Publisher's Synopsis
Placing the music and personae of Lynyrd Skynyrd into a broader cultural schema for the first time, Whiskey Bottles and Brand-New Cars is based on interviews with surviving band members and others who watched them. It gives a new perspective to a history of stage fights, motel-room destructions, cunning business deals, and brilliant studio productions, offering a greater appreciation for a band that, in the aftermath of its last plane ride, has sadly descended into self-caricature as the sort of lowbrow guns-'n'-God clichÉ that Ronnie Van Zant wanted to chuck from around his neck.
No other book on Southern rock has ever captured the "Free Bird"-like sweep and significance of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Ribowsky's cohesive narrative gives the band its full due while not ignoring the cruel irony and avoidability of the band's tragic end.