“You know how they always say, ‘Who died and made you boss?’” Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington’s soft Florida drawl is made even softer by 3000 miles of phone line. “Well, Ronnie did.” His voice caught somewhere between a laugh and a cough.
Rossington’s broken bones healed long ago, but they still ache when the weather turns cold or rainy. The pain, the scars, the metal rod in one arm – frequent reminders of October 20, 1977, the day Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane went down near McComb, Mississippi. Among the dead, lead singer Ronnie Van Zant. Guitarist Steve Gaines. Steve’s sister Cassie, one of the Honkettes – Skynyrd’s backing vocalists. Road manager Dean Kilpatrick and the aircraft’s two pilots.
