on the daily: Thirty-Six Years Later

20 October 2013

Thirty-Six Years Later

On this day in 1977, a Convair CV-300 airplane ran out of fuel and crashed into a forest outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi after a failed attempt to make an emergency landing. Six passengers died on impact, several others were seriously injured. The plane was in route from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and carried the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Among the dead, were lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines (Steve’s sister). It was a dark day for Rock ‘n’ Roll.

In 1977, I had never heard the music. I was five years old and was much more a fan of Gerry Rafferty. Ten years later, I saw what was left of the band live for the first time. A few years after that, I found myself singing lead vocal in a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover band. After that project sputtered out and eventually failed, I all but forgot about the music.

I began to negatively associate it with where I had grown up and was doing my level best to put as much distance between me and that part of my life as possible for whatever reason. In the last few years, I’ve become reacquainted with and rediscovered my love of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s music. I think I finally stopped caring if you think I’m a redneck because I listen to it. I let myself remember seventeen year old me barreling down gravel roads in a pickup truck on a Saturday afternoon with Gimme Three Steps blasting from the windows and how awesome it felt. It really is, just that simple.

97.1 The River is paying tribute by playing thirty-six Lynyrd Skynyrd songs in a row today, one for each year since the plane crash. That sounds like a perfect Sunday afternoon to me. I believe that me and my dog and my pickup truck will be in search of a gravel road in the not too distant future. Call me what you will.