North American syndicated Rock radio show In The Studio With Redbeard: The Stories Behind History’s Greatest Rock Bands pays tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd on the 40th anniversary of Street Survivors, their most popular album, amidst the gut wrenching plane crash that claimed the lives of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and back-up singer Cassie Gaines. 

The tale of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Street Survivors seems to have been hatched in the vivid imagination of Tennessee Williams, Harper Lee or William Faulkner, but the characters are so colorful, the childhood bonds so strong, the struggles so personal, the victories so inspiring and the heartbreak so deep that there is simply no need for hyperbole in telling it. Lynyrd Skynyrd co-founder Gary Rossington, along with a cameo from Souther Rock patriarch Charlie Daniels, lives to salute the band’s biggest-selling album Street Survivors containing “What’s Your Name”, “That Smell”, “I Know a Little”, “You Got That Right” and the poignant “One More Time”.

The redemption story of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s most musically mature and popular album, Street Survivors, is sadly forever framed by gut-wrenching tragedy. Revisiting the time of of one of music history’s darkest days compels us to separate fact from fiction, myth from legend about the band who waded from the swamps at Green Cove Springs outside Jacksonville Florida to the top of the charts. Their fifth studio album, Street Survivors remains unique in the long Lynyrd Skynyrd discography in several ways: it is the last recorded by original members guitarist Allen Collins and singer, songwriter Ronnie Van Zant; it is the only studio appearance with songs and performances by Steve Gaines; and Street Survivors is Lynyrd Skynyrd’s highest charting album at #5.

Guitarist Gary Rossington shares with In The Studio host Redbeard how life goes on even in the shadow of gut-wrenching tragedy. 

Gary Rossington: “I use to cry. I would be cryin’ by now, but like I say, years go by and it kinda heals the pain. I’m sure I could talk enough til I start cryin’, but you know, it’s alright… The Lord makes you forget all the bad stuff and remember the good.”                                                                                     

Check out the interview at this location.

It's not often that a judge halts a movie before it comes out, but an extraordinary injunction has come on a film titled Street Survivor: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash., reports  The Hollywood Reporter.

In an opinion out on Monday, U.S. District Court judge Robert Sweet writes, "Cleopatra is prohibited from making its movie about Lynyrd Skynyrd when its partner substantively contributes to the project in a way that, in the past, he willingly bargained away the very right to do just that; in any other circumstance, Cleopatra would be as 'free as a bird' to make and distribute its work."

Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines were two Lynyrd Skynyrd members who were killed in a 1977 plane crash. According to lore, the survivors took a "blood oath" never to use the name Lynyrd Skynyrd again. That pact was tested a decade later by a "Lynyrd Skynyrd Live" album in conjunction with a 1987 tour. Afterwards, the parties entered into a settlement agreement, adopted by a judge as a "Consent Order." One of the signatories was Artimus Pyle, a former drummer for the band which popularized Southern rock. He attempted to put his signature to the order "under protest."

When word of Street Survivor got around, heirs of Van Zant and Gaines as well as founding lead guitarist Gary Rossington sued the makers and alleged Pyle assisted the making of the movie in violation of his agreements. Read more at The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie centers on drummer Artimus Pyle’s recollection of the events surrounding the crash of the group’s touring plane in Mississippi on October 20th, 1977. Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines, along with backup singer Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray were killed on impact; other band members (Collins, Rossington, Wilkeson, Powell, Pyle, and Hawkins), tour manager Ron Eckerman,and several road crew suffered serious injuries.

One week before Lynyrd Skynyrd boarded the flight, members of Aerosmith were scheduled to board the same Convair CV-300.

The accident came just three days after the release of the band’s legendary Street Survivors album which featured "What's Your Name" and "That Smell”.

Read more at Variety.