Lynyrd Skynyrd - Last Of A Dyin' Breed (2012)

“Last Of A Dyin' Breed” is the fourteenth studio album by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Defiance runs deep in Lynyrd Skynyrd's DNA but 2012's Last of a Dyin' Breed finds the veteran Southern rockers hunkering down, emphasizing their old-fashioned outlaw ways. All the recognizable redneck rebel sentiments are here it's all god, guns, Southern girls, and sweet tea but Skynyrd's signature sound is absent. In this, their third act, the kings of Southern rock have cut out the country and boogie, leaving behind a heavy-booted blues grind and churning hard rock  sounds that signify the modern South even if they're not classically Southern rock.
And that fits for this incarnation of Lynyrd Skynyrd. They may flirt with fleeting references to their past -- the first verse of "Good Teacher" recalling "The Ballad of Curtis Loew," the soaring soul-speckled ballad "Ready to Fly" a distant cousin of "Freebird" but Johnny Van Zant, Gary Rossington, and Rickey Medlocke aren't in this game just to revive past glories; they're engaging with the modern world, co-opting the leaden stripper rock of Nickelback for "Homegrown," once again bringing back former Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5 for a cameo, and writing a Tea Party anthem in "Nothing Comes Easy." Certainly, Skynyrd are making sturdy, old-time rock & roll for an audience that's likely peppered with Tea Partiers, the kind of Middle American worried that the world they knew is slipping away, and "Last of a Dyin' Breed" provides a bit of a rallying point for them: it's true to their roots but living in the moment. If Skynyrd sound a little less nimble than they used to, chalk it up not to age but to the conscious decision to play everything heavier than before; without elements of the backwoods, they're dogged rockers, happy to carry the torch they lit nearly four decades ago even if it doesn't burn as bright as it once did.

Track listing

01.  "Last of a Dyin' Breed"   (Gary Rossington, Johnny Van Zant, Rickey Medlocke, Mark Matejka, Dan Serafini, Bob Marlette)  - 3:51
02.  "One Day at a Time"   (Rossington, J. Van Zant, Medlocke, Marlon Young)  - 3:46
03.  "Homegrown"   (Rossington, J. Van Zant, Medlocke, Blair Daly)  - 3:41
04.  "Ready to Fly"   (Rossington, J. Van Zant, Medlocke, Audley Freed)  - 5:26
05.  "Mississippi Blood"   (Rossington, J. Van Zant, Medlocke, Jaren Johnston)  - 2:57
06.  "Good Teacher"   (J. Van Zant, Donnie Van Zant, Tom Hambridge, Daly)  - 3:07
07.  "Something to Live For"   (Rossington, J. Van Zant, Medlocke, John Lowery, Marlette)  - 4:29
08.  "Life's Twisted"   (Daly, Jon Lawhon, Chris Robertson)  - 4:33
09.  "Nothing Comes Easy"   (Rossington, J. Van Zant, Medlocke, Hambridge)  - 4:13
10.  "Honey Hole"   (Rossington, J. Van Zant, Medlocke, Hambridge)  - 4:35
11.  "Start Livin' Life Again"   (J. Van Zant, D. Van Zant, Marlette, Lowery)  - 4:23

Credits
Johnny Van Zant – lead vocals
Gary Rossington – guitars
Rickey Medlocke – guitars
Michael Cartellone – drums
Johnny Colt – bass
Mark Matejka – guitars
Peter Keys – keyboards
John Lowery aka "John 5" – additional guitar
Engineer, Mixed By – Bob Marlette
Producer - Bob Marlette

Notes
Recorded at: Blackbird Studios, Woodland Hills, CA.
Genre: Southern Rock
Length: 45:01

© 2012 Roadrunner Records/Loud and Proud Records