About
The southern rock flag flies so high in the Van Zant family, that Johnny Van
Zant decided to simply use the surname's stamp for a familiarized band
moniker. The little brother of the late, great Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd
Skynyrd and of Donnie Van Zant from .38 special first used the name in 1985
for a self-titled album that comprised a quintet of boogie rockers who
shortly disbanded after Johnny was summoned to play in a revived version of
Lynyrd Skynyrd. Then 13 years and approximately 40,000 "Freebirds" later he
brought the Van Zant project back to life when he and brother Donnie
unleashed 1998's Brother To Brother. The follow-up album Van Zant
II was released in 2001, but the band took a big risk in 2005 when they
decided to release a primarily country album that sounded more like
Nashville commercial radio than anything coming out of the clubs in their mythic sweet home Alabama.
- Eric Shea
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.