Rickey Medlocke recently spoke with Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Music Editor Monica Hooper about his time with Lynyrd Skynyrd. The guitarist also shared when he was confused about whether Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl threw shade at the band and their track ‘Free Bird.’ Medlocke recalled:
“I remember somebody told me that they were at, I think, a Foo Fighters show, and Dave Grohl goes up to the stage, and somebody yelled out, ‘Play ‘Free Bird,” and he does. He said something to the effect, ‘I would never even attempt to play that f*cking song.'”
He continued:
“I don’t know if that was a compliment or slander or a slap. I’ve yet to figure it out, but Dave Grohl seems like a great guy, so I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
Considering the song ‘Free Bird’ is the longest track on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut album ‘Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd,’ it’s a harder one to play. However, Rickey shared with AXS TV’s Katie Daryl this past March that he would continue to play the track as long as the band is willing to. He said:
“It’s about eleven and twelve minutes long now. Hey, listen, if it kept going, I got no problems with it as long as these hands are still able to shred it. I’m good with it.”
The guitarist is currently on tour with ZZ Top and Uncle Kracker, which will wrap up on July 28 at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers.
You can listen to Rickey Medlocke’s interview with Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette here and ‘Free Bird’ below.
