How Lynyrd Skynyrd Doubled Down With Second Helping

In a sense, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s aptly title sophomore set Second Helping, released on April 15, 1974, served to affirm the fact that these unrepentant rockers were there to stay.

Famously taking their name from Leonard Skinner, a gym coach at the high school the original members attended — and a strict disciplinarian with a disdain for boys with long hair — the group literally helped define the entire genre now known as “Southern Rock.” In the process, they set the standard for dozens of other similarly inclined outfits that followed in their wake. 

After a number of early personnel changes, the classic line-up — vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, drummer Artimus Pyle, guitarists Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Steve Gaines, bassist Leon Wilkerson and keyboardist Billy Powell — went on to inscribe their name in the annals of rock history courtesy of their ever-popular early anthems “Sweet Home Alabama,” famously written in answer to Neil Young’s vitriolic “Southern Man,”  and “Free Bird,” still one of the most requested concert songs of all time.

The band recorded five studio albums during that initial phase of their career —(Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) (1973), Second Helping (1974), Nuthin’ Fancy (1975), Gimme Back My Bullets (1976) and Street Survivors (1977) — before the band’s career careened to a sudden and tragic stop after their chartered plane crashed while on tour, killing Van Zant, Gaines and Gaines’ sister and back-up singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot John Gray, and causing serious injury to those who managed to survive. That date, October 20, 1977, is forever inscribed in the annals of rock as one of the darkest days in modern music history.

Happily then, Second Helping not only stands the test of time, but also served as the springboard for the band’s most definitive offering, that being the aforementioned “Sweet Home Alabama.” It further affirmed the arch defiance that was key to their signature sound while also providing the group with the opportunity to make their mark with the masses. Skynyrd’s most successful single, it climbed into Billboard’s Top Ten and, in the process, gave the group a Gold album some six months later. (It eventually achieved Double Platinum status some 13 years after that.)

Of course, Skynyrd had already found more than a modicum of success courtesy of their debut disc and its own forever anthem, “Free Bird.” However, Second Helping allowed them to effectively avoid being labeled one hit wonders or merely a flash in the proverbial pan. Van Zant, Collins, Rossington and guitarist Ed King — who departed three years after the album’s release only to rejoin their ranks from 1987 to 1996 — collaborated on the songwriting, giving the band a cohesive sound that further established their southern style branding. Al Kooper, the man behind the boards and a mentor of sorts, again played the role of producer, keeping the consistency intact. So too, several notable guests took part in its creation, among them, singers Merry Clayton, Clydie King and Sherrie Matthews, who provided backing vocals on “Sweet Home Alabama,” Stones sax man Bobby Keys who enhanced the brass on “Don’t Ask Me No Questions” and “Call Me the Breeze,” and Kooper himself, who supplied back-up singing and piano on two tracks, “Don’t Ask Me No Questions” and “The Ballad of Curtis Loew.” 

The timing was right as well, given that Skynyrd was riding high after opening for The Who on their Quadrophenia tour in the U.K. However it takes more than momentum to secure steady standing. Aside from “Sweet Home Alabama,” Second Helping had its share of standards. “They Call Me the Breeze” was an unpretentious, easy-going rocker swept along on the strength of a compelling chorus and a reliable rhythm. “Don’t Ask Me No Questions,” on the other hand, maintained the band’s unapologetic attitude while stoking an unwavering rock ’n’ roll bluster. “Swamp Music” affirmed their place in the Southern strata. “Workin’ for MCA” initially came across as an obedient bow to their record label, but beneath the surface, it served as a rebellious retort to a music world dominated by corporate dictates, mindless management and the general imbroglio of policy-makers in general. “The Needle and the Spoon” offers a dark commentary on the dangers of falling prey to temptation in any particular guise.

Still, the most intriguing song of all is “The Ballad of Curtis Loew,” ostensively a tribute to an old black blues man who shares his songs by playing an old dobro to the delight of a young admirer, even while reaping scorn from the local townsfolk who consider him useless. When the old man dies, the young man finds himself the only person attending his funeral and ends up lamenting the fact that Loew was denied the better reputation he so decidedly deserved. The band’s website claimed that the characters depicted the song were based on a composite of people who inhabited the Jacksonville Florida neighborhood that Van Zant originally called home, and, in fact, the country store where Loew would sit and strum all day was the actual centerpiece of those hometown environs.

VIDEO: Lynyrd Skynyrd perform “Sweet Home Alabama” in Oakland, CA 7/2/77

Suffice it to say, few bands have ever had to overcome as much tragedy and adversity as Lynyrd Skynyrd. After taking a much-needed hiatus following the plane crash, the band reformed ten years later with Ronnie’s brother Johnny at the helm. Guitarists Rossington and Rickey Medlocke — the latter of whom had originally played with the band in its initial incarnation prior to forming his own band, Blackfoot — joined Wilkerson and Pyle to take over the Skynyrd banner. 

Johnny Van Zant and Rickey Medlocke have managed to carry on successfully under the Skynyrd brand for the past 35 years, releasing a series of albums (Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991, The Last Rebel, Endangered Species, Twenty, Christmas Time Again, Vicious Cycle, God & Guns and Last of the Dyin’ Breed) over the course of that later career. And while there hasn’t been a studio offering from the group in over a decade, there have been at least a dozen live albums since the band’s reformation, the latest of which, Live at Knebworth ’76, was released in 2021.

The band, currently includes Van Zant and Medlocke, ex-Damn Yankees and Vince Neil drummer Michael Cartellone, guitarist Mark Matejka, former P-Funk keyboard player Peter Keys, bassist Keith Christopher and backing vocalists Carol Chase and Stacy Michelle. Long may they run. 

In effect, one could claim that that Second Helping helped dish up any number of successive servings.

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Lee Zimmerman

Lee Zimmerman is a writer and columnist based in beautiful Maryville, Tennessee. Over the past 20 years, his work has appeared in dozens of leading music publications. He is also the author of Americana Music: Voice, Visionaries, and Pioneers of an Honest Sound, which will be published by Texas A&M University Press early next year.

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