Quotes from Johnny Van Zant

Rich people know how to party, too.

We didn't grow up rich people.

I didn't know if Skynyrd fans were going to throw rocks at me or eggs or what.

I was a Skynyrd fan all along. But I was also the brother of the lead singer who passed on. I just didn't want to do anything that would harm the band's name.

Some people would do anything just to get a break; that's where the bad guys get you.

You don't go to some other country and bash our president.

I was a Skynyrd fan before I was approached to be a part of Skynyrd, and they always ended it with 'Free Bird,' so I've been watching it since I was a kid.

It's all these young country bucks doing Skynyrd songs, which is pretty cool to us.

We have doctors and lawyers and CEOs as fans.

We write stories about common people and common things. That's what Skynyrd always is about - the real working class of America.

I kinda feel that my brother wrote some of the best country lyrics ever - 'The Ballad of Curtis Loew,' 'Mississippi Kid' and that little hit 'Sweet Home Alabama.'

They're great songs. How many bands wouldn't like to have a 'Freebird' or 'Sweet Home Alabama' to play every night?

If people want to own a rifle or something like that for hunting purposes only, I tend to agree with that. But semi-automatic weapons and handguns, that's just unreal. I mean, what good are handguns?

On our Web site, we have people complaining about us not playing new stuff. But there's so many classic Lynyrd Skynyrd songs, you can't go out and just do a bunch of new things.

In my opinion, the only people who should have handguns are the police.

Some of the country stuff in the past has been so polished - if you were a guy with a nice pair of jeans, a big belt buckle and nice hat, you were country.

People are asking us, 'Why have you gone country?' And we say, 'Man, we were born country.' They gave us the tag 'Southern rock' years ago as a way of not saying country.

John 5 - he's weird. He's a freak. I'm just kidding. He's a great guy.

When we were kids, we said the Pledge of Allegiance because we were proud of this country, and we said prayer. You know, we thanked the good Lord above.

I think country music is Lynyrd Skynyrd. I think a lot of the country music is what we do, but I don't think rock & roll is dead at all.

When you're dealing with a big amount of money, you should have your own accountant and your own lawyer.

My father was a Democrat.

We always joke that our road crew will have to wheelchair us up onstage soon because this is what we do. This is what we love to do. This is what God put us on earth to do until the day we take our last breath.

The last thing we want to do is disappoint the fans.