One More For From The Road

In 1976, the Fox Theatre was facing the wrecking ball. The ornate, moorish-style movie palace, which had stood on Peachtree Street in the heart of old downtown Atlanta since 1929, was in disreapair. plans were afoot to demolish the proud old piece of Atlanta history until a public outcry led to the formation of the "Save The Fox Foundation." The Lynyrd Skynyrd band, looking for a way to acknowledge their debt to a city that was largely responsible for their success, had joined the cause, hoping to draw attention to the Fox's plight by making it the site of their upcoming live album, One More For From The Road.

Atlanta was Skynyrd's town. The Jacksonville, Florida-bred "Whiskey Rock-A-Rollers" had first made a name for themselves at a rowdy Atlanta dive called Funochio's in the early seventies. After being discovered there by Yankee slicker Al Kooper for his Atlanta-based Sounds of the South label in 1972, Skynyrd launched their MCA career with an explosive industry debut performance at Richard's, Atlanta's premiere rock club, in July 1973. The band's biggest hits, "Free Bird," "Sweet Home Alabama and "Saturday Night Special," had all been recorded at Studio one in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville, and after the group's sold-out headlining show at Atlanta's gigantic Omni arena in July 1975, the bond between the Dixie band and the capital of the "New South" was cemented.

Like Atlanta, a city that had risen from the ashes of war, Skynyrd overcame adversity to become the personification of the unconquered rebel spirit of the South. When it came time to choose a place to make a Skynyrd live record, the city that had become their honorary home town was the only real choice.

The events leading up to the live album were true to character for these ragged underdogs from the wrong side of the tracks, who in spite of facing difficult odds, always somehow managed to draw a winning hand. "We had always been saving a Skynyrd live album as our trump," lead singer Ronnie Vanant would later boast about One More For From The Road, but the decision to do a live record was made under pressure. Disapointing sales of the band's fourth studio LP, Gimme Back My Bullets, had forced Skynyrd to play their hand, little suspecting they were soon to be a dealt an unexpected ace.

For the past year, Skynyrd's trademark triple lead guitar attack had been one axe shy. Since Ed King's departure nearly a year earlier the band had mounted a fruitless search for a hot guitar player, to replace him. With the Fox dates scheduled for May, 1976, and no likely candidates in sight, the band's luck seemed to get worse.

The day before Skynyrd's April, 1976, show at New York's Beacon Theatre, guitarist Gary Rossington broke the ring finger on his left hand when he slammed a door on it, forcing the band to postpone the live album until July to allow him time to fully recover. This chance accident led the band to extend their current tour an extra month, which included a date in Kansas.

Cassie Gaines, one of Skynyrd's recently added back-up singers, had been telling the band fro motnhs about her kid brother back in Oklahoma who played guitar. When the band passed through nearby Kansas City, Cassie arranged for him to jam with the group on their guitar rave-up version of Jimmy Rodgers' "T For Texas." Steve Gaines' impromptu performance ended their search for a third guitarist.

When Skynyrd marched in to lay siege to Atlanta two months later, Steve Gaines was with them, his head crammed with new material learned in marathon rehearsal sessions. With only three previous live gigs to work himself into the band's starting line-up, Gaines would never-theless become the catalyst for one of Skynyrd's most inspired performances. By opening night, the band had trucked in enough stacks of Peavey amplifiers to rattle the ancient Fox to its foundation. With Tom Dowd, producer of the landmark live album The Allman Brothers At The Fillmore East, staked out in mobile recording unit, all the elements of a classic album were in place.

One More For From The Road was recorded live during Skynyrd's sold-out three-night stand at the Fox Theatre in July, 1976. The ornate 4,600-seat landmark was packed to the rafters with a rabid, Confederate-flag-waving mob of Skynyrd faithful, who felt the group's thunderous rock 'n' roll hurricane blowing full force. The interplay between the newcomer Gaines and veteran guitarists Rossington and Allen Collins seemed to inspire the whole band to new heights of frenzied virtuosity. In the eye of this Southern cyclone stood vocalist Ronnie VanZant, calmly orchestrating the pandemonium surrounding him with ferocious growls, snarls, and wolf-whistles.

"Everything seemed to work right for Skynyrd," said the Atlanta Constitution in describing their feverish performance. "The band's special quality, the electric atmosphere stemming from it's love of making music, was apparent from the first note. The performance was hypnotic."

The three nights of live recording were a delirious celebration of Skynyrd's catalog, with the band playing al their classic hits and treating fans to scorching performances of "T For Texas," "Travellin' Man" and "Crossroads," none of which were available on their studio albums. The recordings of Skynyrd at the Fox captured the group at the pinnacle of their powers with the best performances from the three nights being picked for release. The resulting live album was the definitive work of the band's career.

One More For From The Road became Skynyrd's breakthrough record. The double-live set was released on September 13, 1976, and immediately rocketed into the Top 10, becoming the group's fastest selling LP ever. it would soon join Pronounced and Second Helping as Skynyrd's third million-selling record, making them the only other Southern band up to that time, besides the Allman Brothers, to have reached platinum status.

1996 marks the 20th Anniversary of One More For From The Road, which is the appropriate moment to present this newly remastered, expanded version of the original album. This two-CD set contains all of the songs that appeared on the original double LP, plus three bonus tracks recorded during the Fox shows: "Gimme Back My Bullets" and "Simple Man," both of which have been released on earlier compilations, and a previously unreleased alternate version of one of the band's signature tunes, "Sweet Home Alabama."

In a further effort to recapture some of the flavor of the original Fox concerts, the songs on this set have been resequenced to correspond to the original running order of Skynyrd's shows there. Additionally, elements from the souvenir photo booklet, the inner jacket photo collage, the credits, and Cameron Crowe's notes, all from the original album, have been reproduced in the new CD booklet.

On April 15, 1977, Ronnie VanZant and Gary Rossington, on behalf of the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, were awarded honorary Atlanta citizenship certificates at city hall by mayor Maynard Jackson for their part in helping save the Fox Theatre. Skynyrd in turn, presented the Mayor and representatives of the Fox with gold albums of One More For From The Road and a check for $5,000 for the "Save The Fox" campaign. Today, nearly two decades later, One More For From The Road remains a living testament to one of the legendary band's of rock 'n' roll and the Atlanta cultural landmark they helped to preserve.

- Ron O'Brien