Lynyrd Skynyrd Talk Best BBQ Joints in the South

When Fuse sat down with the long-running, hard-rocking, flag-waving Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Jacksonville-based bunch told us about some of their favorite BBQ joints in the South.

"We have a BBQ joint in Florida called Sonny's," guitarist Rickey Medlocke says. "I'm gonna tell you something man, Sonny's BBQ is badass. They got what they call a sweet hot sauce. It's freaking awesome…. You gotta understand something: There's different BBQ for different sections of the South. Texas has their own kind, Memphis has their own kind, Florida has their own kind, and the Carolinas, too."

Johnny Van Zant shares a story about the great lengths the King of Rock used to go to eat the ribs of his choice. "Elvis used to fly his plane from Vegas to get Rendezvous Ribs [in Memphis]," Van Zant says. Medlocke, however, says he favors Tops BBQ when he's in the vicinity of Graceland. 

If you're BBQing in the backyard, Medlocke advises you to "make sure to baste it real good [until] it's tender and falls off the bone." And most importantly, don't invite vegetarians.  "Just tell them to stay home," founding member Gary Rossington says, laughing.

It turns out Zan Vant already has a vegetarian at home, though: "My daughter is a vegetarian and I have the hardest time. I'm like, 'Let's go out to dinner' and she's like, 'Well, I don't eat that. I don't want to go there.' It's a hard time when you're a vegetarian, man, to go out and eat."

Check out the video above for Skynyrd's full BBQ tales. To hear the band talk about hanging with fans on their intimate, booze-laden Simple Man Cruise (the sixth one is coming up this October), check out the video below. "On the first cruise, they drank all the booze on the ship, we had to pull over," Rossington says. "We pulled into port in the Bahamas and they had to restock the Jack Daniels and beer," Medlocke laughs. "They were out. This ain't no Walt Disney cruise."