Quotes from Johnny Van Zant

My dad was a truck driver, and from the time I was knee high to a grapevine, I was driving a truck.

Skynyrd's not just a band; I think it's a lifestyle. It's iconic.

We are not saying that every idiot out there should own a gun - and there should be better background checks on guns. Not everybody should have the right.

When you're 17, touring is fun.

If it wasn't for Al Kooper, there might not be a Lynyrd Skynyrd. He's the one who found us at Pinocchio's in Atlanta, Georgia, and signed us to Sounds Of The South through MCA, brought the band to attention.

My favorite singers in the world have been black singers, and you can go to any church and hear the best singers in the world - and I'm a singer, and I love singing!

We always pay tribute to what the old Lynyrd Skynyrd has done - I'm very proud of that.

Whatever people want to say, we go out there every night, and we give tribute to the songs that my brother wrote, to Ronnie and Allen Collins and Steve Gaines and Leon Wilkeson and everybody. We pay tribute every night to those people who have gone on.

Hank Junior fans are Skynyrd fans.

Families do not stop living. We have got to keep going on. This is what people do.

Rock & roll has kept us alive for all these years. But we just love country music. It's in our blood.

I actually quit the business. I went and drove a truck for a year and a half.

My dad was a truck driver. We all used to ride along with him. And the way he'd keep awake was to sing while he was going down the road. So we all joined in.

Johnny Colt is a character, and most people in Lynyrd Skynyrd are characters, so he fits in great with us. He's got an attitude, man, and I love it, and that's what we need.

I'd rather sit in Jacksonville and do a different kind of work than get messed over.

Not every song of Lynyrd Skynyrd's was a single, but songs like 'Tuesday's Gone' and 'The Ballad of Curtis Loew' and 'Made in the Shade,' 'I Need You,' people learned those songs from the radio because radio played albums, not just singles.

Every redneck's dream is to write a song and have it go on a fishing show.

Look at Montgomery Gentry. If those boys came out in the '70s, they'd be Southern rock.

If rock & roll is dead and gone, man, I am missing out on it.

As Christians, it's our duty to stand up for what we believe - that's called testifying.

We have to make a living, sure, but it's about the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd and what it stands for, what the fans are all about.

We've got to take some drastic steps in this country. We can't keep spending and spending.

I want to be there for the last note of 'Freebird' when that happens.

When we are out on the road, running up and down the road playing shows, you have to be not only a member of a band but, especially with Lynyrd Skynyrd, you have to be a part of the Skynyrd nation. You have to be a part of the family.