![]() 5 - Occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport.What was clear for the guitarist, however, was that you couldn't have Gary Rossington without Lynyrd Skynyrd, and he left on his terms, still playing those famous guitar licks he was part of creating. I don't think you can have Lynyrd Skynyrd without Gary Rossington." He's the link to the past, and he's what gives us our authenticity and credibility. A few years ago, Johnny Van Zant, who took over frontman duties for his older brother in 1987, noted that "Gary's the Guy. What Skynyrd does now remains to be seen. It's just a dream come true, and that's not something you let go of easily." ![]() It's just a gas to play to people and see their expression and their feelings. "Touring's gotten to be harder, but we still love it. ![]() "We're getting old here," Rossington said in a later interview. The band did set off on The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour in 2018, but it was open-ended and morphed into the Big Wheels Keep on Turning Tour last year, and the band had the new ZZ Top tour ahead. Rossington was the only Skynyrd member to appear on all of the band's albums, most recently Last of a Dyin' Breed in 2012. Since the plane crash, I'm just thankful to still be here and try to make my way through this life." "We talk about them and we play, and it's just a great thing to do. "I think we're blessed to be able to play and share our music and our band and the stories of Skynyrd and talk about Ronnie, Allen and Steve and all the guys - Billy and Leon now, too, all the guys that have left us," Rossington explained. There were others along the way: guitarist Allen Collins, with whom he formed the Rossington Collins Band from 1979-82, original bassist Larry Junstrom, early guitarist Ed King, longtime pianist Leon Wilkeson, keyboardist Billy Powell and later guitarist Hughie Thomasson, among them. That included the 1977 plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his older sister Cassie Gaines, another Skynyrd backup singer, which put the band on hiatus for a decade. Rossington maintained that he was also driven to continue out of "responsibility" to the music and the fans, and to the many bandmates he lost along the way. Watch Gary Rossington Perform 'Simple Man' With Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2015 Every musician of age will tell that, I think." It's just the way you do it when you've lived it your whole life. After that, we just decided to hit the road and ask for God's mercy and do it 'til we drop. But after a few days, he was just miserable, and he said to me, 'I would much rather go out kickin' it than sitting here in my chair,' and that was the last time we talked about it. "And after this last stent, we really had a serious talk about just letting it go for now and being happy to be alive. "He's got several stents in his heart now," she said. Rossington did consider retirement at one point, but Krantz-Rossington said it was a passing thought. When you retire, what's next? I like to fish, but how much of that can you do, right? So I want to keep doing what I do now and go wherever it takes me." So I think once you've got something going for yourself, you should keep it up and keep your craft going. ![]() "It's just in my blood, you know? I'm just an old guitar player, and we've spent our whole lives and the 10,000 hours of working to understand how to play and do it. I'd rather just burn out in the next 10 years than sit in a rocking chair and look at the trees blowing in the wind. like Neil Young said, it's better to burn out than to fade away. I'd rather be playing and living life up than. "I just take every day on faith," Rossington told this writer back when he and his wife, Skynyrd backup singer Dale Krantz-Rossington, released the album Take It on Faith in 2016.
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