On this day (August 13) in 1973, Lynyrd Skynyrd released their debut album, (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd). The LP was a top 40 hit, peaking at No. 27 on the Billboard 200. More than that, it contained some of the band’s best-known songs and breathed new life into Southern rock.
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Lynyrd Skynyrd was far from the first Southern rock band. Acts like Black Oak Arkansas, ZZ Top, Barefoot Jerry, and the Allman Brothers Band were already gaining popularity. Before them, Lonnie Mack laid the groundwork for the genre with his 1963 song, “Memphis.” However, the Florida-based band represented a new evolution of the sound.
[RELATED: Lynyrd Skynyrd Once Rebelled Against The Rolling Stones While Opening for Them in 1976]
Al Kooper, who would produce the band’s early albums and was instrumental in their rise to fame, saw them for the first time in an Atlanta, Georgia, dive bar. “Skynyrd were playing, and they just blew me out of my seat. They were playing mainly things off the first album, and then to find that they weren’t signed to anybody was marvelous,” he recalled. “They’re the real thing. The Rolling Stones can carry on and dance around and have Southern accents, but these are the real thing. These boys have a shack in the middle of the Florida swamps, and in their spare time, they chase alligators and go fishing for catfish.”
How Lynyrd Skynyrd Found Early Success
Members of Lynyrd Skynyrd had been playing together for around a decade and had gone through several lineup and name changes before releasing their debut album. Not long after the LP hit shelves, they shot to stardom.
When most people think of the band, one of the songs on this five-decade-old album comes to mind. The eight-track album included “Simple Man,” “Free Bird,” “Gimme Three Steps,” and “Tuesday’s Gone.” Few other bands can say that half of the songs from their debut album went on to become legendary. However, the band needed more than just a strong album to break out of their region and get in front of larger audiences in faraway places. That’s where producer Al Kooper came in.
Kooper was friends with the Who’s Pete Townshend. As a result, he was able to get the British band to take Lynyrd Skynyrd on the United States leg of their Quadrophenia Tour as an opening act. This exposed the Southern rock legends to large audiences across the country and helped bolster album sales. More than that, it helped them gain fans outside of the Southeastern United States.
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