“When I came back into Lynyrd Skynyrd, I knew that Free Bird was going to be my lead. I was the drummer in Muscle Shoals when we cut the original. I watched Allen. I knew the licks”: Rickey Medlocke unpacks his history with Skynyrd – and that guitar solo

Rickey Medlocke playing a Gibson Explorer guitar onstage.

“Gary Rossington had this melodic sense; then there was Allen Collins with his Clapton-ish style. Put them together and they work.” That’s how Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke sums up the band’s ’70s guitar magic.

And he should know. It helps that he’s played guitar with Skynyrd since 1996; but before that he played drums for the Southern rock heroes from 1971 to 1972 – and was even in on the original sessions for Free Bird, among other classics.