Rickey Medlocke

Rickey Medlocke has been with Lynyrd Skynyrd from its very inception, and yet was NOT inducted with the band into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Rickey addresses that, plus you'll hear the story of how Rickey's grandfather, "Shorty," influenced a very popular Lynyrd Skynyrd song and wrote a hit for Blackfoot...forty years before the song's release!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, I got Ricky Medlock ofLeonard SKINNERD on the line. How are
you doing, Ricky? I'm doinggreat listening to you. I haven't talked
to you in six years last andlast time you and I talked, you
were getting ready to play the MississippiValley Fair. Sadly they had to cancel
that show because one of your guyshad a heart attack or something. Well

(00:20):
that was Gary Rossing, Yeah,yep, and you know today marks one
year ago that he passed aways.Right, Today's kind of a melancholy right
day of remembering, you know.And anyway, how are you, my
friend? I am doing great.I'm looking forward to this show April thirteenth,

(00:41):
The Vibrant Arena. You got LeonardSKINNERD and ZZ Top. Let me
tell you something. We started itlast year, and you know, it's
been a while since we'd done afull tour with ZZ, and all of
us were excited for this to happen. And both got along incredible. Uh.

(01:03):
You know, Billy would come outalmost every night and watch us.
We go out watch them, ourboth crew guy, all our crew guys
got along great. Uh, andwe wanted it to continue. So this
is round two of the Sharp Dress, Simple Man Tour, the Tour of
the Titans, you know, anduh, here we go. Uh.

(01:26):
It goes from from the beginning ofMarch to the end of April. We
take a break, we start backat the end of July, go all
the way through the end of September, and then tonight you're in your hometown
to Jacksonville, Florida. Huh no, Oh, that's what the calendar.
That's what the calendar says. Idon't know it's it says. It says,

(01:48):
uh, March fifth, Jacksonville,Florida. You know, you never
want to believe the Internet. That'ssomething I'm learning. Where are you guys?
Then I'll tell you one thing rightnow, that's where I'm supposed to
be. I'm gonna be late.Where are you guys, Well, everybody
is scattered out everywhere. Okay,but I'm here's the deal. We all

(02:10):
meet up in the first day actuallyis Savannah, Georgia. On the eighth.
Oh okay, yeah, we meetup. Everybody comes in on the
seventh. We meet up, andwe start the tour on the eighth,
and we're gonna have at it.Man, We're coming rolling in. Yeah,
I'm glad you guys are playing VibrantArena here in the Quad Cities on
April thirteenth. I'm going to bein Greenville, South Carolina, one week

(02:36):
to the day after you guys playthere. I got a wedding to go
to. Yeah, my niece isgetting married there, so otherwise i'd have
to heat up that concert. Too. Good one, So let's listen one,
bro. So let's talk about LeonardSKINNERD for a moment, because you've
been with them since the very veryvery beginning. Yeah, and I understand
causing a lot of controversy right nowtalking about the Rock and Roll Hall of

(03:00):
Fame. I hear it's going viral. You know. I agree with you.
I don't know. I understand whythey didn't induct you, kind of
like when Kiss got inducted. Idon't think they inducted Tommy Thayer or Bruce
Kulk or any of them. Tome, the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame is getting to be kind oflike the Hollywood Walk of Fame. If

(03:21):
you and I wanted to, wecould have a star. He's got to
put up enough money and get somesignatures. Well, here's the problem.
The problem is this man, isthat what they did not understand. Okay,
is it going back to seventy oneunder the heading of Leonard skinnerd All
My contracts had five of us guysand it was Ronnie, Gary Allen,

(03:46):
Larry Johnstrom, the guy that wenton to play with thirty eight, and
myself. We were all signed tomanagement, production and publishing contracts. I
spent over two and a half yearswith the guys, recorded all the muscle
shows stuff with them on drums,sang songs, played some guitar, you

(04:10):
know, rode with the guys.And there's an actual video of Gary here
just a few years ago that wasput out with Gary saying how that they
always considered me an original guy.Well, I got snubbed, and it
came back to me from the RockHall of Fame, from the people of
the upper echelon of the you know, the board, that my tenure with

(04:38):
the guys didn't constitute enough time forme being inducted with the guys. Now,
no disrespect to nobody, but youknow, I was there a little
bit longer than some of the guysthat actually went in, So you know,
I look at this thing, manas like you know, almost it

(05:00):
was like a slap in the face. And uh, but also look at
it too. There's a lot ofartists that should be in there that's not
in there. Uh. Paul Rodgersis not in there, right, Uh,
you know with Free and Bad Company. Uh, NuGen is not in
there. I mean you've got peoplethat look at Molly Hatchett, whether you

(05:26):
love them or not, they soldmillions upon millions of records. I mean,
here's the deal. We sold millionsof records in Blackfoot, Uh,
played all over the world. Andso be honest with you, there's,
to me, is a biasness uhwithin the decision making process of that organization.

(05:53):
There really is. And the thingis, when it comes to inducting
these bands and who gets in andwho doesn't, it wasn't up to Leonard
Skinner, that's up to the RockHall. Correct. Well, listen to
this. It took skinnerd being nominatedover a half a dozen times before they
got in, right, which isridiculous, and which here's the weird thing.

(06:14):
I think that it took it thatmany times and the fans really putting
the pressure on to get the bandfinally in there. It's just the most
it's just the most ridiculous thing.I've ever seen. So you mentioned playing
drums on some of the early LeonardSkinner stuff. How did you go from
being a drummer to being a leadguitarist. Well, I was a lead

(06:36):
guitarist before, Okay, I startedplaying. I started playing guitar when I
was five five years old. Ipicked up playing guitar. I picked up
playing drums later on, three yearslater, when I was eight years old.
Well, little did I know thenI would play drums. Not only

(06:58):
I played with my grandfather, Shorty. I played in his bands, and
then I went on to play withLeonard Skinnard later on. You know,
little did I know that I wouldend up being one of the league guitarists,
you know, in Leonard Skinnard lateron. And now I'm sitting here
talking to you, you know whatI mean? Right, And now you
mentioned Shorty, your grandpa. Thisis kind of cool. So you were

(07:23):
You mentioned Blackfoot one of your biggestsongs ever, Trained Train was written by
him absolutely in nineteen thirty eight.He was an old well, he was
born and raised the sharecropper in Georgia, right, and he loved the blues.
He loved the Delta blues and stuffin country and learned how to play

(07:46):
all these different instruments, which wasamazing to me. And I've often said
he had way more talent than Idid because he played everything that he picked
up. He not only played good, he played him great and that's why
he got hired to be on theroad with some of country music's top guys

(08:07):
coming out of Nashville. So youknow, he taught me at an early
age to play banjo and I tookit from there. Here I am today
been playing guitar ever since I wasfive years old and loving every minute of
it. I mean, he wasmy biggest influence. He was my mentor

(08:31):
and taught me everything you know,out of what comes from the heart into
playing you know, the guitar andsinging, and you know, so Forth
and Soult Well, it sounds likethe other guys in Leonard Skinnard had quite
the bond with him as well.You know, last time we talked,
you mentioned his connection to the songthe Ballad of Curtis Low. Well,
Ronnie. When I first got withSkinnered, Ronnie and Garyan Allen would come

(08:56):
over and sit on the porch,my family's porch, and of course my
mom would make us sandwiches and youknow, bring us drinks out, you
know, on the porch. Andwe was sitting there and listening to my
all man play and sing, andRonnie just loved listening to him play his
dough bro and his guitar with hisheart racking around his neck and you know.

(09:18):
And so when it came to uhtheir recording records, if you listen,
I mean he dedicated you know,Curtis Lowe was one of the biggest
uh My Aleman was one of thebiggest inspirations for that song. And later
on, uh My old man usedto tell us one of these days,

(09:41):
guys, if you guys keep goingthe where you're going, you're gonna have
it made in shade. Well,they did a record called Nothing Fancy Album.
They dedicated the album to him,and they dedicated that song to him.
So he was a prominent guy alto Ronnie and the guys. Well,
you got Lenard skinnerd and zz TopApril thirteenth at Vibrant Arena before I

(10:05):
let you go. I know you'vegot some Native American blood in you,
right, Lakota Sue and Cherokee.I think, what did it mean to
you to be inducted into the NativeAmerican Music Hall of Fame. What was
that like? Well, you know, I remember being inducted into the Native
Hall of Fame Music Hall of Fame, and I remember my induction speech was

(10:28):
I stood up there and the firstthing I said was, Wow, this
is better than being inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame. And
you know, and right now,just to tell everybody that's listening, I've
got a new song out call NeverRun Out of Road, and it's on

(10:50):
all the streaming platforms. They cango to the website wrekymidline dot com.
They can download it from there,or they can go to Spotify, iTunes
or you know, YouTube wherever theyget their you know music. And part
of the donations for that song goesfor the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement.

(11:13):
We're donating to the National Indigenous Women'sResource Center. Oh and I'm trying
to I'm trying to bring awareness toa very very decades after decades long problem
of of you know, from smallchildren all the way up to older women

(11:35):
being abducted right being found to ceasechild trafficking, all that stuff. So
if everybody cares to go check thesong out, listen to it. Feel
like donating, please do so tothe National Indigenous Women's Resource Center. Yeah.
It's cool that you're able to useyour celebrity and your musical ability to

(11:58):
help out an organization like that.That's cool. Yeah, just to bring
awareness and to give back, youknow for sure? All Right, Leonard
Skinnered and Zzy Top April thirteenth.If you get to the show late,
don't worry, they'll still be playingfree Bird. I promise you I heard
this year. You're going to takeit twenty five minutes, is that right?
Oh? Wait a minute, we'retrying to add another section. So

(12:20):
awesome, half an hour awesome.I love it. Ricky, great to
talk to you again. You too, brother. You take good care.
Have a bang up date.