Browsing: lynyrd skynyrd

Ronnie Van Zant turned working-class Jacksonville grit into rock scripture. Here’s how his voice, songs, and tragedy shaped Southern rock forever.

How a trucker’s son from Jacksonville stepped into his brother’s ghostly spotlight, rebuilt Lynyrd Skynyrd, and turned Southern rock into a lifelong mission.

By the early 1970s, a new sound was roaring out of the American South—equal parts blues, country, and unfiltered rock…