Put a couple of Dixie icons on the road together, give the campaign a clever name, turn up the amps and boom — a blast of Southern-rock magic. In what’s easily one of the most natural pairings so far in the 2007 concert season, the Rowdy Frynds Tour brings together Hank “Bocephus” Williams Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd for a 20-city double-headlining bill of deep-fried country and rock classics.
Williams, who turns 58 this month, talked to the Detroit Free Press from Kid Rock’s Nashville condo, where he was visiting from his home in Missoula, Mont.
Q. How did this tour finally come together?
A. They said, “You want to do it?” I said, “Fine!” [Laughs] I’ve done like 24 [shows] a year for at least eight years, and they’ve been pretty fun. And Skynyrd has sold a lot of tickets. So it’s a natural. Everybody knows everybody, and me and them certainly get along. Some of these places where we’re selling tickets, it’s been, poof — just big, big numbers.
Q. The crossover between the Southern rock and country worlds has become a little more cemented in recent years. Could this tour have happened, say, 20 years ago?
A. Yeah, I could have done this in the ’80s. I mean, I was out there with Marshall Tucker, the Allman Brothers, so what’s the difference? It’s not strange territory for Bocephus. Actually, it’s kind of amazing that it didn’t happen then.
Q. You’ve spent a career being all over the place musically, so nothing should seem too surprising at any point.
A. It’s amazing to me. It sure ain’t about living on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. That’s probably why a lot of [opportunities] have come along. There wouldn’t have been 20 years of “Monday Night Football.” Pickers, they like to hang out. The rockers, they want to be the country ones, the country ones want to be the rockers, and the whole world wants to be Hank Sr. And I mean the whole world — Kid Rock or the Rolling Stones or whoever. That’s the old school, the real old school.
Q. How are you keeping this thing fresh for yourself?
A. I’m only doing 20-something shows a year. I’m not one of these new artists playing 100 gigs a year, where you get so burned out. I hear these guys — “I can’t do another one, I can’t do another one” — and I know exactly where they’re coming from. … I like to find different projects. I don’t do music 24/7 — and that’s the secret right there: finding the right balance.
Q. Talk about your relationship with Kid Rock.
A. We’ve laughed and cried together a lot. We’re good buddies. We have a lot of fun out there when we’re 40 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico fishing. … People don’t realize, we’ve both had a lot of bad stuff go down. I guess what we’ve taught each other is to keep on keeping on. He’s taught me what a real friend is. And he is. He says, “You’re my rocking rebel father.”
