God & Guns

God & Guns
Studio album by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Released September 29, 2009
Recorded 2008–2009 in Blackbird Studios, Nashville, Tennessee; Studio Sea, Fort Myers, Florida; Sound Kitchen, Franklin, Tennessee;
Genre Southern rock, boogie rock, blues rock, country rock
Length 49:32
Label Roadrunner
Producer Bob Marlette
Lynyrd Skynyrd chronology
Vicious Cycle
(2003)
God & Guns
(2009)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
MusicReview [2]

God & Guns is the twelfth studio album by the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on September 29, 2009. The single "Still Unbroken" was released on July 27, 2009 followed by another track, "Simple Life", on August 4, 2009. Hughie Thomasson contributed to the writing of many songs, including this first single, before his passing. "Still Unbroken" was written after the death of original bassist Leon Wilkeson in 2001.[3] The album features guitar work from John 5.[4] It is also the last Lynyrd Skynyrd album to feature the band's longtime keyboardist Billy Powell, who died in January 2009.

The title of the album (and its title track) is written by Mark Stephen Jones, Travis Meadows and Bud Tower. Lyrically, it appears to oppose all kinds of gun control, a notable change from the lyrical stance of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd fronted by Ronnie Van Zant, who many claim sang against handguns in the song Saturday Night Special. When one cites a line from "Saturday Night Special", Van Zant's position on gun control might seem unclear: "Why don't we dump em, people, to the bottom of the sea", with the subject of the sentence being "em", or handguns, which might also be interpreted as "Why don't we dump em people to the bottom of the sea", with the subject being em people (them people). [5] The potential ambiguity is resolved in the next line, "Before some fool come around here / Wanna shoot either you or me". Had Van Zant's subject of the previous line been "em people", then the guns would still be accessible.

The lyrical shift from "Saturday Night Special" to "God & Guns" has been taken into account by band member Johnny Van Zant, who explained how the song was not a direct contradiction to 'Saturday Night Special'.[6] Despite this, it is a commonly known fact among many fans of the band that despite the lyrical content of "Saturday Night Special", Ronnie Van Zant was indeed a gun owner, owning numerous rifles and shotguns and frequently hunted with them. The references made in Saturday Night Special are more than likely regarding irresponsible handgun owners.

Contents

Tracks

  1. "Still Unbroken" - 5:06
  2. "Simple Life" - 3:17
  3. "Little Thing Called You" - 3:58
  4. "Southern Ways" - 3:48
  5. "Skynyrd Nation" - 3:52
  6. "Unwrite that Song" - 3:50
  7. "Floyd" (feat. Rob Zombie) - 4:03
  8. "That Ain't My America" - 3:44
  9. "Comin' Back For More" - 3:28
  10. "God & Guns" - 5:44
  11. "Storm" - 3:15
  12. "Gifted Hands" - 5:22

Personnel

Additional personnel

Strings on "Unwrite That Song" and "Gifted Hands" arranged by Lisa Parade

References