Donnie Van Zant, one-third of a musical family whose legacy encompasses Southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special and the country-rock duo Van Zant, isn't one for moving.
In any respect.
Orange Park, Fla., is just south of Jacksonville and it's where you will find Van Zant, "53 years old going on 16," today with his wife and family.
"I didn't move too far away. I was born and raised in Jacksonville and moved to Orange Park. I moved about 15 miles. No place like home, right?"
At that, Van Zant laughs during a telephone interview from his home. These are good times. After two CDs with brother Johnny Van Zant went nowhere, the third, "Get Right With the Man," has been warmly embraced by country radio, spawning two Top 20 hits in "Help Somebody" and "Nobody Gonna Tell Me What to Do."
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Donnie and Johnny haven't moved from their musical camps either, both remaining with their other bands. Donnie helped found .38 Special in 1975 and enjoyed a run of hits in the '80s such as "Hold on Loosely," "Caught Up in You" and "Second Chance." The band continues to tour and record. Johnny became lead vocalist in a retooled Lynyrd Skynyrd 10 years after the 1977 plane crash that killed their older brother, Skynyrd vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, at the age of 29. The band remains a draw on the road and got further exposure to a younger audience last year by appearing on "American Idol" with contestant Bo Bice.
But Van Zant, the act, is surpassing expectations. Not too many grandpas — Donnie has four children and 10 grandchildren — enjoy enough airplay to rub elbows in the Top 10 on country radio and the siblings didn't have to labor to accommodate country audiences.
The western edge of Jacksonville, where the Van Zants were raised, has long been country territory, especially in the '60s when the brothers were growing up in a neighborhood dotted with trailer parks, working-class families and oak trees.
Besides, Van Zant may jokingly dub himself and his brother "rookies with attitude," but country is in their blood. The duo have embarked on a tour with Gretchen Wilson and newcomer Blaine Larsen, a jaunt dubbed "The Redneck Revolution" by Wilson, Van Zant says, chuckling.
"Our dad was a long-distance truck driver for 35 years, and mom worked at a Dunkin' Donuts shop," Van Zant says. "If your dad's a truck driver, 95 percent listen to country music, that's what we listened to as kids — Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Mel Tillis and Faron Young. This is a natural thing for us to do."
Sure enough, themes of family, lessons learned, and boot-scootin', hell-raisin' Saturday nights have been constant threads in the lyrics of all the bands the three Van Zant brothers have formed. From Ronnie's cautionary classic with Skynyrd, "That Smell" (1977), warning of the pitfalls of drug addiction, through .38 Special's "Wild-Eyed Southern Boys" (1981) and tunes on the current CD with descriptive titles such as "Been There, Done That" and "I Know My History," the Van Zants are country-minded — even if they employ a whomping Southern rock drum bottom on select cuts.
But "Get Right With the Man" is a concerted effort to cater to the country market, right down to the choice of producer Mark Wright (Lee Ann Womack) and a 2005 promotional radio tour aimed at influential stations. Still, the acceptance was "unbelievable," Van Zant says happily. "I am surprised. I didn't know what to expect."
He thinks brother Ronnie would approve.
"Ronnie, before he was killed in 1977, wanted to do a country record. He was leaning that way and we're sort of living out his dream here, too, which has made this a cool experience," Van Zant says.
Donnie and Johnny didn't have to move beyond their comfort zone to come up with enough material for the CD, either.
"All these songs are life experiences, whether we lived them ourselves or watched someone else go through them," he continues. "As a songwriter, if you don't write like that you are wasting your time."
