An in-depth study of the rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Despite devastating personal tragedy; personnel changes due to the ravages of the road; the untimely deaths of seminal founding members; a variety of legal entanglements and internal bad blood, Lynyrd Skynyrd has continued to record, to tour, and to produce powerful, personal music. Freebirds is a behind-the-scenes chronicle of the group’s history, detailed with interviews of those who "were there". Skynyrd is a band whose music has not only prevailed but thrived along its path to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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The core of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the most important southern rock band after the Allman Brothers, perished in an airplane crash in 1977. The survivors persevered and, though long since written off by rock critics, still tour. Heck, they released a new album in 2000. Brant's well-researched yet folksy group biography is essential reading for those who would understand the spirit of rock and roll. Like the Allmans, Skynyrd broke into the rock scene in the early '70s just as its giants of the day descended into the cocaine-flecked doldrums. Like the punk rockers, the southern bands restored the music's energy and revived its fuck-you attitude; it never gets much more fuck-you than early Skynyrd. Famous for partying, brawling, and playing anyway, Skynyrd cut a wide swath. Brant names the names and tells the tales in a conversational, even chummy prose befitting a band that enjoys a community of fans and friends not unlike the Grateful Dead's zany Deadheads. Long overdue, this is the most complete chronicle of Skynyrd and its ambience to date.
Margaret Kohel Evans invites her mother's grandchildren to a delightful visit with their grandmother, sharing charming memories of her across eighteen life themes.
