July 9, 2024 • 47 mins
Join @thebuzzknight for this episode with Rickey Medlocke from the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Rickey was also a founding member for the band Blackfoot.
If you have questions, comments or suggestions share them at buzz@buzzknightmedia.com.
Connect with Buzz on Twitter @TheBuzzKnight and Instagram @takinawalkpodcast.
Like the show? Leave us a review here. Review
Support the show: https://takinawalk.com/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I never was interested in being, you know, a real
flash shred or I guess they should say, you know, hello,
I've been told that, I'm told that I'd do in
a space playing free bird. Now the guitar has saved
my life many times, and music has saved my life
many times.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast with Buzz Night.
Buzz gets the inside story from musicians about their love
of music and connecting with their fans. Today, Buzz is
joined by Ricky Medlock, who's widely known as a founding
member of the band Blackfoot, and what most don't realize
is that Ricky is also not only a longtime member
(00:38):
of Leonard Skinner, but he was also a founder and
original drummer. His guitar playing and licks are legendary, and
his history in and out of music, including his family history,
are all fascinating. Here's Buzz Night with Ricky Medlock.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
The Great Ricky Medlock, thanks for being on the Taking
a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's a play to be with you, Hey, let's take
a walk.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Let's do it well. We're going to talk about your
new project in a bit never Run out of Road,
which I know has special meaning for you. But let's
go back in time and talk about starting out in
music at the age of three.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yes, I've got actually I can probably pull them up,
which I would love to, but I've got pictures to
back this up. So my grandfather, Shorty Shorty midline, who
has become pretty infamous, I guess we should say, with
(01:46):
trade train and you know, his relation to Blackfoot and
his relation to Leonard Skidder, especially to Ronnie, and it's
an interesting deal. What happened was my grandparents adopted me
and you know, raised me as their son, which was
(02:08):
a great thing. And so there was music all in
our family on my mother's side of the my mother's
side of the family, which was shorting. I come from
a long line of family members who played instruments, incredibly,
sang great sang incredibly. You know my mother when she sang,
(02:31):
my biological mother, when she would sing, she sounded as good,
if not better than Patsy Clent. She had some opportunities
in Nashville to probably go, you know, further in her
life than she did, but somehow destiny just did not
(02:52):
work out, you know. So being it at a young age,
she met my biological father, who was full in it,
they had their little fling and she ended up having
me and so being a young girl at sixteen years old,
(03:14):
you know, back in the fifties like that, it was
pretty well frowned upon, you know, much not like it
is today. When my grandparents took me on, I was
already having struggles with help. I was born, according to
doctors then and not really sure what any doctor they
(03:37):
you know, would say today because they don't know what causes.
It can either be generic or it can be by birth.
But they highly suspected that when I was born, all
my mother's birthing fluids didn't come out, and it's been
identified as pulmonary fibrosis. You know. I had a serious
(03:59):
operation when I was nine and a half years old.
They took took a long part of the lung from me,
and I laid in the hospital for months, you know,
and the doctors at that time indicated to my parents
that I wouldn't live to see fourteen years old. Well,
(04:20):
here I am seventy four, and I guess they were wrong,
oled out right, damn straight. I guess Angels above have
interceded in my life enough times, many times I guess
that I'm here now, and I really always felt like
(04:41):
it deep down inside. When I started in music, that's
where I was supposed to be. So what ended up
happening was when I got to be three years old.
My grandfather saw that I was taking an interest in
stringed instruments, and at a young age I would sit
(05:02):
around in while his banjo was laying there. He noticed
that I would pluck on certain strings and not just
fram on it, beat on it and stuff like that,
you know, so he bought me a miniature banjo. Interestingly enough,
he taught me out of play, you know, a couple
(05:23):
of songs with him, sing with him, and believe it
or not, I mean, you know, you could say, well,
at three years old, really, how much can a kid sing? Really?
But by ear I had mulated what he did and
what band members that he had in Jacksonville, and you
(05:46):
got us think about something. My granddaddy, you know, was
a was a musician in and out of Nashville with
a lot of your a lot of your infamous I
guess you should say, country as far as older ones.
Pretty interesting. He would come, you know, from the road
into Jacksonville and then he would grab his band and
(06:09):
play around the area had been every Saturday night he
would be on a TV show called the Toby Dowty Show.
So one Saturday, what he was on there? He goes
on and ask Toby, I taught my grandson how to
play banjo and I would like to bring him on
(06:31):
the show, and he and I do a song together,
and Toby at that point responds, well, how old is he?
And he said, well, he's three years old. He goes
three years old. He goes, yeah, he said, I've gotten
to see this. So the following week we show up
at the TV station. We go on, I go on
(06:52):
with my granddaddy. We played a song, and from that
moment on the cards and the letters came into the
TV station. Now, the TV station back then was WMBR,
which now in Jacksonville it's a CBS affiliate WJHT, and
it was of CBS Affilia back then. Well, cards of
(07:15):
letters came in about little Ricky, and the next thing
you know, I stayed on it for five years until
I was eight years old. I guess you should say,
I guess that's where I cut my teeth.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
You know what I mean, that's an understatement, but god,
oh yeah, man, what did Shorty teach you that still
is with you to this day. About life.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Wow, I can't say that I didn't learn some really
valuable lessons growing up. You know, in a music family.
Everything that I wanted to do, my parents allowed me
to do as far as music. Now, they didn't allow
me to go out be a hooligan, which I wasn't
(08:03):
at points in my life. But you know, we all
have to cut our teeth on doing something whatever. But
I gotta tell you, he instilled in me what the
meaning of music that comes from your heart to your boys,
or from your heart to your hands. It was a
(08:23):
soulfulness that I recognize that I recognized early in my life.
You know. Wow, my Granddaddy's really taught me this. And
he also taught me he said, always keep your feet
flat on the ground. He said, because the bird doesn't
fly so high that someday it's going to come down
(08:44):
and he goes. You gotta be careful about all the
other birds that you pass on the way down. These
were things that I took the heart and understood and
tried to live by. I've tried to live by trying
to be the best I can to other people. I
(09:06):
don't think that I'm a I don't never consider myself
an incredibly great guitarist. I mean I consider myself I
guess good if you want to really get right out
to it. I mean, you know, and people come up
to me and going, my god, you're such a great,
great guitarist, and I'm like, I don't really see myself
(09:26):
that way. You know, I do think that i'd love
to entertain. And recently, you know, my manager asked me
I was doing on the road and stuff, and one
day out of noewhere, I just said, and I said
this to my significant other, you know, I said, I
can tell everybody right now when I'm really the happiest
(09:51):
every day other than being around family, I'm happy. I
love being around family and stuff. But the happiest is
when I'm standing up on that stage and I'm playing
for everybody. That's because I go into a different I
go into a different world. I mean it takes me.
I go, it takes me away, and I look out
(10:14):
on the audience and I see all these people having
a great time and just really enjoying themselves and forgetting
their troubles and forgetting their blues. But my granddaddy instilled
in me some of the best values I could have
ever learned. He and my mother. I think about that
(10:34):
and I still carry it with me, And you know what,
I'm forever grateful to them. If it wasn't for them,
I wouldn't be sitting here in front of you today.
And I'm like so thankful that I was raised the
way I was raised and had them to allow me
(10:55):
to explore what naturally came to me, you know, because
back then you didn't have music teachers. You didn't have
these guitar schools that you could go to and learn
the scales and you know, learn how to shred and everything.
What I did was I listened to all my guitar heroes.
(11:15):
That's what I did.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So who are the five guitarists that impacted you the
most to this day?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Wow? And most of them and I have seen live
in my life. Jimmy Hendricks and Eric especially Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and of course Eddie Van Halen.
(11:44):
But before that, my great great friend that I admire
and love, the guy I've known him for so many years,
Billy Gibbons. You know, also, I'm a very very good friend,
and I think that because of his because of his
(12:05):
craziness and the stance on the world and politics and
all that crap. You know what, you can never forget
about Ted NuGen. Ted NuGen is probably one of the
world's greatest guitar players. So with all of those I've said,
they all just really in my for me as a
(12:28):
guitar player, I had the utmost respect. They influenced me
in my life when I was figuring out licks in
my life being a league guitar player. Eric Clapton played
a big role in that because you know, I was
raised by my grandfather, who was basically a Delta blues guy,
(12:53):
you know, Delta blues country is bluegrass, you know environment
And when I would hear Clapton and Hendrickson, you know,
back whatever, but especially hendricks and Clapton and and Billy
Gibbons of course came from that same mall. But when
I would hear them guys play, I go, Wow, there's
(13:15):
a lick that I recognize, or there's a phrase that
I recognized, you know, the whole bit. I would sit
down with a record player and drop the speed down
to where I could hear exactly what was going on.
And the way I learned stuff was I would sing it,
I would learn to sing the lead or the basics
(13:37):
of it. I was all self taught by ear and
that's that's really how I ended up doing it. Then
from there took it, created my own thing, my own style.
You know, I never was interested in being, you know,
a real flash shred er. I guess they should say,
(13:59):
you know, hello, I've been told that. I'm told that
I'd do it, especially playing freebird. You know, the guitar
has saved my life many times, and music has saved
my life many times. And you know what, here I am,
like I said, I'm seventy four talking to you. I'm
loving every minute of it. You know. I just love
(14:21):
get up every morning and I just appreciate, you know,
and give thanks to every day that I hit the
floor and I'm able to do music. And I'm out
here right now, you know, creating new songs and going
to put out another song pretty soon for all the
right reasons, not for the wrong reason, but all the
right reasons. And you know what, man, I'm just having
(14:44):
to honestly, I'm having the time of my life and
I just I'm really thankful, and I think about my
folks and it was all because of them.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Take me back to when you saw Elvis Presley perform.
What was that like?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, you gotta let's let's get into the beginning of it.
Because my dad was very good friends with a lot
of your local pretty heavyweight musician. There was a lady
there by the name of may Axton, and may Axton
was the aunt of Boite Accident and she was a
(15:22):
very popular lady about town, lady around that businesswoman, and
she sang, and she was a she was, you know,
into music. She was well into music. And my parents
knew her. In fact, she babysit for me several several
times in my life. And so what happened was Elvis
(15:45):
was coming to town and may Axton, Tommy Durden, and
a guy named Glenn Reeves whom my dad knew. All
of them, they had written a song together and they
were able to get a meeting with Elvis at a
hotel back Ben in Jacksonville. And the way the story goes,
(16:08):
they get in to see Elvis and they play him
this song and the King is sitting there listening to
them go through this tune, and at the end of it,
he goes, I really liked that song. I want it,
and he goes the only way I'll do it. And
that's the way Elvis was. If everybody's read a little
bit of his you know, his history and stuff. He
(16:29):
always had to own fifty percent of the song. He
will always wanted fifty percent of the publisher at that time.
From my understanding is that the only two people that
was present that wrote the song was May Accident and
Tommy Durton. Glynn Reeves was not present, so they made
(16:51):
a dealal with Elvin. They cut Glenn Reeves out of
it and in comes Elvis Presley for half of it.
May I the Tommy Dirty and the song I'm talking
about is Heartbreak Hotel Wow. In the midst of this,
May talks to my parents, my dad Shorty, We got
(17:14):
in see Alvis, you know, and he loves our song
and gave us tickets and he says, I have four
tickets for his performance tonight at the Florida Theater. Well,
I love the Florida Theater and as a kid, I
used to go to movies there all the time, and
even right now. Skinner recorded two nights and filmed it
(17:37):
at the old Florida Theater here within the last, you
know what, six seven years my dad said, yeah, I'll
take them. Ricky'll go crazy when if he knows he
can get in to see she goes, will you take it?
So come that night, you know, my dad puts me
in the cry and said we're going somewhere spect and
him and myself and Mam we go down to the
(17:59):
Florida and I'm sitting on the floor about the third
or fourth row back and out comes the King. And
that is when the King was really the king. And
I just was I mean as a six year old,
almost seven year old kid who used to lay at
night with his radio under his head of his billow,
(18:22):
listening to the rock and roll station and listening to
Elvis over and over, buying his records. And it was
so cool on man, because back then you could go
to a place in Jacksonville called the Record Bar, and
the record bar had these private books that you could
go into and you could try records out.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Well.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I used to pitch a fit with my ma. I
not only wanted to buy one of them, I wanted
two of them, because I figure if one god damage,
I always had another. Right. So here I am sitting
at the Florida Theater. I'm looking on stage and the
guy is right in front of me. So when it
was over with that night, I mean, I'm looking as
(19:09):
a young kid, I'm seeing what effect this guy's got
on people. I mean, at that time, as a young boy,
it was hard to fab. So we left and we
get in our car and I'm between my mom and
my dad and Shorty looks over at me and he goes, well, son,
what did you think about that? You haven't said a word,
(19:32):
He said, what did you think about that? I said, Pop,
I said, Dad, that's what I want to do. I
want to do that, and I never veered from it
one iota. I stuck to my guns and I learned
everything that I could about music, about the business. I
still remember that. I still remember that night like it
(19:54):
was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Great story, Yeah, tremendous story. Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh sure, we'll be right back with more of the
Taking a Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a
Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
So I think I want to make sure we set
the record straight here on your, uh, your career, specifically
with Leonard skinnerd because I think sometimes it is forgotten
about your your two runs that you had still have
with SKINNERD so yes, talk about that if you would, please.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Well, you know, there's been a lot of positive and
negative comments, a lot of thoughts about he was an
original guy. He wasn't an original guy. The band gets
inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame, and you know,
I'm there, and I knew that who were going in.
(21:00):
I knew that the band that had the guys in
the plane crash and Ed King and Bob Burns, all
these guys, Steve Gaines, and all of a sudden, I
was counted out the inquiry, you know, we inquired what
the hell you know? And it was said that my
(21:24):
tenure with the band didn't validate me being inducted with them.
I guess you can imagine my thoughts on this. I mean,
to be real, real, honest with him. For the Rock
Hall of Fame to do that is like a severe
slap in my face. And I know that there's other
(21:46):
rock musicians out here that deserves to be in there,
way deserves to being there. I mean, we just talked
about Ted NuGen Well for whatever he is or he isn't. Hey,
come on, the guy sold you know, fifty sixty eighty
million records, played stadiums. I just really believe that there's
(22:09):
a certain bias when it comes to being inducted in there.
You got to realize it took skinnerd seven times being
nominated to be inducted in, and I think that because
of the outcry of the fans, the pressure, I think
is the reason why they finally got inducted in. But
(22:33):
for me not to go in with the band, Look,
people can sit there and say all they want to.
When I joined the band, I signed management, production and
publishing contracts with those guys under the heading Leonard Skinner's
members Roddy van Zant, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Larry Johnstrum
(22:58):
who went on to play with thirty eight, and myself.
I go to muscle shows. I wasn't a studio musician
like a lot of these geeks. You know, they get
on there that argue you know about I was just
a studio musician. Bullshit. You know. I was already out
playing live gigs with the guys and writing songs with
(23:19):
the guys, and a full band member. I had contracts
to the effect. All of a sudden, I'm sitting there
and everybody else goes, but I have to sit there
and watch it. And that was a serious slap in
my face. And I'll always feel that way no matter what.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
You know what I mean, Yes, I understand.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I went up on the stage. Of course, you play
a couple of songs. And I got up and I
played Sweet Ome Alabama with the band and free Bird.
But let me tell you something that happened that was
so freaking cool. After free Bird, I'm coming off and
my guitar tech us there and I hand him the
(24:05):
guitar and there was a young gentleman there. He goes,
excuse me, Ricky. I said, yeah. He goes, there's somebody
over here, sitting out here at the table that wants
to shake your hand. And I went wo. He goes,
you'll see, and I'm like, okay, won who this is
going to be? So I start following him and lo
(24:27):
and be old. I'm walking around his table. Here's Ozzy
and the guys, and Ozzy stood up and shook my hand,
and I'm thinking, well, is this who wanted to shake
my hand? But the guy kept going, come on, Steve
was there, stood up, said shook my hand, said incredible job.
You know. I kept down and this Paul gentleman stands
(24:48):
up and it's Brian May. And Brian May goes, I
want to shake my hands of the person that just
played that song and free Birn. He goes, Oh my god,
he goes. I went, you know what, don't worry about that.
I want to shake the hands that played all that
(25:10):
great queen leads is what I want to do. And
he got a big laugh. We got. We got such
a laugh out of it. I knew that they were
out on the road and he was going to be
in Las Vegas along with Paul Rogers, and I knew Paul,
and I got all of a friend of mine, and
I wanted to go. And I went out to Vegas
(25:32):
and a friend of mine, mister Paul Crook, had done
this this like I forget what they called it. It
was like a thing that they put together to celebrate
queen songs, and it traveled all over the world. Paul
played the part of Brian May in the band, and
(25:54):
he knew all those queen leeds and all that stuff.
You know. Well, Paul knew I was coming, and I said,
I want to be able to get in to say
hello to Brian. He goes, we can make that happen.
So after the show, I got in, I said, my
ELO's to Paul Rodgers and the next thing, you know,
(26:14):
in wants Brian May and I said hey, Brian. He
goes hey. I said, man, what an incredible show. I
just love your guitar playing in That little guitar you
play is just unbelievable. He goes something to the effect
I might have something for you, and I'm thinking, wow,
(26:35):
what could that be? You know? Looe be old. Not
long afterwards, my friend Paul Crook got hold on me
and said, I've got something for you from Brian, and
I'm thinking, wow, what in the world could this be?
You know, we get to Vegas. He brings it to me.
It's the number three guitar out of his road case.
(27:00):
I got one of Brian's guitars.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
And I sit around and play it, you know, that
whole thing with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
At the end of the night, something good came out
of it. But to get you know, to get back
to the a little bit, I don't know what will
ever happen with it. You know. Recently, I guess I
went viral for giving the finger and all that stuff.
(27:24):
Like that. But you know, man, it's just out of frustration,
and it's out of frustration and anger sometime, because anybody
that gets rejected like that and turned down like that
and when you know you're supposed to be there, it's frustrating.
It's a slap of the face. And I'll tell you
one thing further. I've got it, and I'm getting ready,
(27:46):
probably to be honest with you, I'm getting ready to
post it up on a lot of social media. I've
got a video that lo and bee Hald Gary May
several years before is passing, and he's on video telling
he said, I've been seeing stuff all over social media
(28:07):
and all over the internet about Ricky, people arguing about
if Ricky, you know, wasn't the original band and should
be counted as an original member and this, and he goes, look,
we've always considered Ricky an original member. That's it, bottom line,
he was an original guy. For Gary to do that, man,
(28:30):
what is people going to argue against Gary Rossington?
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And the whole bit is, man, we'll see what ends
up happening with it. I don't know. Maybe they'll put
me in there with with Ronnie, Gary and Allen and
Billy and Leon and you know what I mean, Yes,
I mean I've even heard that Artemis once said the
people that I deserve to be in there. You know
(28:54):
that I should have went in with him, you know. Yep,
you know what, man, that really was really was a
disappointing night for me, you know, but hey, it is
what it is.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I have to ask you.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
I know you could have been on that plane, that
fateful plane. Do you ever have survivor's guilt about that?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Well? I had taken my granddaddy Shorty over to see
Ronnie at their studio. I had talked to Ronnie. Ronnie says,
please bring Shorty over to let me see. So they
had a studio over on Riverside Avenue, and I took
my dad over to see Ronnie the guys. And we
(29:42):
got there and up pulls Ronnie and his little Mercedes
and he gets out. Man, he hugs my daddy, you know,
and he gave me a had shaken a hug. He said,
y'all come on in, man. So we go into the
studio part in the control room, and Ronnie had the
engineer to put up the new record, the Street Survivors Record.
(30:02):
And I'll never forget he put on that smell. We
listened to it, and my dad listened to it, you
know what I'm My dad had the most interesting look
on his face when he was listening to it. You know,
he's listening to the lyrics, and so am I and
I found it to be just incredible. And Tom David
(30:23):
had been the producer and you know, did a phenomenal job.
And we're getting ready to leave, saying or goodbyes, and
Ronnie says to me, Ricky, what are you doing for
you know, the next week or whatever? And I said nothing, really,
I don't have any gigs coming up anything like that.
He says, well, won't you come out and ride with him?
(30:44):
I said, why, that sounds like a sounds like an
interesting idea. So we left, and my you know, my
dad said, I don't know if you should do that,
you know, because Ronny had said we have our own
plane about two days before they left. We end up
getting two weeks worth of shows Blackfoot, did you know,
(31:06):
And so I had to go and I called and
said I couldn't go. Well, I just found out recently
Johnny was supposed to go. I did not know that,
so it would have been me and Johnny. Wow, well
I got these shows. Johnny's parents refused to let him
(31:27):
go and made him go to school. He was what sixteen,
I think it was from seventeen. I get these shows
with the bend. I can't go. And here's the interesting part.
On that day we were pulling into Columbia, South Carolina
as SKINNERD was leaving Greenville. That's how close it was.
(31:51):
That night, I'm playing a show and some joker runs
up on the side of the stage and I'm changing guitars.
I heard the guy go, a man, didn't you play
it Skuthnor. I was like, yeah. He said, well, your
boys just had a playing crug and I just thought
he was being a smart ash and I said, man, said,
we can get this guy out of here. You know,
(32:12):
at the end of the show, my guitar guy says, Ricky,
do you know what the guy was staying with the
god and said Jay, he goes it's true. I went,
oh my god. I beat it back to the jail
with the band and I get back there and the
first thing I did was, of course, I called home.
(32:32):
And back then, you know, you didn't have cell phones.
You just had phones. I call home and the phone
didn't even ring once, and my old man picked it
up and I said, Pop, please tell me it's not true.
He goes, it is, he said, And they just announced
that Ronnie was one of the casualties. And I just
(32:53):
was blown away. Thought to myself at the time, maybe
if I been there, I could have said something or
done something whatever to keep it from doing happening what happened.
And I think everybody that survived kind of thought that,
and I think even Johnny probably thought it.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Well.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Of course, I've never really talked to Johnny about those days,
you know, because I mean, my god, the boys lived.
You enough tragedies in his life. When I got back
with Leonard Skinner in ninety six, we're doing our first
European run together. We played London that night, had a
(33:37):
grade turnout at Hammersmith Odeon, great run, sold out shows.
The band is just stomping. I get on the bus
and over there he had those double decker buses that
at the front lounge. I had a great big picture
window you could sit back man, and the bunks were
(33:58):
all behind us. I get on the bus and Gary
is here, Dale is here, his wife, and I sat
down next to it all of a sudden, he slaps
me on and on and he said, hey, bro, where
were you? And I went, I was at the hotel.
He goes, no, no, no, no, no, I didn't want I'm
talking about when it was on the anniversary of that day.
(34:23):
He goes, no, you know what I mean? Where were you?
I said, Oh, as we pulling into Columbia, South Carolina,
you guys were pulling out a grip And I said,
you know, Gary, it's often stayed with me. If I'd
have been there, you know, maybe I could have said
something or done something to change whatever. He goes, you
(34:44):
know what, Ricky, it wasn't meant for you to be there,
then it's meant for you to be here now. And
you know what, that settled everything in my mind from
then on, you know.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Yes completely. What was it like being in the band
Fresh Garbage and then having a and I use this
term with air quotes, residency at a topless bar, And
you know what.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
It's so funny that you're asking me this because I
just explained this. We played six days a week, night
after night man, we only got a day off. We
played six nights a week, five sets a night, and
I mean, these girls are by the stage and around
and you got so numb to it. I mean once
(35:40):
if you see one titty, you've seen them all, you
know what I mean. So at first it was interesting, okay,
because I was nineteen years old and you know why,
I'm in a club where you know, they're dancing top
lessen of course my mind she was like, oh my god,
(36:03):
there goes the neighborhood. It was interesting. But I'll tell
you when it was really interesting. So in Gainsball they
always had This was in Gainsville, Farta. So you got
the University of Florida there. During the week, it was
stragglers in you know. But boy, on Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
(36:23):
I mean it was full on college, college guys, college goals,
you know, the little bit and tony old. Thursday nights
they had what is called the wet t Shirt contest.
Oh my god. This is when college girls or girls
around Gainesville area, a Lochwood County whatever would come out
(36:48):
and enter the contest and they would soak them down
and then they would get up and do their thing
and dance, and then whoever took the best applause they
got the pride. And I have seen some wild up.
I mean, the competition was owned way and those girls
come out there open that their lady boobs were better
(37:10):
than the other and no kick against women, trust me, please.
It was something for a young young guy of nineteen
to be standing there every night staring at him. But
you got numb to it. You got to be a
you know, I got to be an every night thing
till finally you just didn't even look. So anyway, there
(37:33):
you go.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Yeah, Oh, let's talk about never run out of Road,
the song and why it's important to have people listen
to this, and the cause involved that you want to highlight.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
As most people know, I am Native Partnate, I shouldn't,
but I'm not full of Native. I'll never professed to
be full of Native. My father, my grandparents always told
me who he was, what he was was full you know.
He was Lakota, and my mother, I've got pictures of
(38:13):
her as a young girl with my grandmother, my grandmother
will it was Cherokee Creek and I was pretty cool
man that me, and you know, all of this Native
blood in me, you know. Here Quite a few years
ago I discovered what has been happening probably for a
(38:33):
hundred years or better. And that is there are more
Indigenous women, older women, middle aged women, younger women, and
or children that go missing. They found them deceased, or
they'd never found them at all. I started getting interested
(38:55):
in this missing and murdered Indigenous woman, and I found
it heartbreaking because when a crime is committed on a reservation,
actually that land is sovereign land, Okay. So when a
crime is committed, only the federal government can investigate it.
(39:16):
If a homicide is done, only the federal government can
investigate a Native or an Indigenous woman is found deceased
or is gone or whatever, they might investigate it maybe,
but you know what, not like the rest of society.
(39:37):
I got really interested in this thing. Ben at Skinner.
I've been introduced to a lot of incredibly beautiful Native
people that has become a part of my life. West
Study has become a really good friend of mine. Gil Birmingham,
(39:58):
you know, Graham Green, on and on and on it.
A guy named Braveheart has become a great friend of mine.
And all of these people are very knowledgeable and very
aware of all this. Of course, you know, some of
the worst has happened up in Montana at the Blackfeet,
the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. I got my cousin Jason out
(40:21):
in Oklahoma. He was a cop and had investigated had
been called to a scene where, you know, a thirty
something year old woman they found or deceased in a ditch.
So I've been interested in this to the point of
where I got in with some people to do to
(40:41):
host the narrative show about the MMIW who was going
to be called women erased, And somehow they started the
project and the next thing I know, some other people
came into it and erased me out of it, which
was to me was another slap in the face. But okay,
(41:02):
what happened when I when when Mark Warpole and I,
which he had been in Blackfoot years before, we had
been friends ever since the real late eighties. When he
and I got back together, I had this wild idea
one day sitting in my house here that when skinnered
would be off the road and take time off. I
(41:23):
wanted to play. I'm a player. I just love going
out and I love playing music, and so I called.
I knew Mark had a band, and I said, Mark,
what if I interjected myself in your band? And the
name of his band is called them Pesky Kids. I said,
(41:46):
what if I interjected myself into it and maybe we
write some tunes, maybe put something out, because you always
need something really to promote, to go out and play,
to make you know, to make sure that you draw
a crowd and you play and you make the promoter
money and you know, the whole bit. So he came
(42:08):
down here to my studio here and we sat and
listened to all these songs that I had, and we
all of a sudden came across this one tune, never
run out of Road. Years before my great friend and
you just mentioned him while ago, Charlie Starr from BlackBerry Smoke.
(42:30):
He and I would throw ideas back and forth, and
this was an idea we came up with. Then we
started writing on. When I threw it to him, he
would throw it back to me and we'd come up
with the lyrics and there he what. And it was
kind of a reflection of both my life and his life,
because that's a musician. You're touring, touring, touring, you never
(42:52):
run out of road. Mark and I would to work
on it. We did some changes, and Mark had had
some changes, and we we record it and a guy
by the name of Scott Herold, the owner CEO of
Rock the Calls Record, which is distributed by a subsidiary
(43:12):
of Sony. Scott comes in and says, you know, look here,
I'd love to take the song, but my agreement is
with the artist is that when you when we do
a song, you have to agree to donate the proceeds
or of the proceeds to your favorite charity. So I
(43:34):
was trying to figure out who to donate to, who
to put in there a link on the websites and
a link you know, everywhere on YouTube or whatever of
who to donate to for people to come to it.
And so I called my friend native actor, great Native actor.
You might be familiar with him, but you'll know who
(43:54):
I'm talking about. His name is Gil Birmingham and Gil
plays tribal chairman on Yellowstone. I call up Gil. Gil's
an incredibly talented actor. People will remember him from the
Twilight series. He played the father of the Wolves of
the were Wolves. He's always in the wheelchair. He did
(44:18):
a movie with Jeremy Renner which he played the father
of what we're talking about right now, of a missing
and murdered Indigenous daughter, and it was heartbreaking. He did
such an incredible job. Well, I call up Gil and
I said, Gil, this is what I'm getting ready to do.
(44:41):
But I need a good charitable organization that's trustworthy, that
I know that the money's going to be handled right
and goes to the right people and gets in the
right hands. He said, you know what, Ricky And I
told Gil. I said, Gil, I know you. I did
(45:02):
one of your episodes in the third season about this,
just this subject. He said, you know what, let me
call Taylor. Taylor sharedan I'll get all the Taylor and
find out who he donated to. Just about it. I said, okay.
A couple of days later, you know calls me said
(45:24):
I've talked to Taylor, and Taylor said, the National Indigenous
Women's Resource Center is who he donates to. And he goes, Ricky,
they're very reputable, they're very straight up. So we put
the record out and on my website probably I think
on YouTube and some of the other platforms. If you
(45:46):
care to donate for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement,
the link is there for the National Indigenous Women Resource Center. Also,
there's another one that I'm highly involved with, which is
called the Dream Catcher's Charitable fun They're another Indian organization
(46:06):
and the National Save the Wolves Foundation for the North
American wolf I'm big into animals, and so there you go.
That's why I did it.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Congratulations on it, and really.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
Well, I appreciate it. You know something, man, I know
that I've just tried to be in some small way
trying to give back and trying to bring awareness to
a serious primate. Think about this. Think about the fact
that Native Americans make up less than ten percent of
the population, and out of that ten percent, forty percent
(46:45):
of the Native women end up missing or murder. That
is a huge number. I'm just trying to bring awareness.
I'm not beating the drum for myself, the drum for them,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (47:02):
Yeah, well put and.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
I'm going to you know what, I'm going to keep
on doing this and donating. Every song I've put out
is going to go the same place.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
Ricky, keep on keeping on. Thanks for being on taking
a walk and sharing your journey and your continued journey
and your good work. And it's been a pleasure. I
really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Hey, thank you. I've honored to him sharing this moment
with you and you take good care. Come see us.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
You got it, my friend.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I never was interested in being, you know, a real
flash shred or I guess they should say, you know, hello,
I've been told that, I'm told that I'd do in
a space playing free bird. Now the guitar has saved
my life many times, and music has saved my life
many times.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast with Buzz Night.
Buzz gets the inside story from musicians about their love
of music and connecting with their fans. Today, Buzz is
joined by Ricky Medlock, who's widely known as a founding
member of the band Blackfoot, and what most don't realize
is that Ricky is also not only a longtime member
(00:38):
of Leonard Skinner, but he was also a founder and
original drummer. His guitar playing and licks are legendary, and
his history in and out of music, including his family history,
are all fascinating. Here's Buzz Night with Ricky Medlock.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
The Great Ricky Medlock, thanks for being on the Taking
a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's a play to be with you, Hey, let's take
a walk.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Let's do it well. We're going to talk about your
new project in a bit never Run out of Road,
which I know has special meaning for you. But let's
go back in time and talk about starting out in
music at the age of three.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yes, I've got actually I can probably pull them up,
which I would love to, but I've got pictures to
back this up. So my grandfather, Shorty Shorty midline, who
has become pretty infamous, I guess we should say, with
(01:46):
trade train and you know, his relation to Blackfoot and
his relation to Leonard Skidder, especially to Ronnie, and it's
an interesting deal. What happened was my grandparents adopted me
and you know, raised me as their son, which was
(02:08):
a great thing. And so there was music all in
our family on my mother's side of the my mother's
side of the family, which was shorting. I come from
a long line of family members who played instruments, incredibly,
sang great sang incredibly. You know my mother when she sang,
(02:31):
my biological mother, when she would sing, she sounded as good,
if not better than Patsy Clent. She had some opportunities
in Nashville to probably go, you know, further in her
life than she did, but somehow destiny just did not
(02:52):
work out, you know. So being it at a young age,
she met my biological father, who was full in it,
they had their little fling and she ended up having
me and so being a young girl at sixteen years old,
(03:14):
you know, back in the fifties like that, it was
pretty well frowned upon, you know, much not like it
is today. When my grandparents took me on, I was
already having struggles with help. I was born, according to
doctors then and not really sure what any doctor they
(03:37):
you know, would say today because they don't know what causes.
It can either be generic or it can be by birth.
But they highly suspected that when I was born, all
my mother's birthing fluids didn't come out, and it's been
identified as pulmonary fibrosis. You know. I had a serious
(03:59):
operation when I was nine and a half years old.
They took took a long part of the lung from me,
and I laid in the hospital for months, you know,
and the doctors at that time indicated to my parents
that I wouldn't live to see fourteen years old. Well,
(04:20):
here I am seventy four, and I guess they were wrong,
oled out right, damn straight. I guess Angels above have
interceded in my life enough times, many times I guess
that I'm here now, and I really always felt like
(04:41):
it deep down inside. When I started in music, that's
where I was supposed to be. So what ended up
happening was when I got to be three years old.
My grandfather saw that I was taking an interest in
stringed instruments, and at a young age I would sit
(05:02):
around in while his banjo was laying there. He noticed
that I would pluck on certain strings and not just
fram on it, beat on it and stuff like that,
you know, so he bought me a miniature banjo. Interestingly enough,
he taught me out of play, you know, a couple
(05:23):
of songs with him, sing with him, and believe it
or not, I mean, you know, you could say, well,
at three years old, really, how much can a kid sing? Really?
But by ear I had mulated what he did and
what band members that he had in Jacksonville, and you
(05:46):
got us think about something. My granddaddy, you know, was
a was a musician in and out of Nashville with
a lot of your a lot of your infamous I
guess you should say, country as far as older ones.
Pretty interesting. He would come, you know, from the road
into Jacksonville and then he would grab his band and
(06:09):
play around the area had been every Saturday night he
would be on a TV show called the Toby Dowty Show.
So one Saturday, what he was on there? He goes
on and ask Toby, I taught my grandson how to
play banjo and I would like to bring him on
(06:31):
the show, and he and I do a song together,
and Toby at that point responds, well, how old is he?
And he said, well, he's three years old. He goes
three years old. He goes, yeah, he said, I've gotten
to see this. So the following week we show up
at the TV station. We go on, I go on
(06:52):
with my granddaddy. We played a song, and from that
moment on the cards and the letters came into the
TV station. Now, the TV station back then was WMBR,
which now in Jacksonville it's a CBS affiliate WJHT, and
it was of CBS Affilia back then. Well, cards of
(07:15):
letters came in about little Ricky, and the next thing
you know, I stayed on it for five years until
I was eight years old. I guess you should say,
I guess that's where I cut my teeth.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
You know what I mean, that's an understatement, but god,
oh yeah, man, what did Shorty teach you that still
is with you to this day. About life.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Wow, I can't say that I didn't learn some really
valuable lessons growing up. You know, in a music family.
Everything that I wanted to do, my parents allowed me
to do as far as music. Now, they didn't allow
me to go out be a hooligan, which I wasn't
(08:03):
at points in my life. But you know, we all
have to cut our teeth on doing something whatever. But
I gotta tell you, he instilled in me what the
meaning of music that comes from your heart to your boys,
or from your heart to your hands. It was a
(08:23):
soulfulness that I recognize that I recognized early in my life.
You know. Wow, my Granddaddy's really taught me this. And
he also taught me he said, always keep your feet
flat on the ground. He said, because the bird doesn't
fly so high that someday it's going to come down
(08:44):
and he goes. You gotta be careful about all the
other birds that you pass on the way down. These
were things that I took the heart and understood and
tried to live by. I've tried to live by trying
to be the best I can to other people. I
(09:06):
don't think that I'm a I don't never consider myself
an incredibly great guitarist. I mean I consider myself I
guess good if you want to really get right out
to it. I mean, you know, and people come up
to me and going, my god, you're such a great,
great guitarist, and I'm like, I don't really see myself
(09:26):
that way. You know, I do think that i'd love
to entertain. And recently, you know, my manager asked me
I was doing on the road and stuff, and one
day out of noewhere, I just said, and I said
this to my significant other, you know, I said, I
can tell everybody right now when I'm really the happiest
(09:51):
every day other than being around family, I'm happy. I
love being around family and stuff. But the happiest is
when I'm standing up on that stage and I'm playing
for everybody. That's because I go into a different I
go into a different world. I mean it takes me.
I go, it takes me away, and I look out
(10:14):
on the audience and I see all these people having
a great time and just really enjoying themselves and forgetting
their troubles and forgetting their blues. But my granddaddy instilled
in me some of the best values I could have
ever learned. He and my mother. I think about that
(10:34):
and I still carry it with me, And you know what,
I'm forever grateful to them. If it wasn't for them,
I wouldn't be sitting here in front of you today.
And I'm like so thankful that I was raised the
way I was raised and had them to allow me
(10:55):
to explore what naturally came to me, you know, because
back then you didn't have music teachers. You didn't have
these guitar schools that you could go to and learn
the scales and you know, learn how to shred and everything.
What I did was I listened to all my guitar heroes.
(11:15):
That's what I did.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So who are the five guitarists that impacted you the
most to this day?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Wow? And most of them and I have seen live
in my life. Jimmy Hendricks and Eric especially Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and of course Eddie Van Halen.
(11:44):
But before that, my great great friend that I admire
and love, the guy I've known him for so many years,
Billy Gibbons. You know, also, I'm a very very good friend,
and I think that because of his because of his
(12:05):
craziness and the stance on the world and politics and
all that crap. You know what, you can never forget
about Ted NuGen. Ted NuGen is probably one of the
world's greatest guitar players. So with all of those I've said,
they all just really in my for me as a
(12:28):
guitar player, I had the utmost respect. They influenced me
in my life when I was figuring out licks in
my life being a league guitar player. Eric Clapton played
a big role in that because you know, I was
raised by my grandfather, who was basically a Delta blues guy,
(12:53):
you know, Delta blues country is bluegrass, you know environment
And when I would hear Clapton and Hendrickson, you know,
back whatever, but especially hendricks and Clapton and and Billy
Gibbons of course came from that same mall. But when
I would hear them guys play, I go, Wow, there's
(13:15):
a lick that I recognize, or there's a phrase that
I recognized, you know, the whole bit. I would sit
down with a record player and drop the speed down
to where I could hear exactly what was going on.
And the way I learned stuff was I would sing it,
I would learn to sing the lead or the basics
(13:37):
of it. I was all self taught by ear and
that's that's really how I ended up doing it. Then
from there took it, created my own thing, my own style.
You know, I never was interested in being, you know,
a real flash shred er. I guess they should say,
(13:59):
you know, hello, I've been told that. I'm told that
I'd do it, especially playing freebird. You know, the guitar
has saved my life many times, and music has saved
my life many times. And you know what, here I am,
like I said, I'm seventy four talking to you. I'm
loving every minute of it. You know. I just love
(14:21):
get up every morning and I just appreciate, you know,
and give thanks to every day that I hit the
floor and I'm able to do music. And I'm out
here right now, you know, creating new songs and going
to put out another song pretty soon for all the
right reasons, not for the wrong reason, but all the
right reasons. And you know what, man, I'm just having
(14:44):
to honestly, I'm having the time of my life and
I just I'm really thankful, and I think about my
folks and it was all because of them.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Take me back to when you saw Elvis Presley perform.
What was that like?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, you gotta let's let's get into the beginning of it.
Because my dad was very good friends with a lot
of your local pretty heavyweight musician. There was a lady
there by the name of may Axton, and may Axton
was the aunt of Boite Accident and she was a
(15:22):
very popular lady about town, lady around that businesswoman, and
she sang, and she was a she was, you know,
into music. She was well into music. And my parents
knew her. In fact, she babysit for me several several
times in my life. And so what happened was Elvis
(15:45):
was coming to town and may Axton, Tommy Durden, and
a guy named Glenn Reeves whom my dad knew. All
of them, they had written a song together and they
were able to get a meeting with Elvis at a
hotel back Ben in Jacksonville. And the way the story goes,
(16:08):
they get in to see Elvis and they play him
this song and the King is sitting there listening to
them go through this tune, and at the end of it,
he goes, I really liked that song. I want it,
and he goes the only way I'll do it. And
that's the way Elvis was. If everybody's read a little
bit of his you know, his history and stuff. He
(16:29):
always had to own fifty percent of the song. He
will always wanted fifty percent of the publisher at that time.
From my understanding is that the only two people that
was present that wrote the song was May Accident and
Tommy Durton. Glynn Reeves was not present, so they made
(16:51):
a dealal with Elvin. They cut Glenn Reeves out of
it and in comes Elvis Presley for half of it.
May I the Tommy Dirty and the song I'm talking
about is Heartbreak Hotel Wow. In the midst of this,
May talks to my parents, my dad Shorty, We got
(17:14):
in see Alvis, you know, and he loves our song
and gave us tickets and he says, I have four
tickets for his performance tonight at the Florida Theater. Well,
I love the Florida Theater and as a kid, I
used to go to movies there all the time, and
even right now. Skinner recorded two nights and filmed it
(17:37):
at the old Florida Theater here within the last, you
know what, six seven years my dad said, yeah, I'll
take them. Ricky'll go crazy when if he knows he
can get in to see she goes, will you take it?
So come that night, you know, my dad puts me
in the cry and said we're going somewhere spect and
him and myself and Mam we go down to the
(17:59):
Florida and I'm sitting on the floor about the third
or fourth row back and out comes the King. And
that is when the King was really the king. And
I just was I mean as a six year old,
almost seven year old kid who used to lay at
night with his radio under his head of his billow,
(18:22):
listening to the rock and roll station and listening to
Elvis over and over, buying his records. And it was
so cool on man, because back then you could go
to a place in Jacksonville called the Record Bar, and
the record bar had these private books that you could
go into and you could try records out.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Well.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I used to pitch a fit with my ma. I
not only wanted to buy one of them, I wanted
two of them, because I figure if one god damage,
I always had another. Right. So here I am sitting
at the Florida Theater. I'm looking on stage and the
guy is right in front of me. So when it
was over with that night, I mean, I'm looking as
(19:09):
a young kid, I'm seeing what effect this guy's got
on people. I mean, at that time, as a young boy,
it was hard to fab. So we left and we
get in our car and I'm between my mom and
my dad and Shorty looks over at me and he goes, well, son,
what did you think about that? You haven't said a word,
(19:32):
He said, what did you think about that? I said, Pop,
I said, Dad, that's what I want to do. I
want to do that, and I never veered from it
one iota. I stuck to my guns and I learned
everything that I could about music, about the business. I
still remember that. I still remember that night like it
(19:54):
was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Great story, Yeah, tremendous story. Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh sure, we'll be right back with more of the
Taking a Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a
Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
So I think I want to make sure we set
the record straight here on your, uh, your career, specifically
with Leonard skinnerd because I think sometimes it is forgotten
about your your two runs that you had still have
with SKINNERD so yes, talk about that if you would, please.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Well, you know, there's been a lot of positive and
negative comments, a lot of thoughts about he was an
original guy. He wasn't an original guy. The band gets
inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame, and you know,
I'm there, and I knew that who were going in.
(21:00):
I knew that the band that had the guys in
the plane crash and Ed King and Bob Burns, all
these guys, Steve Gaines, and all of a sudden, I
was counted out the inquiry, you know, we inquired what
the hell you know? And it was said that my
(21:24):
tenure with the band didn't validate me being inducted with them.
I guess you can imagine my thoughts on this. I mean,
to be real, real, honest with him. For the Rock
Hall of Fame to do that is like a severe
slap in my face. And I know that there's other
(21:46):
rock musicians out here that deserves to be in there,
way deserves to being there. I mean, we just talked
about Ted NuGen Well for whatever he is or he isn't. Hey,
come on, the guy sold you know, fifty sixty eighty
million records, played stadiums. I just really believe that there's
(22:09):
a certain bias when it comes to being inducted in there.
You got to realize it took skinnerd seven times being
nominated to be inducted in, and I think that because
of the outcry of the fans, the pressure, I think
is the reason why they finally got inducted in. But
(22:33):
for me not to go in with the band, Look,
people can sit there and say all they want to.
When I joined the band, I signed management, production and
publishing contracts with those guys under the heading Leonard Skinner's
members Roddy van Zant, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Larry Johnstrum
(22:58):
who went on to play with thirty eight, and myself.
I go to muscle shows. I wasn't a studio musician
like a lot of these geeks. You know, they get
on there that argue you know about I was just
a studio musician. Bullshit. You know. I was already out
playing live gigs with the guys and writing songs with
(23:19):
the guys, and a full band member. I had contracts
to the effect. All of a sudden, I'm sitting there
and everybody else goes, but I have to sit there
and watch it. And that was a serious slap in
my face. And I'll always feel that way no matter what.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
You know what I mean, Yes, I understand.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I went up on the stage. Of course, you play
a couple of songs. And I got up and I
played Sweet Ome Alabama with the band and free Bird.
But let me tell you something that happened that was
so freaking cool. After free Bird, I'm coming off and
my guitar tech us there and I hand him the
(24:05):
guitar and there was a young gentleman there. He goes,
excuse me, Ricky. I said, yeah. He goes, there's somebody
over here, sitting out here at the table that wants
to shake your hand. And I went wo. He goes,
you'll see, and I'm like, okay, won who this is
going to be? So I start following him and lo
(24:27):
and be old. I'm walking around his table. Here's Ozzy
and the guys, and Ozzy stood up and shook my hand,
and I'm thinking, well, is this who wanted to shake
my hand? But the guy kept going, come on, Steve
was there, stood up, said shook my hand, said incredible job.
You know. I kept down and this Paul gentleman stands
(24:48):
up and it's Brian May. And Brian May goes, I
want to shake my hands of the person that just
played that song and free Birn. He goes, Oh my god,
he goes. I went, you know what, don't worry about that.
I want to shake the hands that played all that
(25:10):
great queen leads is what I want to do. And
he got a big laugh. We got. We got such
a laugh out of it. I knew that they were
out on the road and he was going to be
in Las Vegas along with Paul Rogers, and I knew Paul,
and I got all of a friend of mine, and
I wanted to go. And I went out to Vegas
(25:32):
and a friend of mine, mister Paul Crook, had done
this this like I forget what they called it. It
was like a thing that they put together to celebrate
queen songs, and it traveled all over the world. Paul
played the part of Brian May in the band, and
(25:54):
he knew all those queen leeds and all that stuff.
You know. Well, Paul knew I was coming, and I said,
I want to be able to get in to say
hello to Brian. He goes, we can make that happen.
So after the show, I got in, I said, my
ELO's to Paul Rodgers and the next thing, you know,
(26:14):
in wants Brian May and I said hey, Brian. He
goes hey. I said, man, what an incredible show. I
just love your guitar playing in That little guitar you
play is just unbelievable. He goes something to the effect
I might have something for you, and I'm thinking, wow,
(26:35):
what could that be? You know? Looe be old. Not
long afterwards, my friend Paul Crook got hold on me
and said, I've got something for you from Brian, and
I'm thinking, wow, what in the world could this be?
You know, we get to Vegas. He brings it to me.
It's the number three guitar out of his road case.
(27:00):
I got one of Brian's guitars.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
And I sit around and play it, you know, that
whole thing with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
At the end of the night, something good came out
of it. But to get you know, to get back
to the a little bit, I don't know what will
ever happen with it. You know. Recently, I guess I
went viral for giving the finger and all that stuff.
(27:24):
Like that. But you know, man, it's just out of frustration,
and it's out of frustration and anger sometime, because anybody
that gets rejected like that and turned down like that
and when you know you're supposed to be there, it's frustrating.
It's a slap of the face. And I'll tell you
one thing further. I've got it, and I'm getting ready,
(27:46):
probably to be honest with you, I'm getting ready to
post it up on a lot of social media. I've
got a video that lo and bee Hald Gary May
several years before is passing, and he's on video telling
he said, I've been seeing stuff all over social media
(28:07):
and all over the internet about Ricky, people arguing about
if Ricky, you know, wasn't the original band and should
be counted as an original member and this, and he goes, look,
we've always considered Ricky an original member. That's it, bottom line,
he was an original guy. For Gary to do that, man,
(28:30):
what is people going to argue against Gary Rossington?
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And the whole bit is, man, we'll see what ends
up happening with it. I don't know. Maybe they'll put
me in there with with Ronnie, Gary and Allen and
Billy and Leon and you know what I mean, Yes,
I mean I've even heard that Artemis once said the
people that I deserve to be in there. You know
(28:54):
that I should have went in with him, you know. Yep,
you know what, man, that really was really was a
disappointing night for me, you know, but hey, it is
what it is.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I have to ask you.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
I know you could have been on that plane, that
fateful plane. Do you ever have survivor's guilt about that?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Well? I had taken my granddaddy Shorty over to see
Ronnie at their studio. I had talked to Ronnie. Ronnie says,
please bring Shorty over to let me see. So they
had a studio over on Riverside Avenue, and I took
my dad over to see Ronnie the guys. And we
(29:42):
got there and up pulls Ronnie and his little Mercedes
and he gets out. Man, he hugs my daddy, you know,
and he gave me a had shaken a hug. He said,
y'all come on in, man. So we go into the
studio part in the control room, and Ronnie had the
engineer to put up the new record, the Street Survivors Record.
(30:02):
And I'll never forget he put on that smell. We
listened to it, and my dad listened to it, you
know what I'm My dad had the most interesting look
on his face when he was listening to it. You know,
he's listening to the lyrics, and so am I and
I found it to be just incredible. And Tom David
(30:23):
had been the producer and you know, did a phenomenal job.
And we're getting ready to leave, saying or goodbyes, and
Ronnie says to me, Ricky, what are you doing for
you know, the next week or whatever? And I said nothing, really,
I don't have any gigs coming up anything like that.
He says, well, won't you come out and ride with him?
(30:44):
I said, why, that sounds like a sounds like an
interesting idea. So we left, and my you know, my
dad said, I don't know if you should do that,
you know, because Ronny had said we have our own
plane about two days before they left. We end up
getting two weeks worth of shows Blackfoot, did you know,
(31:06):
And so I had to go and I called and
said I couldn't go. Well, I just found out recently
Johnny was supposed to go. I did not know that,
so it would have been me and Johnny. Wow, well
I got these shows. Johnny's parents refused to let him
(31:27):
go and made him go to school. He was what sixteen,
I think it was from seventeen. I get these shows
with the bend. I can't go. And here's the interesting part.
On that day we were pulling into Columbia, South Carolina
as SKINNERD was leaving Greenville. That's how close it was.
(31:51):
That night, I'm playing a show and some joker runs
up on the side of the stage and I'm changing guitars.
I heard the guy go, a man, didn't you play
it Skuthnor. I was like, yeah. He said, well, your
boys just had a playing crug and I just thought
he was being a smart ash and I said, man, said,
we can get this guy out of here. You know,
(32:12):
at the end of the show, my guitar guy says, Ricky,
do you know what the guy was staying with the
god and said Jay, he goes it's true. I went,
oh my god. I beat it back to the jail
with the band and I get back there and the
first thing I did was, of course, I called home.
(32:32):
And back then, you know, you didn't have cell phones.
You just had phones. I call home and the phone
didn't even ring once, and my old man picked it
up and I said, Pop, please tell me it's not true.
He goes, it is, he said, And they just announced
that Ronnie was one of the casualties. And I just
(32:53):
was blown away. Thought to myself at the time, maybe
if I been there, I could have said something or
done something whatever to keep it from doing happening what happened.
And I think everybody that survived kind of thought that,
and I think even Johnny probably thought it.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Well.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Of course, I've never really talked to Johnny about those days,
you know, because I mean, my god, the boys lived.
You enough tragedies in his life. When I got back
with Leonard Skinner in ninety six, we're doing our first
European run together. We played London that night, had a
(33:37):
grade turnout at Hammersmith Odeon, great run, sold out shows.
The band is just stomping. I get on the bus
and over there he had those double decker buses that
at the front lounge. I had a great big picture
window you could sit back man, and the bunks were
(33:58):
all behind us. I get on the bus and Gary
is here, Dale is here, his wife, and I sat
down next to it all of a sudden, he slaps
me on and on and he said, hey, bro, where
were you? And I went, I was at the hotel.
He goes, no, no, no, no, no, I didn't want I'm
talking about when it was on the anniversary of that day.
(34:23):
He goes, no, you know what I mean? Where were you?
I said, Oh, as we pulling into Columbia, South Carolina,
you guys were pulling out a grip And I said,
you know, Gary, it's often stayed with me. If I'd
have been there, you know, maybe I could have said
something or done something to change whatever. He goes, you
(34:44):
know what, Ricky, it wasn't meant for you to be there,
then it's meant for you to be here now. And
you know what, that settled everything in my mind from
then on, you know.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Yes completely. What was it like being in the band
Fresh Garbage and then having a and I use this
term with air quotes, residency at a topless bar, And
you know what.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
It's so funny that you're asking me this because I
just explained this. We played six days a week, night
after night man, we only got a day off. We
played six nights a week, five sets a night, and
I mean, these girls are by the stage and around
and you got so numb to it. I mean once
(35:40):
if you see one titty, you've seen them all, you
know what I mean. So at first it was interesting, okay,
because I was nineteen years old and you know why,
I'm in a club where you know, they're dancing top
lessen of course my mind she was like, oh my god,
(36:03):
there goes the neighborhood. It was interesting. But I'll tell
you when it was really interesting. So in Gainsball they
always had This was in Gainsville, Farta. So you got
the University of Florida there. During the week, it was
stragglers in you know. But boy, on Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
(36:23):
I mean it was full on college, college guys, college goals,
you know, the little bit and tony old. Thursday nights
they had what is called the wet t Shirt contest.
Oh my god. This is when college girls or girls
around Gainesville area, a Lochwood County whatever would come out
(36:48):
and enter the contest and they would soak them down
and then they would get up and do their thing
and dance, and then whoever took the best applause they
got the pride. And I have seen some wild up.
I mean, the competition was owned way and those girls
come out there open that their lady boobs were better
(37:10):
than the other and no kick against women, trust me, please.
It was something for a young young guy of nineteen
to be standing there every night staring at him. But
you got numb to it. You got to be a
you know, I got to be an every night thing
till finally you just didn't even look. So anyway, there
(37:33):
you go.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Yeah, Oh, let's talk about never run out of Road,
the song and why it's important to have people listen
to this, and the cause involved that you want to highlight.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
As most people know, I am Native Partnate, I shouldn't,
but I'm not full of Native. I'll never professed to
be full of Native. My father, my grandparents always told
me who he was, what he was was full you know.
He was Lakota, and my mother, I've got pictures of
(38:13):
her as a young girl with my grandmother, my grandmother
will it was Cherokee Creek and I was pretty cool
man that me, and you know, all of this Native
blood in me, you know. Here Quite a few years
ago I discovered what has been happening probably for a
(38:33):
hundred years or better. And that is there are more
Indigenous women, older women, middle aged women, younger women, and
or children that go missing. They found them deceased, or
they'd never found them at all. I started getting interested
(38:55):
in this missing and murdered Indigenous woman, and I found
it heartbreaking because when a crime is committed on a reservation,
actually that land is sovereign land, Okay. So when a
crime is committed, only the federal government can investigate it.
(39:16):
If a homicide is done, only the federal government can
investigate a Native or an Indigenous woman is found deceased
or is gone or whatever, they might investigate it maybe,
but you know what, not like the rest of society.
(39:37):
I got really interested in this thing. Ben at Skinner.
I've been introduced to a lot of incredibly beautiful Native
people that has become a part of my life. West
Study has become a really good friend of mine. Gil Birmingham,
(39:58):
you know, Graham Green, on and on and on it.
A guy named Braveheart has become a great friend of mine.
And all of these people are very knowledgeable and very
aware of all this. Of course, you know, some of
the worst has happened up in Montana at the Blackfeet,
the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. I got my cousin Jason out
(40:21):
in Oklahoma. He was a cop and had investigated had
been called to a scene where, you know, a thirty
something year old woman they found or deceased in a ditch.
So I've been interested in this to the point of
where I got in with some people to do to
(40:41):
host the narrative show about the MMIW who was going
to be called women erased, And somehow they started the
project and the next thing I know, some other people
came into it and erased me out of it, which
was to me was another slap in the face. But okay,
(41:02):
what happened when I when when Mark Warpole and I,
which he had been in Blackfoot years before, we had
been friends ever since the real late eighties. When he
and I got back together, I had this wild idea
one day sitting in my house here that when skinnered
would be off the road and take time off. I
(41:23):
wanted to play. I'm a player. I just love going
out and I love playing music, and so I called.
I knew Mark had a band, and I said, Mark,
what if I interjected myself in your band? And the
name of his band is called them Pesky Kids. I said,
(41:46):
what if I interjected myself into it and maybe we
write some tunes, maybe put something out, because you always
need something really to promote, to go out and play,
to make you know, to make sure that you draw
a crowd and you play and you make the promoter
money and you know, the whole bit. So he came
(42:08):
down here to my studio here and we sat and
listened to all these songs that I had, and we
all of a sudden came across this one tune, never
run out of Road. Years before my great friend and
you just mentioned him while ago, Charlie Starr from BlackBerry Smoke.
(42:30):
He and I would throw ideas back and forth, and
this was an idea we came up with. Then we
started writing on. When I threw it to him, he
would throw it back to me and we'd come up
with the lyrics and there he what. And it was
kind of a reflection of both my life and his life,
because that's a musician. You're touring, touring, touring, you never
(42:52):
run out of road. Mark and I would to work
on it. We did some changes, and Mark had had
some changes, and we we record it and a guy
by the name of Scott Herold, the owner CEO of
Rock the Calls Record, which is distributed by a subsidiary
(43:12):
of Sony. Scott comes in and says, you know, look here,
I'd love to take the song, but my agreement is
with the artist is that when you when we do
a song, you have to agree to donate the proceeds
or of the proceeds to your favorite charity. So I
(43:34):
was trying to figure out who to donate to, who
to put in there a link on the websites and
a link you know, everywhere on YouTube or whatever of
who to donate to for people to come to it.
And so I called my friend native actor, great Native actor.
You might be familiar with him, but you'll know who
(43:54):
I'm talking about. His name is Gil Birmingham and Gil
plays tribal chairman on Yellowstone. I call up Gil. Gil's
an incredibly talented actor. People will remember him from the
Twilight series. He played the father of the Wolves of
the were Wolves. He's always in the wheelchair. He did
(44:18):
a movie with Jeremy Renner which he played the father
of what we're talking about right now, of a missing
and murdered Indigenous daughter, and it was heartbreaking. He did
such an incredible job. Well, I call up Gil and
I said, Gil, this is what I'm getting ready to do.
(44:41):
But I need a good charitable organization that's trustworthy, that
I know that the money's going to be handled right
and goes to the right people and gets in the
right hands. He said, you know what, Ricky And I
told Gil. I said, Gil, I know you. I did
(45:02):
one of your episodes in the third season about this,
just this subject. He said, you know what, let me
call Taylor. Taylor sharedan I'll get all the Taylor and
find out who he donated to. Just about it. I said, okay.
A couple of days later, you know calls me said
(45:24):
I've talked to Taylor, and Taylor said, the National Indigenous
Women's Resource Center is who he donates to. And he goes, Ricky,
they're very reputable, they're very straight up. So we put
the record out and on my website probably I think
on YouTube and some of the other platforms. If you
(45:46):
care to donate for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement,
the link is there for the National Indigenous Women Resource Center. Also,
there's another one that I'm highly involved with, which is
called the Dream Catcher's Charitable fun They're another Indian organization
(46:06):
and the National Save the Wolves Foundation for the North
American wolf I'm big into animals, and so there you go.
That's why I did it.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Congratulations on it, and really.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
Well, I appreciate it. You know something, man, I know
that I've just tried to be in some small way
trying to give back and trying to bring awareness to
a serious primate. Think about this. Think about the fact
that Native Americans make up less than ten percent of
the population, and out of that ten percent, forty percent
(46:45):
of the Native women end up missing or murder. That
is a huge number. I'm just trying to bring awareness.
I'm not beating the drum for myself, the drum for them,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (47:02):
Yeah, well put and.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
I'm going to you know what, I'm going to keep
on doing this and donating. Every song I've put out
is going to go the same place.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
Ricky, keep on keeping on. Thanks for being on taking
a walk and sharing your journey and your continued journey
and your good work. And it's been a pleasure. I
really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Hey, thank you. I've honored to him sharing this moment
with you and you take good care. Come see us.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
You got it, my friend.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.