Lynyrd Skynyrd made headlines recently with the release of a new “campaign song” of sorts praising Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Titled, “Sweet Florida,” something tells me it won’t be quite as iconic as “Sweet Home Alabama.”
But that randomly reminded me of another Lynyrd Skynyrd tune…. “Simple Man,” but not a performance from them either…
One from the great Chris Stapleton with Tennessee rock band, Kings of Leon.
It’s New Year’s Eve 2016 and Kings Of Leon are headlining their hometown of Nashville’s New Year’s Eve celebration. The night featured performances from Chris Stapleton, Kelsea Ballerini and others, but when Chris returned to the stage to join Kings of Leon, the crowd of 150,000 erupted.
The fantastic vocalists, one incredible song… “Simple Man” has been done a million times and will be done a million more, but you might not see a cover as good as this one.
At least not anytime soon…
Either way, it’s one helluva throwback.
Chris Stapleton’s “Free Bird/The Devil Named Music” Mashup Is A Thing Of Beauty
“FREE BIRD”
If you’ve been to a concert once or twice, you’ve probably heard some bozo yell that from the crowd.
Tyler Childers famously handled a “Free Bird” heckler with a hilariously, and surprisingly awesome, performance of Sixpence None The Richer’s “Kiss Me,” but most of the time, you’re just going to get a dirty look from the artist on stage.
Don’t get me wrong, “Free Bird” is a legendary song, but most artists can’t really pull off all 9-plus minutes of it, and that’s kind of the point. Most people are just yelling it to be an asshole.
It’s an extremely worn out old joke…
But every once in a while, somebody comes around that can actually do it justice, reminding you how good of a song it actually is.
Enter Chris Stapleton.
Chris has been working “Free Bird” into his “The Devil Named Music” intro for quite a while now, but I was just reminded of badass his live performance of this song actually is.
If “Tennessee Whiskey” has taught us anything, it’s that when Chris covers a song, it’s just as good, if not better, than the original.
Obviously, this is just a snippet, but if we could get Chris and Lynyrd Skynyrd to team up on a full band performance of the entire song… holy hell what a sight that would be.