Gary Rossington 1951-2023

The guitar hero who wrote Sweet Home Alabama - and led Lynyrd Skynyrd out of the darkness

- Paul Elliott

Of all the guitar heroes that have come and gone, Gary Rossington was among the most heroic. 

As a founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the three-guitar band that defined Southern rock in the early 70s, Rossington played with a swagger and a lightness of touch. He liked to play gritty, but also, as he put it, play “pretty”. His instrument of choice was a 1959 Les Paul Standard, which he used on every one of the band’s first five landmark albums. And in those albums were so many great songs that he wrote with singer Ronnie Van Zant – most famous of all, Sweet Home Alabama. 

But Gary Rossington was more than simply a gifted musician. He was also a man of extraordinary character. In the wake of the worst disaster in the entire history of rock ’n’ roll – the plane crash during Skynyrd’s 1977’s US tour, which killed Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and four others, and left the surviving members of the group and entourage with horrific injuries – Gary Rossington was able to rebuild his life and rediscover his love of playing guitar. And with Johnny Van Zant replacing his late brother as singer, Skynyrd was resurrected in the late 80s with Rossington as de facto leader, a role he retained until failing health forced him to withdraw from touring in 2021.