GARY ROSSINGTON

We wanted to be America's Rolling Stones, to be the biggest band over here.

I love Eric Clapton and what he did with Cream; 'Spoonful' and 'Crossroads,' those are probably the coolest solos.

I could write a dozen different songs with the same three or four chords, but they'd all be entirely different.

You go through stuff, and you keep going.

We didn't have much money when I was younger, so I had to collect Coke bottles and cash them in and get a paper route to afford a guitar. That guitar from Sears came with a case and an amp and everything all in one. It was really cool.

God blessed us with talent.

We keep our music simple, no big gimmicks. We tell stories people can relate to, not hard to understand.

It's really weird when we're out of the country, whether we're in Brazil or Greece or some crazy place like France or Germany. When you hear your song on the radio or in a store, and you're in a different country, it's really freaky and surreal.

All we lived for was playing and being out on the road. That was our dream, and it came true.

I sound like an old bullfrog when I sing.

Keith Moon was the funniest guy around. The stuff he did was insane. He was like somebody straight out of the movies.

We travel all over the world, and it seems like the South is the place where the people are nicest and they think of the fellow man more.

I've had some heart problems, and I'm on the straight and narrow.

We're a rock n' roll band. We're more music and rock n' roll than politics.

I love being Southern because of the people and the fans we have. People down here are more friendly - really warm people.

There's only seven chords, so you got to use the same ones over and over. It's all in what you do with them.

Through the years, people like the KKK and skinheads kinda kidnapped the Dixie or Southern flag from its tradition and the heritage of the soldiers.

I've got two lives. Weekends, I go out and play rock star. Weekdays, I play granddad. You can't beat that.

With life and grandkids and the whole thing, every day is busy, but I'm so thankful to God that I'm still here.

Our redneck reputation back then was originally just because we had long hair. Back in the '60s and the early '70s, in the South that was kind of a no-no. At all the Army and Navy bases we'd play, we would get into fights with the soldiers over our hair. But I think our music overshadowed everything else.

As long as the fans keep wanting to hear new records from us every few years, we'll keep making them.

Sometimes music isn't the way to talk politics, you know?

We used to travel through Alabama a lot and get onto back roads and just marvel at how pretty it was and how nice the people were.

Old-school rock bands, and blues bands, too, are kind of a dying breed.

I did get in a car wreck, but we got a good song out of it.