LYNYRD SKYNYRD Ink Deal With Loud & Proud/Roadrunner Records
March 17, 2009, 15 years ago
According to David J. Prince from Billboard.com, LYNYRD SKYNYRD have signed with a worldwide record deal with Loud & Proud/Roadrunner Records, and will release a new album later this year. Skynyrd are also heading back out on the road with Kid Rock for a second summer of the Rock and Rebels tour.
The band is currently recording tracks in Nashville for what will be the group's first set of new material since 2003’s Vicious Cycle.
The Loud & Proud release will also mark the band's first recordings since the death in January of founding member Billy Powell, whose fluid piano runs spiced such classic Skynyrd songs as 'Freebird', 'Call Me The Breeze' and 'Sweet Home Alabama'. Powell and founding guitarist Gary Rossington were the only two surviving band members aboard the 1977 plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup vocalist Cassie Gaines.
Since then, guitarist Allen Collins and bassist Leon Wilkeson have also died; former drummer Artimus Pyle survived the crash but no longer tours with the band, which reformed in 1987 and still is a powerful concert draw.
Skynyrd are heading back out on the road this summer with KID ROCK for a second round of their Rock And Rebels tour, reprising last summer's highly lucrative jaunt. Dates include:
June
26 - West Palm Beach, FL - Cruzan Amphitheatre27 - Tampa, FL - Ford Amphitheatre
28 - Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amphitheatre
30 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
July
1 - Dallas, TX - Superpages.com Center5 - Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest
8 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
10 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH - Blossom Music Center
11 - Indianapolis, IN - Verizon Wireless Music Center
12 - Tinley Park, IL - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
14 - Pittsburgh, PA - Post-Gazette Pavilion
21 - Maryland Heights, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
22 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
24 - Raleigh, NC - Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion
25 - Virginia Beach, VA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
26 - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
29 - Boston, MA - Comcast Center
31 - Hershey, PA - Hersheypark Stadium & Star Pavilion
August
1 - Washington, DC - Nissan Pavilion2 - New York, NY - Nikon at Jones Beach Theater