JOHNNY VAN ZANT On LYNYRD SKYNYRD's Future: 'As Long As I Have Good Health, We'll See Where It Leads Us'

During an April 28 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", LYNYRD SKYNYRD vocalist Johnny Van Zant — brother of late great SKYNYRD frontman/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant — was asked about the group's future and how long he thinks he and his bandmates can keep performing live. Johnny responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, you know what?! Before Gary [Rossington, guitarist and sole surviving original member of LYNYRD SKYNYRD] died [in March 2023], he used to always call us 'Bubba'. He said, 'I don't know how much I'm gonna be able to play anymore' and stuff. He said, 'THE ALLMAN BROTHERS are gone.' Now that Gregg's [Allman] gone, you don't hear much about 'em. Charlie Daniels was a big influence on the guys. He's passed away, and you don't hear much about him. He goes, 'Whenever I'm gone, man, I hope this music can carry on.' So he was wanting it to carry on.

"So as long as I have good health and got good people like [current LYNYRD SKYNYRD guitarists] Damon Johnson, Rickey Medlocke and all the guys and girls in the band, we'll see where it leads us."

The 66-year-old Johnny continued: "Hey, you know what?! I always say it's up to the fans. You come out, we'll play. 'Cause I love doing it.

"I've had people telling me, 'Oh, you're not Ronnie,' 'You're not this,' 'You need to wear a cowboy hat, 'You need to go shoeless.' I said, 'Well, that was Ronnie's thing. I'm Johnny.' And 40 years next year is a long time that people have been coming back," Johnny added. "And they just love this music. They love what it is. It's more than fans. I call it our Skynyrd Nation… They're family to us, man. We're THE GRATEFUL DEAD of the south. They follow us around all summer and come to the same shows and just about hear the same set."

LYNYRD SKYNYRD released its last album, "Last Of A Dyin' Breed", in 2012. Only one other song has been released since, back in 2020, "Last Of The Street Survivors".

"Last Of The Street Survivors" — which shares its name with what was the time of the song's release supposed to be LYNYRD SKYNYRD's farewell tour — was penned by Rossington alongside Van Zant, Medlocke and songwriter Tom Hambridge, and found the Southern rockers reminiscing about their career and the bandmates they lost.

After four SKYNYRD members were killed in an October 1977 plane crash, Rossington recruited Johnny to fill his brother's shoes a decade later.

Medlocke, who played drums in SKYNYRD in 1970-71 before leaving to lead his own band BLACKFOOT and coming back to SKYNYRD in 1996, defended LYNYRD SKYNYRD's decision to carry on, telling Cleveland.com in May 2023: "People have beat us up over the years: 'Ah, you guys ain't nothin' but a freakin' tribute band' and blah, blah, blah.

"There's a lot of tribute bands out there to LYNYRD SKYNYRD, but none of them holds it as dear to their hearts as the guys who have been there as long as we have," he explained. "We have the history; I played on the first (recording) sessions. We just know that we have to portray the music with the integrity and the sound and the love as close as we can to when it was originally created."

LYNYRD SKYNYRD and FOREIGNER recently announced a North American co-headlining tour for the summer of 2026.