LYNYRD SKYNYRD Has 'About 30 Songs' That Were Written With GARY ROSSINGTON But Never Recorded: 'We Would Like To Get It To Our Fans'

In a new interview with Riff X's "Metal XS", LYNYRD SKYNYRD guitarist Rickey Medlocke and singer Johnny Van Zant spoke about the possibility of fresh music from the iconic rockers. Johnny said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We have songs that we wrote with Gary [Rossington, late LYNYRD SKYNYRD guitarist] that we never recorded." Rickey chimed in: "We discovered [these songs] shortly after Gary's passing. They brought us a load of tapes and all this stuff — [Gary's] wife did — and we discovered we had about 30 songs that Gary had taken part with Johnny and myself and whomever. And you could hear him talking on the tapes and talking about lyrics and all that stuff. And Johnny and I started talking about doing — possibly doing — another LYNYRD SKYNYRD record that included Gary's songs on it and stuff."

Added Johnny: "We'll see what the future brings, but we would like to bring that to the forefront and get it to our fans."

Nearly a year and a half ago, Rickey told Joe Rock of Long Island's rock station 102.3 WBAB that he was "excited" about the prospect of making a new LYNYRD SKYNYRD album. He explained: "After being in this band, and this is my second go-around in this band, and after spending, collectively — what? — over 30 years with the LYNYRD SKYNYRD brand, I think it's, I guess, needed or wanted. What we should do is put out new music, like we've been doing all these past years since I've been back with the band. Starting in '96, we did LYNYRD SKYNYRD 'Twenty' record, and here we are today getting ready to do another record, and for me, I'm excited about it. And it is a tribute, basically, to Gary, because we're gonna include a lot of these songs that he wrote, co-wrote. And you know what, man? I'm really looking forward to this. I really am. Not too many people can say that they're still a part of an all-time, incredible band, classic band that has gone through everything that LYNYRD SKYNYRD has gone through and still come out on the very end of it. Back when Gary got me back in the band, I promised him that I would be here until the last note of 'Free Bird' was played. So here I am."

In March 2024, Medlocke told Iridium Rock And Metal Reviews that LYNYRD SKYNYRD may not go down the traditional route when releasing new music. "I do have I do have a thing about putting out whole albums now, because I think that people will go online or go to iTunes or go to Spotify or whatever, they'll see a whole album, but they're only gonna play one or two songs," he said. "They might scan over the rest of them, but they'll pick out one or two of their favorite and then that's it. My thing is that's one of the reasons why I like putting out one song at a time, and you see how people would accept it, react to it, or maybe they don't react to it at all. Maybe they don't like it for whatever reason. But I find that you get a lot of mileage out of one song instead of a collective of 10 to 12 songs or more… You can release one every three months or whatever and then you get a collection of it and release the collection. So, all of a sudden, everybody's got a collection of five songs that they can go and grab after they've loved, like, maybe three or four of 'em. And then you've got the collection and you're all the better for it. But we have thought about that. And we've also thought about how long are we gonna take this?"

Elaborating on how long he thinks LYNYRD SKYNYRD can carry on, Rickey said: "I will put this out there. There's one more guy — he's such a hero to me. And I know you're gonna laugh about this, but Gary, Johnny and I figured, people used to ask us, 'How long are you guys gonna take this?' And I always said, 'Hey, look. If THE ROLLING STONES can do it, we can do it.' And I'm telling you — come on, Keith [Richards]. If you can do it, I know I can do it. Come on, Keith. Join us in LYNYRD SKYNYRD and play on stage with us, because there's another one I'd love to see climb up there with us."

If a new LYNYRD SKYNYRD album materializes, it will be the group's first since 2012's "Last Of A Dyin' Breed". The band released a single, "Last Of The Street Survivors", in 2020.

"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."

Rossington was the last surviving founding member of LYNYRD SKYNYRD. On March 5, 2023, his bandmates announced the news of his death in a statement shared on their social media.

LYNYRD SKYNYRD and FOREIGNER recently announced 19 co-headline appearances across North America confirmed for summer 2026. Produced by Live Nation, the "Double Trouble Double Vision Tour" begins on July 23 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Ameris Bank Amphitheatre with a final performance planned on August 29 in Rogers, Arkansas at the Walmart AMP.