Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Rickey Medlocke Opens up About Continued Struggle of Coping With Gary Rossington’s Death

While the last original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, on March 5, 2023, news broke that Gary Rossington passed away. Helping the iconic band rise to stardom throughout the decades, the news rocked the fans of the group and especially its members. Although grieving his loss, Lynyrd Skynyrd continued to perform, most recently on New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash. When speaking on the idea of playing without his friend and bandmate, guitarist Rickey Medlocke revealed his struggle when dealing with the loss. 

Discussing the loss of his friend with Fox17 in Nashville, Medlocke admitted that it “broke” his “heart” when he learned about Rossington’s passing. He explained how much of an impact the guitarist had on him. “I don’t think that I’ve quite — still right now, after all this time, I don’t think I’ve quite settled with it. Because we were such really good friends ever since we were teenagers. And being on stage with him every night when we were touring is just something you’ll miss the rest of your life.”

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Continuing to honor his legacy, Medlocke shared his reasoning for moving forward with Lynyrd Skynyrd, telling MediaNews Group, “I’ve been here over 27 years now. I’ve been here to see quite a few members move on, pass away, and it doesn’t get any easier. We had been at a crossroads several times about whether to go on or whatever and had always maintained that it wasn’t about each individual or anything like that. It was about the music…” He added, “We made the decision to carry on with the music because, bottom line, the music is what is important.”

Rickey Medlocke Shares Special Gift With Country Star

In October, Medlocke surprised country star Jelly Roll with a gift. While the holidays were still months away, the country singer not only performed “Simple Man” with Johnny Van Zant and Medlocke, but he also received one of Rossington’s guitars.

[RELATED: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Rickey Medlocke on Gary Rossington: “He Was a Phenomenal Soul”]

Overwhelmed with emotions, Jelly Roll shared the moment on Instagram, writing,  “I was gifted one Gary Rossington’s guitars with the sweetest note ever. I literally cried. I grew up in Tennessee – if you grew up in the south you know the 3 biggest things in our life was Jesus, Lynyrd Skynyrd and College Football (in that order) .” 

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(Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for SiriusXM)