God & Guns

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.

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

• Johnny Van Zant – lead vocals
• Daniel Maguire - guitars
• Gary Rossington – guitars
• Rickey Medlocke – guitars, backing vocals
• Mark Matejka – guitars, backing vocals
• Ean Evans – bass, backing vocals
• Robert Kearns – bass, backing vocals
• Michael Cartellone – drums
• Billy Powell – keyboards
• Peter Keys – keyboards

Additional personnel

• John 5 - guitars
• Rob Zombie - vocals on "Floyd"
• Michael Rhodes
• Greg Morrow
• Perry Coleman
• Jerry Douglas
• Bob Marlette
• The Honkettes (Dale Krantz Rossington & Carol Chase) - Back Vocals

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

References