Lynyrd Skynyrd will perform at the Republican National Convention his week, marking the third such appearance in their career. With that being said, the group opened up a little bit about their thoughts on the state of America and where we're at as a country in a new interview.

Speaking with Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, longtime member Gary Rossington explained, "Everybody's got a right to their own opinion, you know? I think the country is kind of on a back road now. I would like to see some changes about certain things, but you know, I don't know what we can do. We're a rock 'n' roll band. We're more music and rock 'n' roll than politics." Rossington says he considers himself more conservative than left wing, but he feels out of place talking about politics.

Instrumentalist Rickey Medlocke added, "I agree that America, first of all, is very deeply divided. One thing I don't like is how everybody is making a racial thing out of this whole political arena that we are in. I'm Native American, so the racial thing kind of hits home with me. To be honest with you, man, I'm sick of politics here. I've been browbeaten by it until I'm sick of it. I've been slammed in my face about it, and honestly, I don't perceive anything getting any better. I don't know. I hope it does."

Medlocke goes on to add, "I find that America is moving toward a certain type of government that everybody else is moving away from, and I find that very upsetting to me … I gotta tell you, Rickey Medlocke lived in some of the most magical years in this world's history. I lived in the '60s. I lived in the '70s, right into the '80s, and man it was bad to the bone."

Medlocke says that politics is similar to rock in that everything has already been written and there's nothing original anymore. He adds, "Politics are the same old thing. We elect people, we put them in office and guess what they do? They sell us out. They sell us down the river and we pay for it. So we try to tread lightly on the politics, although we can be very outspoken about it."

The instrumentalist says that where things hit home is when he sees things that aren't right, especially people stealing from the normal average person, but he still believes in the voting process and he adds, "One way or another, I either get shot down or it gets upheld, you know?"

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