A song once asked the question "If i leave here tomorrow will you still remember me" today it has been 40 years since you left us and the answer to the question is still yes.

R.I.P. Ronnie Steve and Cassie





If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me
For I must be travelin' on now
There's too many places I got to see

If I stay here with you girl
Things just couldn't be the same
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now
And this bird you cannot change
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
And the bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
Lord knows, I can't change

Bye and bye baby, it's been sweet love, yeah yeah
Though this feelin' I can't change
Please don't take it so badly
'Cause Lord knows, I'm to blame

And if I stay here with you girl
Things just couldn't even be the same
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now
And this bird you cannot change
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
And the bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change

Lord knows, I can't change
Lord help me, I can't change
Lord I can't change
Won't you fly high free bird yeah

I genuinely wonder what they would have been if they hadn't been on that plane. Would they have continued on the path to being the biggest American band out there? Would the pills and alcohol have derailed them? What if Allen Collins had never been in that car wreck?

So many questions..

(10-20-2017 01:43 PM)HornLakeTiger Wrote:  I genuinely wonder what they would have been if they hadn't been on that plane. Would they have continued on the path to being the biggest American band out there? Would the pills and alcohol have derailed them? What if Allen Collins had never been in that car wreck?

So many questions..

Sadly the band had just started to clean up their lives after the car crash of guitarist Gary Rossington. Who wrapped his new car around and oak tree while drunk.

Had Street Survivor with the original cover but it got lost somehow. Wreckage sat in a junk yard in Brookhaven Miss for around a year not too far from older sister's house and was able to retrieve pieces of the gauze used by medical personnel but it also got lost over the years.

Cassie LaRue Gaines a former Memphis State student.

Quote:Cassie was born in Seneca, Missouri, and raised in Oklahoma. She knew Billingsley from a stint in Memphis where she had worked at a bar called Pancho’s and attended Memphis State University. There she studied drama and art, and, according to Billingsley, she had even performed in the original Broadway production of Hair. By late 1975, Lynyrd Skynyrd sought out backup singers. They enlisted Billingsley who found Cassie in Oklahoma and eager to join the band. Shortly thereafter, Cassie convinced her brother to replace Ed King as lead guitarist.

from left to right, JoJo Billingsley, Leslie Hawkins, and Cassie Gaines



from left to right: Leslie Hawkins, Cassie Gaines, JoJo Billingsley

Quote:the group began touring with a trio of gospel-style female backup singers- Jo Jo Billingsley, Leslie Hawkins, and Cassie Gaines. Cassie was a torrid throated Memphis State University grad who landed the Skynyrd gig after five years of session work. When she realized the band was searching for a new picker, she told them about her younger brother.

Steve Gaines was familiar enough with Skynyrd that his band, Crawdaddy, played "Saturday Night Special" as part of their regular set. However, when he drove from his home in Seneca, Missouri to a Skynyrd show in Kansas City as his sisters request, he had no idea that Cassie had arranged for him to play with the group. Once he stepped on the stage to jam on "T For Texas," though, it was the band's turn to be shocked at Cassie's kid brother's ability.

At 26, Steve Gaines already had as much professional experience as the Skynyrds. Since 1971, he had been in a variety of groups, including one with Mitch Ryder, and had a recording experience both in Memphis and Macon. But as he drove home after the Kansas City show, Steve's career appeared stalled. No one in Skynyrd said anything about the performance until about two weeks later when Steve got a call from Ronnie asking him to join Skynyrd in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

(10-20-2017 04:29 PM)Cletus Wrote:  Cassie LaRue Gaines a former Memphis State student.

Quote:Cassie was born in Seneca, Missouri, and raised in Oklahoma. She knew Billingsley from a stint in Memphis where she had worked at a bar called Pancho’s and attended Memphis State University. There she studied drama and art, and, according to Billingsley, she had even performed in the original Broadway production of Hair. By late 1975, Lynyrd Skynyrd sought out backup singers. They enlisted Billingsley who found Cassie in Oklahoma and eager to join the band. Shortly thereafter, Cassie convinced her brother to replace Ed King as lead guitarist.

from left to right, JoJo Billingsley, Leslie Hawkins, and Cassie Gaines



from left to right: Leslie Hawkins, Cassie Gaines, JoJo Billingsley

Quote:the group began touring with a trio of gospel-style female backup singers- Jo Jo Billingsley, Leslie Hawkins, and Cassie Gaines. Cassie was a torrid throated Memphis State University grad who landed the Skynyrd gig after five years of session work. When she realized the band was searching for a new picker, she told them about her younger brother.

Steve Gaines was familiar enough with Skynyrd that his band, Crawdaddy, played "Saturday Night Special" as part of their regular set. However, when he drove from his home in Seneca, Missouri to a Skynyrd show in Kansas City as his sisters request, he had no idea that Cassie had arranged for him to play with the group. Once he stepped on the stage to jam on "T For Texas," though, it was the band's turn to be shocked at Cassie's kid brother's ability.

At 26, Steve Gaines already had as much professional experience as the Skynyrds. Since 1971, he had been in a variety of groups, including one with Mitch Ryder, and had a recording experience both in Memphis and Macon. But as he drove home after the Kansas City show, Steve's career appeared stalled. No one in Skynyrd said anything about the performance until about two weeks later when Steve got a call from Ronnie asking him to join Skynyrd in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

I remember them playing the strip before they hit the big time. Sometime around 74.

First live radio performance from Ardent studios and broadcast by FM100, October 30, 1973. Good Stuff.

(10-20-2017 07:42 AM)ncrdbl1 Wrote:  A song once asked the question "If i leave here tomorrow will you still remember me" today it has been 40 years since you left us and the answer to the question is still yes.

R.I.P. Ronnie Steve and Cassie





If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me
For I must be travelin' on now
There's too many places I got to see

If I stay here with you girl
Things just couldn't be the same
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now
And this bird you cannot change
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
And the bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
Lord knows, I can't change

Bye and bye baby, it's been sweet love, yeah yeah
Though this feelin' I can't change
Please don't take it so badly
'Cause Lord knows, I'm to blame

And if I stay here with you girl
Things just couldn't even be the same
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now
And this bird you cannot change
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
And the bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change

Lord knows, I can't change
Lord help me, I can't change
Lord I can't change
Won't you fly high free bird yeah

Also, R.I.P. Billy Powell... One of the great rock pianist of that era.

I was at the July 4, 1976 concert at the Liberty Bowl (Worldwide Texas Tour) featuring ZZ-Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blue Oyster Cult and the Outlaws.

Just one of many great concerts that was in Memphis back in the 70's...