Lynyrd Skynyrd's Rickey Medlocke On Gary Rossington & Scolding Gunner

Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke scolds Gunner after Stuck reveals his radio partner always leaves BEFORE 'Freebird' is played! Why? Listen to find out! Plus, Rickey gets emotional talking about the loss of Gary Rossington, a true legend. He gets fired-up when we discuss the Rock & Roll HOF ignoring most Southern Rock bands. Lastly, Rickey gives a detailed description of how he attacks playing 'Freebird' and how he feels after. Very cool story.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Ricky Medlock and I was stuck inGunner. I tell you a big,
big honor. I know, ofcourse with Leonard SKINNERD obviously, but man,
I go way back to Blackfoot strikes. I'm freaking love that. Man.
Wow, that's going. That's goingquite a ways back. I don't
think we introduced Ricky appropriately done.This is Gunner speaking. Here is one

(00:22):
of the best Gunner. Hello,Ricky here is the best banjo player,
and Leonard SKINNERD. Ricky Medlock here'sthe best. Here was the best former
banjo player and Leonard Skinner. Ihaven't played a banjo since I was four
or five years old. See that'sthat's with me, Ricky. I started

(00:43):
playing banjo when I was twelve,moved to guitar when I was about fifteen.
When I got one, you kindof remember the chords if you pick
one up. But if you're gonnaplay a banjo, you gotta play the
bando all the time. That ain'tthat ain't a brighten a bike instrument right
there? Yeah, you're gonna playit all the time. We are speaking
with Ricky Medlock, of course,Leonard skinnerd ZZ top and Uncle Cracker going

(01:04):
to be a ruoph Music Center.That'll be this Sunday night. You know,
Ricky, I was watching your thePBS special the other night that you
guys did at the Rheyman, howmuch fun was that night? It was
pretty incredible, men, because ofall the people that you know, we
had coming out, you know,to be with us and to you know,

(01:25):
play a song with us and guestStarr and all that, you know,
and I mean, look at ithere, You've got a guy,
Jelly roll Man that's blowing up.Yeah, he's like, I mean,
he's like major major now in themusic world. And so a few of
us knew who he was, buta few of us were like, we

(01:47):
hadn't quite caught on yet, youknow, yeah, and now we know
who he is, I mean withouta doubt. But it was it was
a magical night just because and wedidn't really realize it, but because it
was Gary's last performance with us,and you know, the next thing,
you know, the next thing,you know, we've lost him. And

(02:12):
it was that was pretty That wasvery heartbreaking. And to know that now
you know, he's on the filmwith us, and to know that that
was his last performance is is prettywell, you know, pretty well gripping
without a doubt. But seriously,it's a blessing. It's a total blessing
for you guys. Oh, itwas a big time blessing man Wave because

(02:36):
little did we know, you know. And I mean I still haven't come
really to grips with it yet.I mean it's been since March, and
it's of all the times I've spentwith the guy. I mean I've spent
almost a lifetime with him, andlike, I don't know, man,
it's we do a tribute to himevery night in the show now which people

(02:59):
will see the tributes to him isto Tuesday's Gone. And you know what,
man, we got a great bigvideo walllet behind this man, and
I still can't look at it whenwe're doing it. It's pretty major.
But you know what, man,when everything is said and done, Gary
was a guy that really did notwant the music to end, or the

(03:25):
brand name to end with everybody thathad started it being gone. He talked
about it to Johnny and myself severaltimes. He wanted to see the brand
name not end up in obscurity,you know, So Johnny and I,

(03:46):
you know, when it all camedown to it, the outcry from the
fans was just unbelievable. And theone thing that was a major factor in
deciding to keep this going forward andto keep it rolling was the fact that
Johnny and I were looking at allthe fans writing in please don't let this

(04:09):
be the end of it, youknow. Yeah. And so here we
are. We're on the We're allthe sharp dress, simple Man tour and
it's going really is going really goodright now. Man, We're having such
a good time with the guys inthis easy toping Uncle Cracker. And I'm
sure everybody's going to see that.Come Noblesville, you know, when we

(04:32):
can roll in there to play.Yeah, this coming Sunday. Ricky Metlock
originally a Blackfoot, still in Blackfoot, And now, how long have you
been with Letters Skinner, Ricky,It's been a minute now, as long
as anybody first. Well, Iwas with the original band for two and
a half almost three years in thebeginning as a drummer, and Gary always

(04:56):
considered the Guy's always considered me unoriginal guy because of recording with him and
writing songs with him and being inthe band. And then I left and
did the Blackfoot thing, and thenI've been back with the guys now since
nineteen ninety six, so I've beenthere, you know, twenty seven and
a half going on twenty eight yearsback with the band man, So yeah,

(05:19):
you know, and collectively together,if you think about it, I've
been there for thirty years, andI feel, you know what, man,
I feel very blessed and fortunate tohave been a part of such historic
music with Leonard Skinner than not onlythat, but with Blackfoot as well.
And you know what, man,My I guess when I was born,

(05:42):
my path was set out for meand here I am today. You know,
we're speaking with Ricky Medlock. Ricky, I want to go back to
the special again that I saw onPBS the other night, Freebird, the
stuff that you go through to playthat song. How do your hands,
how do your hands field? Howdo you feel after tearing that song apart

(06:03):
at the end of the show.The only thing I can say is is
that Alan Collins. I respected himso much when I played in the band
with him, and even afterwards.Alan was an incredible talent, talented guitar
player, and I swore to Garywhen I got back in the band,

(06:24):
I told Gary, Gary says,Ricky, I want you to play the
parts that Alan played. We're gonnaput this thing back together as a rock
band. And you were. Youare as close as to Alan as I
could probably find. Wow. Andso when I came back, I promised
him not only would I play thestuff like Alan played it. Even said,

(06:46):
look, Ricky, when you playthe stuff, even at a certain
point, stretch out and do yourown things. He said, you can
change it up whatever you'd like todo. Well, I said, okay,
but not right away. So whenI came back, I promised Gary
that I would be there till thelast note. And Freebird is struck.

(07:06):
And here I am still playing Freebirdafter all these years. And you know
what, I love playing it everysingle solitary night. And at the end
of it, I'm drained. Myadrenaline goes up, my excitement goes up,
and went at the end of freeBird, I'm past. So my

(07:31):
hands feel like limb biscuit or something, you know what I mean. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, you can't.You can't play that first to be
like showal you know I'm finished.Look here, you know you got to
put it in terms that that everybodywill probably understand. My hands are like
after sex. Well, I've beenno longer at attention. I guess right,

(07:59):
Well, I'll tell you. I'lltell you what, Ricky. This
September is my thirtieth wedding anniversary,and me and my hand have never been
closer thirty years. Here. Letme let me tell you something about my
partner here, Dave Gone Gunner.Gunner. Now, Ricky has seen Leonard

(08:20):
SKINNERD four times. I believe he'sgone to the show and he paid the
dues, he didn't get his ticketfree went and saw the band. How
do you explain this? Gunner isseen Leonard SKINNERD four times? How do
you explain the fact that he hasnever seen Leonard SKINNERD play Freebird once?
That's right, that's a minute onthe second. Hold on, yeah,

(08:43):
I'll tell you how I explain it. I explained it with a question where
were you at? Yeah? Wherewas I at? Here? This?
This is it. I've heard Freebird. I hate concert traffic, so I
tend to last before Leonard splays freeBird to get a beat out traffic,

(09:03):
beat traffic. I mean it isso I feel so on the rafe with
him. Ah, well, holdhold on, hold on, if you
leave this time before Freebird is over. Yeah, you're gonna be missing something
that you're gonna hate. Oh,you're gonna hate it. Oh you're gonna
miss something. You're gonna miss somethingthat you're absolutely when your friends go,

(09:26):
dude, you should have seen itthrough the end. You're gonna hate yourself
forever. Really on. Ricky Medlockhimself has just demanded demanded that you stay
and watch Getter play Freebird. Notraffic, none of that stuff. You
can't get out of it. Now, All well, I get out of
it. I got to Ricky hasinvited me, and you know I'm ready.

(09:48):
At age fifty five, I thinkI should finally see free Bird all
the way through. It's not evenAmerican. How do you leave before Leonard's
Center placed Freebird? I know?Well, you know what they did last
time I last time I tried togo to Europe. They revoked my passport.
Have you seen Freebird live? No? No, Ricky, I'll be

(10:15):
there. I promise, I promiseyou I'll be there. Well, here's
here's an interesting part about it.Man. The interesting part about it is
is that we have changed the productionof UH to fit the song historically nice.
So we have a huge, unbelievableunbelievably huge video wall this year,

(10:41):
and it's like a walk through time, which is what we set out to
do and to make sure that thepeople, you know, it hit interest
to them, because after all,it is the fiftieth anniversary of the band's
first release. So it's a fiftyyear anniversary. Yeah, so what better

(11:05):
way than to take it and doa walk through history of the bands?
You know, the band's first releasein seventy three. So and if you
think about for me, I thinkabout it in terms I was there before
that playing drums to all those songsthat ended up appearing on the Pronounced record.

(11:28):
I was there doing the original Ihad cut the original demos with the
songs, and uh would have wouldhave had an album out even before Pronounced.
We were we were trying to getan album out even before that.
So you know, for me,it's a it's a it's just a walk

(11:50):
through time. And it culminates withFreebird. And when you see what's going
on in Freebird year, just gonnago whoa wait. You know, don't
worry about the freaking traffic. You'lllive, really, you know, you'll
live. Does that even need tobe said? I mean, seriously,

(12:15):
dude. Wow, I'm sleep theretill tomorrow. You can't miss Freebird.
Hey, I can let yes whenyou when you come back on the radio
air. You can't tell a storyabout why you missed Freebird. Dude.
I tell him every night. Icall him out every single day about it.
Every day. I know. I'mI'm a horrible person. It's an

(12:37):
American. I get it. ButI'll tell you what. I'll tell you
what, Ricky. Yeah, you'reyour solo sound great from the parking lot.
I hear it all the way outof the parking lot. Dude.
That's a big insult. Oh,I'm solved this. This is taking a

(12:58):
very bad turn, Ricky. Iapologize about this, all about this?
How about this? All right?That's like telling led Zeppelin you sounded great
on your reunion. Yeah, yeah, your guitar was all out of tune,
Jimmy and man, wow, Iappreciate you there. So I have

(13:22):
Ricky wanted to tell you this storysince probably nineteen eighty. Okay, this
is a story and it just bearwith me. I'll make it as quick
as possible. So twelve years old, I'm giving a banjo. Guy teaches
me how to play it and Itake to it fast. So by the
time I'm fifteen, I've got aguitar and I'm pretty much I already knew
how to play it because the chordsaren't really bet much different, not really.

(13:45):
So I'm playing in bands in highschool. I'm learning nothing. All
I'm doing. All I want todo is gig. All I want to
do is gig. I'm playing shows, zero productivity at school, straight fs
across the board. Nineteen seventy nine. I see my very first concert without
my sisters, you know, whileI was with a real man. I'm
here at my own show, youknow, Cheap Trick and Blackfoot Market Square

(14:07):
Arena, June nineteenth, nineteen seventynine. I have the ticket. I
got the ticket out. I haveit right here in front of me from
that day. Six months later,I am offered a six night a week,
six hour a night house gig,the what do you call it,
the bi Squad and all that wasn'ta big of a deal back then.
You'd be sixteen to be in abar and plan. I quit high school.

(14:30):
I told my dad about I toldhim when I was going to be
making He said, yeah, allright, you're not doing anything in school.
Anyway, I went into the principal'soffice with my dad, quit school,
got in my car, put inBlackfoot, put it on track number
nine, and I and I playedBlackfoot's Highway song. As I rolled out
of the parking lot. I startedgigging and threw all that gigging that I

(14:52):
did those first few years and intothe into the eighties and nineties. I
was by accident at radio stations ofthe years because we were opening him for
some pretty good sized bands. Eventually, that song and that album got me
into radio by accident, and I'vebeen doing it for thirty five years.
Well, look here, I appreciatethat, man. I mean, that
means a whole lot to me.I spent you know, Let's put it

(15:18):
this way. When I left LeonardSkinner the first time, when I left
him in the early seventies, mygranddaddy Shorty that road train train. He
told me. He said to me, those guys are going to do something.
And if you quit and that bandgoes on to have great success and
you don't, you're gonna You're gonnaremember that your whole life. It's gonna

(15:41):
haunt you. And I said tohim at the time, I said,
to him at the time. Isaid, prop, I said, don't
worry about it, Dad, Isaid, I know my path has cut
for me. I know that something'sgonna happen where it'll come around. Well,
it took a little while, youknow, for it to come around,

(16:02):
and finally in nineteen seventy nine weput out The Strike's album and boom,
it was a hit. And Inever looked back, you know,
so too for me. And here'swhat's really interesting. You know, the
plane crash had happened in seventy sevenyea, and they put out an album.
They put out the album or thecollection, I should say, of

(16:25):
the Muscle Shows collection, and youknow, all of a sudden it came
out as the first one did,as Leonard Skinnerd's first and last album.
And here I am on the frontcover of it with the guys, and
then all of a sudden, theStrike's record comes out. Wow. Well,
the Leonard skinnerd Record had gone twotwo and a half, were close

(16:48):
to three million records gone. Andthe next thing I know, the Strike's
album hits, it goes gold,and then it goes platinum. So I'm
sitting on about I'm sitting on twoRecords that has sold about four to five
million albums. Damn. And Ihad never sold one record at that time
in my life, you know whatI mean. Yeah, So tell me

(17:14):
so, Ricky, when you whenthe money first rolls in, what was
the first big thing you bought?I bought a nineteen forty eight Ford pickup
truck that, uh, that Iended up having off the frame, rest
restored and turned it into a beautifulcandy apple red street machine. Man.

(17:37):
Oh yeah, but you know what, that was the first thing I bought.
I was buying guitars anyway, offand on throughout my life. I
didn't need really to go out andbuy any more guitars, but I did.
But the thing is, I keptmy street machine. Uh. And
the funny part about it all isI ended up living with my parents and

(17:59):
fixing uh you know, my parents, fixing up my room and their house
and stuff like that. Man.And and enjoyed living, you know,
being off the road and being withthem. So it worked out really well.
And I remember telling my dad,you know, because we would take
him on the road with us andhe would come out on the stage with

(18:21):
us and play Train, Train andbattle Stake, Rock and Roller, and
all he saw right. Well,I remember having a conversation with him and
he one of the things he saidto me goes, well it worked out,
didn't And I went, yeah,I did, Hell, yeah I
did. I tell you what,Ricky, there there was something going on
in the water in nineteen seventy nine. I've looked this up before people.

(18:44):
I mean, Dream Police, theWall, Rust Never Sleeps In, through
the Outdoor Highway to Hell Van Halentwo Desolation Angels, a great album from
Bad Company. I mean it's justonn and on nineteen seventy nine, Flirting
with disaster with Molly Hatchett. Thatwas, you know, something I wanted
to ask you about because there wasa lot of Southern rock bands at the
time. I used to jam greenGrass High Tides, you know, put

(19:06):
on the Long Songs and Blackfoot's ofcourse, and and Dreams and Almond Brothers
from Molly Hatchett as well. Therewas a lot of negativity about especially Molly
Hatchett being a rip off of Leonardskinnerd How did that strike you? I
always thought they were great. Well, I never really looked when Skinner.
When when Skinner the tragedy happened,there was a big void. I guess

(19:32):
you should say, uh, youknow, there was a big void in
Southern rock and you know in thatthat time period, and uh, you
know, Molly Hatchett Man, theycame along with the goods and they hit
it. The timing was just right. I never really, what you say,
looked at it as a Leonard skinneredrip off or a Leonard skinnered replacement,

(19:53):
or they did what they did.They just did what they did.
Their songs caught on and the restis history. Yeah, I mean,
yeah, you know, I alwaysthought they were terrific. And here's the
thing that really upsets me man alot. You know, Skinner gets inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall ofFame and it took a total of being

(20:15):
nominated seven times. Yeah, andyou know they went in. They wouldn't
let me in with the band.They claimed that I, you know,
I hadn't been there long enough,and I hadn't contributed enough, and so
forth and sowing. It really upsetsme that that the Southern bands, and

(20:38):
it has been spoken this way.It has been said that the Southern bands
really it was a fluke that theyended up making a mark in history,
because really they were considered just barbands that really just that really just grates
my nerve. Yeah, and youknow what, man, I'm like,

(21:00):
you know, Ted Nugent hasn't beenentered into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame. And here's a guy,here's a guy that was also selling out
stadiums. I mean, this guywas like, has been mega huge,
you know, but they will notlet him in. Why probably because of
his political stands and the politics ofit. All of the Southern bands,

(21:22):
it took pressure from the fans inorder to get Leonard skinnered into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. Man, that's what it was, you know.
So if anybody's wondering, that's whya lot of your Southern bands,
while the Hatchet, the Outlaws,Blackfoot to name them, I don't know

(21:42):
if we'll ever be put in there. You know. It took forever.
It took forever to get the AllmanBrothers band into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame. And they might beThe Almond Brothers might be the greatest live
experience you'll ever I mean, it'slike going to church, you know,
It's it's another it was. TheAlmans were definitely different, definitely, but

(22:07):
you know, what man. Allin all, Uh, it's worked out.
You know what? For me personally, the fans every night is my
rock and roll hall of fame.That's that's what I look at it,
and I don't know what. Iappreciate each and every one of them.
We We've said it many many timesbefore. The one thing that kept this

(22:29):
band rolling after Gary passed away wasthat he didn't want the brand name to
end up in obscurity and the fansoutcry for us to not let it end.
That's what kept us here and it'sgoing to keep us here for as
long as they want it. We'regonna keep it rolling. And you are
hearing the voice of Ricky Medlock,a rock and roll hall of famer in

(22:49):
our minds here and you're gonna seehim Sunday night, Skinnered zz Top Uncle
Cracker Ruolph Music Center. Ricky,you have been more than generous with your
time as we're closing in on thirtyminutes, but continued good health. We
can't wait to see you guys Sunday, and I will be there until your
hands go limp after Freebird Lippen.Listen, you better be you better your

(23:15):
ear drums better be limp like halftersix, that's a deal. That is
a deal. We love you,Ricky, You're a great conversation. Thank
you so much for the time yougot it. Brothers, y'all take good
care and have a great day.