Q’s With Johnny Van Zant: His Brother’s Keeper

Johnny Van Zant: (Laughs) I don’t know that, I guess you’d have to talk to some oddsmakers and see what the hell that would be. Who knows? That old house now’s an historical landmark, so they can never tear it down. That’s a pretty cool thing; there are so many memories and good times there.

I remember Rock 105 [in Jacksonville] would debut new albums and play the whole album at midnight. We’d all heard the album, but staying up and listening to the whole record, to hear it on the radio, was different. My dad [Lacy], was more impressed with all this than even myself, Ronnie or Donnie. Daddy really loved that we did something in the music business. He was a very common person, a truck driver, served in the Navy, and my Mom [Marion] was always like, “All you damn boys need to get a job.” She just didn’t like getting in the limelight that came along with it. All of a sudden, people started acting a little different and that’s a shame, because we were, and we’re still, real common people, man. It never affected us.

Now on stage you act different, of course. Ronnie’s persona on stage was totally different than his persona off stage. I think most artists would tell you that’s the case. Especially for us. I mean, hell, coming over to Austin, the day before I left, I pulled out my garbage to the road, you know what I mean? We were raised like we didn’t have nothing and we really didn’t, except for family. Our house was always kept clean. We had food on the table. And that’s the way it was.

As far as being singers, Ronnie was a great stylist, Donnie is a great stylist. Lacy, our dad, should have been a preacher. Sometimes he’d make us sit there and listen to him preach the Bible for hours at a time. So there was that in our household and you can hear it in the songs. When all this is said and done, I’ve got a mission that I really want to do a gospel album. Me and Donnie have been writing tons of songs. With Skynyrd we still got another studio album to do. We just recorded this thing down in Jacksonville where the Jags play [TIAA Bank Field]. I can’t wait for the fans to get ahold of it. It’s been a wild ride. I’m thinking 31 years here for me, but I swear, it seems like it’s 31 seconds.

Our Dad never forced us to go to church, but he wanted to make sure we knew about God, and that’s what a good parent does. A good parent gives you values, gets you a good education, and tells you there’s a God, ‘cause this life’s way too short. And they did a good job of that, him and my Mom.

Ahmet did it first. He came down and signed me to Atlantic Records, and then at the end of the week Gary called me and asked me to do the tribute, and I said, “Oh shit!” Man, you talking about a week!  I said, “Man, I want to do the deal with you, Ahmet, but I also want to do this.” And he said, “Okay, well, go do that, but I still want this record.” The whole Ahmet Ertegun Atlantic deal was the reason why I didn’t come out with Brickyard Road until 1990. It was because that was after the tribute tour.

At times it does, but I’ll tell you, there’s something pretty cool about driving a truck. I think any truck driver would tell you that. Freedom of the highway and being your own boss 99 percent of the time was a good thing. Getting out and knowing where you’re going to go and where you’re going to drop. Get something and come back and go again.

It sure did and I think I fell in love with it because of going with Daddy on the truck as a kid. He had me in his lap, before I could even reach the pedals, shifting gears. He’d push the clutch and go, “Okay, push it up. There you go. Hold the steering wheel straight.”

Yeah. Pretty amazing. Daddy’d be proud. 

It’s been really fun to see the reaction of people and gratifying. We started this [farewell tour] because of Gary’s health. We were like, “Gary’s having some really major health troubles, so we don’t want to just one day go, ‘Okay, that’s it with Lynyrd Skynyrd.’” We all talked it out, and Gary’s like, “Yeah, it may be time to start reeling it back in.”

So we started out down in West Palm, not really knowing the magnitude of it, and as soon as we got into the first song, man, I had tears in my eyes like a baby. I went, “Oh my God!” Because these people were going, “Okay, hey, we’re seeing this for the last time.”

It’s actually even gotten bigger and bigger as the summer went on. And the only way I can explain it to you is that when I first started with Skynyrd, I couldn’t believe the magnitude and how the fans loved the band at that particular time. But I think this, right here is probably double that.

I get it because the first time people were like, “Well, hell, I never thought this would happen, this is cool.” And then you get used to it and say, “This is out there, and I’m going to get to see it every year if I want to.” But to think that this is really it, that looms pretty large for fans.

We started out going, “Okay, well, let’s see how this year goes,” and the demand of it, especially overseas and down in Brazil. Last year I had to cancel out of us and Deep Purple down there, my daughter got real sick with cancer. I wanted to spend as much time as I could before the good Lord called her home, and so we canceled down there. Hell, Gary’s got a pacemaker now, and he’s doing better, and it’s just amazing. It’s been a crazy year, but it’s been a good one, as far as getting out and seeing the fans and seeing the love that they have for the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

We’re going to make another record. Gary’s funny, he said, “Man, we can stop touring, the damn Beatles made seven records after they stopped touring.” 

Well, I appreciate that. I definitely do. Hey, I was a Skynyrd fan before I got in the band, I’ll be a Skynyrd fan after I leave the band.