Southern by the Grace of God

Southern by the Grace of God
Live album by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Released	March 21, 1988
Recorded	1987
Genre	Southern rock
Label	MCA
Lynyrd Skynyrd chronology
Legend (1987) Southern by the Grace of God (1988) Skynyrd's Innyrds: Their Greatest Hits (1989)

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Allmusic	[1]

Southern by the Grace of God is a live album by southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, recorded during the Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Tour in 1987. These live concerts were a 10-year anniversary tribute by Lynyrd Skynyrd to the members of the band who had died in a 1977 plane crash. The plane crash killed frontman Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines and road manager Dean Kilpatrick.

The band's lineup for the concerts was re-worked into a second-generation Skynyrd. The changes include: Johnny Van Zant, younger brother of Ronnie Van Zant, taking over on vocals, Ed King, who departed the band during a 1975 tour and Randall Hall, who replaced the paralyzed Allen Collins. The three (King, Hall along with founding member Gary Rossington) re-form the famous triple-lead guitar attack of the original band. New background vocalists Carol Bristow and Dale Krantz-Rossington were added to take the place of the original Honkettes.

This is the first album of new recordings produced by the band after the '77 plane crash. The last track is an instrumental version of the band’s iconic song “Free Bird”, having a much longer running time of 14:51 compared with the original 1973 studio recording (from (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)) of "Free Bird" (timed at 9:08). Rather than sing the lyrics himself, Johnny Van Zant directed the concert crowd to sing along with the music in tribute to his older brother Ronnie Van Zant.