Lynyrd Skynyrd Founding Guitarist Gary Rossington Said He Wanted The Band To Continue On After He Passed Away

Keep rockin’.

Gary Rossington, the legendary guitar player and founding member of the greatest southern rock band of all time, Lynyrd Skynyrd, passed away back on March 5, 2023 at the age of 71.

Rossington was the last remaining member of the original band, which was formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964 by Rossington along with lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Allen Collins, bass player Larry Junstrom, and drummer Bob Burns.

He was also one of the survivors from the 1970 plane crash that took the lives of Van Zant and 5 others, including band member Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines.

The band took a hiatus after the crash, but Rossington returned when Lynyrd Skynyrd reunited in 1987 with Ronnie Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny as the lead singer, and continued as the band’s lead guitar player until his death.

Rossington played his final show with Skynyrd at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville back on November 13, 2022 at the Ryman Auditorium. He had underwent emergency heart surgery the year before, and had been in declining health – to the point that Johnny Van Zant says Rossington had already begun to train his replacement:

“So we brought in Damon Johnson to play guitar and Gary kind of mentored him, you know, some and came to rehearsal and, you know, he wanted this music to go on, man.”

Van Zant told Fox News Digital that Rossington told him and guitarist Rickey Medlocke, who is the only current member of Skynyrd who was with the band before the plane crash (though he’s not one of the original members), that he wanted Skynyrd to go on after he passed away:

“He knew his health was getting bad and he had told me, he said… ‘I’ve spent my life carrying on this legacy, and after I’m gone I don’t want to see this band go away.'”

And he admits that if it weren’t for Rossington’s blessing, Lynyrd Skynyrd probably would have called it quits:

“I don’t think me and Rickey would be here if Gary said, ‘Hey, after I’m gone I want this to go away.’ So, we’re carrying out his wishes as long as we can.”

Of course there are still some out there who don’t consider the current version of Lynyrd Skynyrd…well, actually Lynyrd Skynyrd. At this point Medlocke is the only member who played with Ronnie Van Zant, or any of the founders of Skynyrd. The current lineup consists of Van Zant and Medlocke, along with Michael Cartellone on drums, Mark Matejka on guitar, Peter Keys on piano and keyboard, Keith Christopher on bass, and former Alice Cooper band member Damon Johnson replacing Rossington on guitar.

The band has obviously gone through quite a few lineup changes, some due to tragedy and some just simply due to the passing of time. But Skynyrd has kept rocking despite the changes – because that’s what Gary Rossington wanted.

Last month, Skynyrd also released a live album featuring Rossington’s final show at the Ryman back in 2023. According to Van Zant, it wasn’t originally supposed to be released as an album, but they felt it was only right to do it in their band mate’s honor:

“This was never supposed to be a live release. It was done for PBS. And after Gary passed, we were like, you know what? We think all the fans need to have this in their collection… And Gary, you know, loved the fans and I know he’d probably be going, ‘Hell yeah, put it out!’

It was a great night,” he said. “The band was on it, and I think that he would give a thumbs up and say, ‘Yeah, I love it, man. We did great out there.’ It was real special for us, you know?” 

You can check out Rossington’s final performance of “Free Bird,” from the album Celebrating 50 Years (Live At The Ryman) and witness one of the greatest guitar players to ever do it.

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