I’ve been falling behind in my blog posts for the Ultimate Blog Post Challenge. Not because I wanted to, but because I was gone for most of the week photographing my friend’s wedding and then travelling about the countryside taking other friends who were in town to New Grange Neolithic tomb in the pouring rain.

I’m back now, and back to work. I’m also back to regular blog posting – hopefully.

I heard on the news today that tomorrow marks 35 years since Lynyrd Skynyrd’s lead singer and several band members were killed when their plane crashed. It amazes me that it’s been so long (I’m only 36) because I have grown up listening to their music. Whether it was Sweet Home Alabama, Honest Man, Give Me 3 Steps, or Red White and Blue (love it or leave it), or Travellin’ Man when their songs come on, it’s always turned up and sung along to.

One of the things that I can say is that Southern Rock lives on in Georgia. It’s a basteon of local pride, rebellion, and somehow a certain amount of identity. It never fails to amaze me just how often you go to a concert and hear someone yell out “FREE BIRD!” in the background if you live in the South (Maybe this is just a Georgia thing? Maybe this is just a Drunk Redneck thing?). Somehow, in my mind, if there is no Rebel yell of “free bird” at a concert then it’s not truly a concert – it’s that prevalent. (Yes, even in Ireland, I have been known to yell FREE BIRD – just to make the concert players feel at home – most recently at the Tom Petty Concert…)

I guess that this leads me to the honorary playing of Free bird… and wondering if we will ever see bands of this caliber again.