd Skynyrd North American summer tour dates:

Solo:

5/19: Mountain View, CA, Shoreline Amphitheatre
5/20: Twentynine Palms, CA, Marine Base
5/21: Las Vegas, The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel
5/21: Henderson, NV, Sunset Station Hotel/Casino
5/26: Cherokee, NC, Harrah's
5/27: Cherokee, NC, Harrah's
5/28: Virginia Beach, VA, 5th Street Stage
5/31: Richmond, VA, Innsbrook Pavilion
6/1: Vienna, VA, Wolf Trap Filene Center
6/2: Wellington, OH, Lorain Country Fair
6/3: Muncie, IN, Downtown Muncie
6/4: Southaven, MS, Snowden Grove Park
6/8: Nashville, CMA Music Festival
6/8: Nashville, The Coliseum (With Hank Williams Jr.)
6/10: Winsted, MN, Winstock Country Music Festival
6/21: Hartford, CT, New England Dodge Music Center
6/24: Aberdeen, MD, Proving Grounds

With 3 Doors Down:

6/23: Atlantic City, NJ, Trump Taj Mahal
6/25: Cincinnati, Riverbend Music Center
6/27: Maryland Heights, MO, UMB Bank Pavilion
6/28: Bonner Springs, KS, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7/7: Selma, TX, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
7/8: The Woodlands, TX, C.W. Mitchell Pavilion
7/9: Dallas, Smirnoff Music Centre
7/11: Noblesville, IN, Verizon Wireless Music Center
7/12: Columbus, OH, Germain Amphitheater
7/14: Burgettstown, PA, Post-Gazette Pavilion at Star Lake
7/15: Scranton, PA, Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain
7/16: Hershey, PA, Hersheypark Stadium
7/18: Raleigh, NC, Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek
7/19: Charlotte, NC, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
7/21: Pelam, AL, Verizon Wireless Music Center
7/22: Biloxi, MS, Mississippi Coast Coliseum

Solo:

8/6: Kelowna, BC, The Bluff
8/8: Sturgis, SD, Legendary Buffalo Chip
8/10: Sparta, WI, Fort McCoy Army Base
8/11: Sedalia, MO, Missouri State Fair
8/16: Medford, OR, Jackson County Expo Park
8/17: Bend, OR, Les Schwab Amphitheater
8/19: Reno, NV, Reno Hilton
8/20: Jackpot, NV, Cactus Pete's
8/22: Livermore, CA, Wente Concerts at the Vineyard
8/24: West Sacramento, CA, Raley Field
8/25: Kelseyville, CA, Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa
8/26: Kelseyville, CA, Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa
8/27: Temecula, CA, Pechanga Resort and Casino
8/29: Lancaster, CA, Antelope Valley Fairgrounds