My dad was a musician, played on the road and played all of his life. And I grew up in a musical family. I heard it all. I mean, I got accustomed to listening to Roy Acuff and all the old guys. It was really cool for me growing up in a family like that.

Rickey Medlocke

I started playing guitar when I was, like, 5, and I picked up playing drums when I was 6 years old.

Rickey Medlocke

That's what I'd rather be doing more than anything. I love to play and perform and write, record, do whatever - just stay in music.

Rickey Medlocke

We just try to write about things that are close to our hearts. We don't sit around trying to write another 'Free Bird' or 'Sweet Home Alabama.'

Rickey Medlocke

I'm Native American, so the racial thing kind of hits home with me.

Rickey Medlocke

I was one of the original drummers. What everyone likes to do is think of Lynyrd Skynyrd as the band that picked up again in '73. But I was one of the original members, and I was a big part of that.

Rickey Medlocke

We were working 'Good Teacher' up, and it became apparent to me that, as we were playing it, the song had a Hendrix, 'Crosstown Traffic' vibe and feel to it.

Rickey Medlocke

We're about music. We're not about politics.

Rickey Medlocke

Lynyrd Skynyrd is not a political band, but you know what? We believe in this country. We have a soft spot for our military. We love the red, white and blue, and every night we dedicate a portion of our show to our fighting men.

Rickey Medlocke

Next time you go get bin Laden, don't call it Operation Geronimo, and if anyone wants to stand toe-to-toe with me and talk about it, I'm open, brother.

Rickey Medlocke

As a young man growing up in that era, I was very influenced by Hendrix and took to a wah wah, and I learned how to really use one effectively as Hendrix did.

Rickey Medlocke

I don't want to use my platform to speak out against anybody. I'm a rock and roller. I play music for a living.

Rickey Medlocke

It's funny: here I am, a guy who plays in one of the world's biggest classic-rock bands, and to tell you the truth, I listen to classic rock the least.

Rickey Medlocke

Recording should be fun.

Rickey Medlocke

If you really stop to think about it, the last really big guitar hero was Eddie Van Halen, and that was back in the '80s - early '80s, you know what I mean? That's a long time ago.

Rickey Medlocke

Politics are the same old thing. We elect people, we put them in office, and guess what they do? They sell us out. They sell us down the river, and we pay for it.

Rickey Medlocke

I find that America is moving toward a certain type of government that everybody else is moving away from, and I find that very upsetting to me.

Rickey Medlocke

I gotta tell you, Rickey Medlocke lived in some of the most magical years in this world's history. I lived in the '60s. I lived in the '70s, right into the '80s, and man, it was bad to the bone.

Rickey Medlocke

Here's the deal: You can't go in with the intent that, 'All right, we're gonna write another 'Free Bird' or 'What's Your Name.'' You can't think about it in those terms, because you'll never outdo your history.

Rickey Medlocke

You've just gotta go in and write from the heart and write the best material that you can and put it out. If one hits, hey, great. It keeps the legacy going. But you've gotta keep doing new material. It's the future of any band.

Rickey Medlocke

My old man Shorty was a huge figure in my musical life.

Rickey Medlocke