to be one of his last at home, Van Zantwas visited by his two younger brothers'both lead vocalists in rock grgYPS

-Donnie with the promising 38 Special

and Johnnie with the localAustin Nich-

ols Band. His brawny ex-trucker dad,Lacy-who first got Young Ronniehooked on music while highballing up

the East Coast to the crackling soundof country (their f avorite: Haggard)

-also stopped bY. Van Zant grew uP

in a tough shantytown section of Jack-sonville, got his first highs singing withthe family's Holy Roller church choir.As a teenager he had alreadY formeda primitive precursor of Lynyrd Skynyrdwith Gary Rossington and Allen Collins,

both guitarists (and survivors of thecrash). The title was a corruption ofthe name Leonard Skinner, who was a

hard-nosed high school PhYs ed

teacher.

The name began to mean somethingnationally in 1974 with their hit single,

Sweet Home Alabama- As for their own

Florida home, LYnYrd SkYnYrd was

rarely off the road for more than daysat a time. That was before this sum-mer, when Van Zant seemed ready toend the disorienting years on the run'

He'd bought 29 acres of choiceTennessee hill country where the fam-ily had recently camped out for a fewdays, but Ronnie also pondered a morefamily-style neighborhood in Jackson-ville. As he said in his idiom, "My wifedon't want our daughter to grow uP a

swamp hermit. Other kids'll be good forher." Yet on the eve of tour rehears-als, Van Zani conceded he felt restlessafter the unprecedented six weeks hi-

atus. He could not deny that "the road is

home to you after 12 years. I went cra-zy eight Years ago," he said with a

devilish grin, "so the road don't matterno more."

What did matter to Ronnie Van Zantvias headlining for the first time everat New York's Madison Square Garden'To him the gig-it would have been

next week-represented Lynyrd Skyn-yrd's official recognition among therock superelite. He also knew, lookingback, that he had given-and taken-alot to earn the honor. "ln the begin-ning," he said, "we used to PlaY onejoint till midnight for kids; then theyturned it into a bottle club and we'd go

til 6 a.m. lt really tightened us up as a

band," he recalled. "When you're fromthe South, man, You learn to work Yourass off, and we did. lt was HELLA-TIOUS." He stoPPed and turned toinvite a lasting eye contact. After apause he added: "Hellatious and thebest years of our lives." E

yan Zant trained Iike an olympian worfting for the tour that he hoped would change, not endr his life'

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