On Thursday, October 20, 1977, the band Lynyrd Skynrd were on their way to Baton Rouge, Louisiana from Greenville, South Carolina for their next show on their tour in support of their 5th album Street Survivors. That album had been released just three days earlier. Ironically the original artwork showed the band on a street with everything burning around them. The album was rereleased with just a black background behind the band.
The crash killed 6 people including singer Johnny Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister who sang backup Cassie Gaines, the two pilots, and the band’s assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick.
One of the craziest things to happen is how drummer Artimus Pyle, who suffered torn chest cartilage, made his way through the forest, a field and a creek to get help. However, Johnny Mote, owner of the farmhouse he came upon, mistook him for an escaped convict and fired a warning shot over his head.
“Allen Collins and I were in the cockpit watching the sun go down at 9,000 feet and we lost our right engine. And I went back through the cockpit and told everybody we lost an engine, to tighten their seatbelts and put out cigarettes and the left engine went out. And I could see fear in our pilot’s eyes and he asked me to get out of the jump seat and go back and strap myself in. But I got up like a zombie and I walked back to my seat on the aisle behind Cassie Gaines. And Cassie was killed and I wasn’t. And I think God spared me so that I could go get help.”
Over the course of the next year, Lynyrd Skynyrd will be playing their final shows as they have decided to officially call it a day.
[Lynyrd Skynryd] [Ebay]
