Lynyrd Skynyrd

COLUMBUS, Miss. - Bassist Donald "Ean" Evans of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd has died of cancer at his home in Mississippi. Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant said Mr. Evans died Wednesday. He was 48. A statement posted on the website lynyrdskynyrd.com said,: "It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of longtime Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Ean Evans. Ean put up a valiant battle with an aggressive form of cancer and he will be sorely missed by family, friends and fans.

KID ROCK With Sheryl Crow At: Comcast Center, Saturday night MANSFIELD - Since 1998, when he broke through to the mainstream with his head-rattling, rump-shaking explosion of rap-rock swagger, “Bawitdaba,’’ Kid Rock has shown remarkable staying power. Others may be better songwriters, singers, or rappers, but few artists work as hard and have as much fun as the relentlessly proud son of Detroit. Over the years Rock has shrewdly, and sincerely, refined his good-time sound to land comfortably at a spot where Bob Seger intersects with Run-DMC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and...

TAMPA - Hughie Thomasson, a guitarist and founding member of the popular Southern rock band the Outlaws, has died near Tampa, Fla. Mr. Thomasson died Sunday, apparently of a heart attack, at his home in Brooksville. He was 55. His death was reported on the band's website. Mr. Thomasson was a teenager when he joined the Tampa-based band in the late 1960s. Its 1975 debut album, "The Outlaws," established the group as one of the pioneers of the Southern rock sound, alongside Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band, and the Allman Brothers Band.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and physical education teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died in Florida. He was 77. Mr. Skinner’s daughter, Susie Moore, said her father died in his sleep early yesterday at St. Catherine Laboure Manor in Jacksonville. He had Alzheimer’s disease. Mr. Skinner was working at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in the late 1960s when he sent a group of students to the principal’s office because their hair was too long.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Lacy Van Zant, father of members of the Southern rock bands Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special, died Tuesday at his home, of pulmonary illness, according to a posting on the band's website. He was 89. He was the father of Ronnie Van Zant, founder of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Johnny Van Zant, the band's current lead singer. Ronnie Van Zant died in a 1977 plane crash near McComb, Miss., that also killed two other band members. Another son, Donnie Van Zant, was a member of .38 Special.

FORT LAUDERDALE - A few thousand mostly Southerners were still filing onto a Carnival Cruise Lines ship for a three-day party headlined by southern-fried rock 'n' rollers, when one first-time passenger said, "Can't beat it if it's Lynyrd Skynyrd. " A few minutes later, three vacationing ER nurses from Nashville looked out at the pool-side crowd hooting and hollering and ordering buckets of Miller, and were reminded of patients they see at work. "These are the same clientele," one nurse said, sipping a drink.

MANSFIELD - Considering Kid Rock namechecked Lynyrd Skynyrd in no less than three songs last night at the Comcast Center, it is fitting that the Detroit rocker is touring with his heroes on their “Rock & Rebels’’ tour. During their sets both pledged allegiance to the flag and American soldiers, endorsed beer and whiskey, and embraced power chords, boogie, and volume as a means to an end. The near-capacity crowd ate up what felt like a long-delayed taste of summer. Kid Rock’s kinetic closing set was a funny blend of crude and rowdy bravado and tent-revival exuberance.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and physical education teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died in Florida. He was 77. Mr. Skinner’s daughter, Susie Moore, said her father died in his sleep early yesterday at St. Catherine Laboure Manor in Jacksonville. He had Alzheimer’s disease. Mr. Skinner was working at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in the late 1960s when he sent a group of students to the principal’s office because their hair was too long.

MIAMI -- Before getting too far out to sea, a look back: The Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, though torn apart by a plane crash that killed three of its members in 1977, reunited a decade later, with Johnny Van Zant taking the place of his deceased brother, Ronnie , as lead singer. The band, named for Leonard Skinner , a gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, who purportedly did not like long hair, has had a total of 22 members , but its basic formula remains the same.

Blues J.J. Cale Roll on Rounder ESSENTIAL "Leaving in the Morning" They say the truly great musicians constantly grow and evolve. But when you're a masterful songwriter, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist like J.J. Cale, why grow when what you've been doing works so beautifully? Over a 50-plus-year career, Cale has had his biggest successes with others, such as Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd, covering his deceptively simple and authentically American songs.

MANSFIELD - Considering Kid Rock namechecked Lynyrd Skynyrd in no less than three songs last night at the Comcast Center, it is fitting that the Detroit rocker is touring with his heroes on their “Rock & Rebels’’ tour. During their sets both pledged allegiance to the flag and American soldiers, endorsed beer and whiskey, and embraced power chords, boogie, and volume as a means to an end. The near-capacity crowd ate up what felt like a long-delayed taste of summer. Kid Rock’s kinetic closing set was a funny blend of crude and rowdy bravado and tent-revival exuberance.

COLUMBUS, Miss. - Bassist Donald "Ean" Evans of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd has died of cancer at his home in Mississippi. Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant said Mr. Evans died Wednesday. He was 48. A statement posted on the website lynyrdskynyrd.com said,: "It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of longtime Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Ean Evans. Ean put up a valiant battle with an aggressive form of cancer and he will be sorely missed by family, friends and fans.

Blues J.J. Cale Roll on Rounder ESSENTIAL "Leaving in the Morning" They say the truly great musicians constantly grow and evolve. But when you're a masterful songwriter, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist like J.J. Cale, why grow when what you've been doing works so beautifully? Over a 50-plus-year career, Cale has had his biggest successes with others, such as Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd, covering his deceptively simple and authentically American songs.

ORANGE PARK, Fla. - Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell, who played on such hits as "Sweet Home Alabama" and survived the 1977 plane crash that killed three band members, died Wednesday. He was 56. Mr. Powell, who had a history of heart problems, missed an appointment Tuesday with his doctor for a cardiac evaluation, and a heart attack is suspected as the cause of death. The Jacksonville-based band was formed in 1966 by a group of high school students. Famously, it took its name from a physical education teacher they disliked, Leonard Skinner.

FORT LAUDERDALE - A few thousand mostly Southerners were still filing onto a Carnival Cruise Lines ship for a three-day party headlined by southern-fried rock 'n' rollers, when one first-time passenger said, "Can't beat it if it's Lynyrd Skynyrd. " A few minutes later, three vacationing ER nurses from Nashville looked out at the pool-side crowd hooting and hollering and ordering buckets of Miller, and were reminded of patients they see at work. "These are the same clientele," one nurse said, sipping a drink.

MANSFIELD - Rebel flags and Run DMC. Southern rock royalty and hip-hop history. Slide guitar solos and turntable scratching. Confederate ghosts and Compton toasts. Saturday evening's Rock & Rebels Tour double bill of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock made for a double-dose boilermaker of high spirits and lowlifes - 30 years of motley musical traditions that shot all the way from Jacksonville and Detroit to New York City and Boston. Improbable as it may have seemed, the pairing worked wonderfully well and even made strange sense, thanks in large part to Kid Rock's all-inclusive, junkyard...

As its title suggests, the fourth Drive-By Truckers album is as heavy with Southern pride, tall tales, and rebel-rousing rock 'n' roll as a humid afternoon in the quintet's native Alabama. Just take the liner notes' photo depicting the grave of larger-than-life Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser (whose specter is raised in several songs) or numbers like "The Day John Henry Died" and "Carl Perkins' Cadillac," which ruminates about Elvis and Johnny Cash over an understated back beat and tartly yearning guitar.

NEW YORK -- After snubs that drove Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne to dismiss the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vote as "totally irrelevant," the heavy-metal pioneers are finally in, joined by Miles Davis, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Sex Pistols, and Blondie. Ozzy's '70s group was first nominated in 1996. But until yesterday, the panel of musicians, industry professionals, and journalists who vote on inductees kept the door barred. Except for Led Zeppelin, the hall has largely ignored metal since the organization was founded in 1987.

TAMPA - Hughie Thomasson, a guitarist and founding member of the popular Southern rock band the Outlaws, has died near Tampa, Fla. Mr. Thomasson died Sunday, apparently of a heart attack, at his home in Brooksville. He was 55. His death was reported on the band's website. Mr. Thomasson was a teenager when he joined the Tampa-based band in the late 1960s. Its 1975 debut album, "The Outlaws," established the group as one of the pioneers of the Southern rock sound, alongside Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band, and the Allman Brothers Band.

MIAMI -- Before getting too far out to sea, a look back: The Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, though torn apart by a plane crash that killed three of its members in 1977, reunited a decade later, with Johnny Van Zant taking the place of his deceased brother, Ronnie , as lead singer. The band, named for Leonard Skinner , a gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, who purportedly did not like long hair, has had a total of 22 members , but its basic formula remains the same.