Steve Gaines

American guitarist (1949–1977)

This article is about the guitarist. For the clergyman, see Steve Gaines (pastor). For the writer, see Steven Gaines.

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Steve Gaines

Background information
Birth name| Steven Earl Gaines
Also known as|

Okie

* Crawdaddy

Born| (1949-09-14)September 14, 1949
Miami, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died| October 20, 1977(1977-10-20) (aged 28)
Gillsburg, Mississippi, U.S.
Genres| Blues, Southern rock
Occupation| Guitarist
Years active| 1964–1977
Formerly of| Lynyrd Skynyrd

Musical artist

Steven Earl Gaines (September 14, 1949 – October 20, 1977) was an American musician. Steve is widely considered to be the best guitarist in Lynyrd Skynyrd. He is best known as a guitarist and backing vocalist with rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1976 until his death in the October 1977 airplane crash that claimed other band members and crew. His older sister Cassie Gaines, a backup vocalist with the band, also died in the crash.

## Life and career

[edit]

Gaines was born in Miami, Oklahoma. When he was 15 years old, he saw the Beatles performing live in Kansas City. After being driven home from the concert, he pestered his father to buy him his first guitar. His band, Manalive, recorded at the famous Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. In the 1970s, Steve played with bands ILMO Smokehouse from Quincy, Illinois, Detroit with Rusty Day (an offshoot of The Detroit Wheels) and Crawdad (a band that Steve had started around 1974). In 1975, he recorded several songs with Crawdad at Capricorn studios in Macon, Georgia which were released by MCA in 1988 as One in the Sun (when Lynyrd Skynyrd band began touring). This album is listed as his only official solo album. Steve has two other albums, which are known to be very rare CDs from Steve's widow Teresa: I Know a Little (a collection of live recordings with Crawdad as well as Manalive) and Okie Special (a collection of live recordings with Crawdad as well as Detroit). Only 100 copies of each of the two CDs have been made.

In December 1975, Steve's older sister, Cassie, became a member of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd's female backup singers, The Honkettes. The band had been seeking a replacement for Ed King, one of three lead guitarists in its lineup, since his departure in mid-1975. Cassie recommended Steve, and after initial reluctance the band allowed him to join them onstage for a song during a show at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri on May 11, 1976, Jimmie Rodgers' "T-For Texas, (Blue Yodel #1)". Although the band couldn't hear Steve's playing onstage, soundman Kevin Elson was listening through headphones and told them that Steve was outstanding. They jammed with him informally a couple of times more, then invited him into the band just in time for the recording of Skynyrd's live album One More from the Road. The first of three shows recorded for the album was Gaines' third gig with the band. Ed King and Steve Gaines were both born on September 14, 1949.

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Gaines' guitar-picking and songwriting skills were a major revelation to the band, as demonstrated on his one studio album, 1977's Street Survivors. Publicly and privately, Ronnie Van Zant marveled at the vocal and instrumental skill of Skynyrd's newest member, claiming that the band would "all be in his shadow one day". Steve's contributions included his co-lead vocal with Ronnie on the co-written "You Got That Right" (a solid hit single released after the plane crash) and the rousing guitar boogie "I Know a Little" which he had written before he joined Skynyrd. So confident was Skynyrd's leader of Steve's abilities that the album (and some concerts) featured Steve delivering his self-penned bluesy "Ain't No Good Life" – one of the few songs in the pre-crash Skynyrd catalog to feature a lead vocalist other than Van Zant.

Steve Gaines with Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1977 (from left to right): Leon Wilkeson, Allen Collins, Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Steve Gaines, Artimus Pyle and Billy Powell.

On October 20, 1977, three days after Street Survivors was released (and five dates into the band's most successful ticket sales tour yet), a plane carrying both musicians and crew between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, crashed outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. The plane landed in a swampy area and crashed into trees, killing Gaines, Van Zant, Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray.[1]

Gaines was cremated and his ashes were buried in Orange Park, Florida in 1977, but were relocated to an undisclosed location after vandals broke into his and bandmate Ronnie Van Zant's tombs on June 29, 2000. Their mausoleums remain as memorials for fans to visit. 10 years later, the new location of their interment was accidentally revealed by a Craigslist ad. A family selling two plots they decided not to retain, ran a Craigslist ad and stated the plots were in the Jacksonville Memory Gardens Cemetery in Orange Park, Florida, adjacent to Ronnie Van Zant's tomb.[2]

Gaines is the subject of the 2001 song "Cassie's Brother" by rock band Drive-By Truckers.

Less than two years after the plane crash, Cassie LaRue Gaines, mother of Cassie and Steve, was killed in an automobile accident near the cemetery where her children were buried. She was buried near them.

## Discography

[edit]

Lynyrd Skynyrd

* One More from the Road (1976)
* Street Survivors (1977)

Solo

* One in the Sun (1988)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Check-Six (May 2007). "The 'Lynyrd Skynyrd' Crash". Retrieved July 5, 2008.
2. ^ "Craigslist posting reveals Ronnie Van Zant's burial site". WKMG. April 19, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Official Website at the Wayback Machine (archived January 2, 2012)
* Official Lynyrd Skynyrd Homepage
* Official Lynyrd Skynyrd History site
* US NTSB Report on Plane Crash
* Steve Gaines at Find a Grave

* v
* t
* e

Lynyrd Skynyrd

* Rickey Medlocke
* Johnny Van Zant
* Michael Cartellone
* Mark Matejka
* Peter Keys
* Keith Christopher

* Ronnie Van Zant
* Allen Collins
* Gary Rossington
* Bob Burns
* Larry Junstrom
* Greg T. Walker
* Leon Wilkeson
* Billy Powell
* Ed King
* Artimus Pyle
* Steve Gaines
* Randall Hall
* Kurt Custer
* Mike Estes
* Owen Hale
* Hughie Thomasson
* Jeff McAllister
* Kenny Aronoff
* Ean Evans
* Robert Kearns
* Johnny Colt

Studio albums|

* (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)
* Second Helping
* Nuthin' Fancy
* Gimme Back My Bullets
* Street Survivors
* Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991
* The Last Rebel
* Endangered Species
* Twenty
* Edge of Forever
* Christmas Time Again
* Vicious Cycle
* God & Guns
* Last of a Dyin' Breed

Live albums|

* One More from the Road
* Southern by the Grace of God
* Lyve from Steel Town
* Lynyrd Skynyrd Lyve: The Vicious Cycle Tour
* Live from Freedom Hall
* Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour Lyve!

Compilations|

* Skynyrd's First and... Last
* Gold & Platinum
* Best of the Rest
* Legend
* Skynyrd's Innyrds
* Lynyrd Skynyrd (box set)
* A Retrospective
* What's Your Name
* Old Time Greats
* The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd
* Skynyrd's First: The Complete Muscle Shoals Album
* 20th Century Masters: The Best of Lynyrd Skynyrd
* Solo Flytes
* All Time Greatest Hits
* Collectybles
* Then and Now
* Thyrty
* Then and Now Volume Two
* Greatest Hits
* Icon

Video|

* Freebird... The Movie
* Lyve from Steel Town
* Lynyrd Skynyrd Lyve: The Vicious Cycle Tour
* Live from Freedom Hall

Singles|

* "Gimme Three Steps" / "Mr. Banker"
* "Don't Ask Me No Questions" / "Take Your Time"
* "Sweet Home Alabama"
* "Free Bird"
* "Saturday Night Special"
* "Double Trouble"
* "What's Your Name"
* "That Smell"
* "Truck Drivin' Man"
* "You Got That Right"
* "Preacher Man"
* "Red White & Blue"

Other songs|

* "Need All My Friends"
* "Tuesday's Gone"
* "Simple Man"

Tours|

* Street Survivors Tour
* Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Tour
* Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991 Tour
* Edge of Forever Tour
* The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour

Spin-off bands|

* Rossington Collins Band
* The Rossington Band
* Allen Collins Band
* Artimus Pyle Band
* Van Zant

Related articles|

* Discography
* Members
* Skynyrd Frynds
* Plane crash
* Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park
* Leonard Skinner
* "All Summer Long"

* v
* t
* e

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Class of 2006

Performers|

* Black Sabbath
* Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward
* Blondie
* Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri, Nigel Harrison, Debbie Harry, Frank Infante, Chris Stein, Gary Valentine
* Miles Davis
* Lynyrd Skynyrd
* Bob Burns, Allen Collins, Steve Gaines, Ed King, Billy Powell, Artimus Pyle, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, Leon Wilkeson
* Sex Pistols
* Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock, Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious

Lifetime achievement|

* Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* United States
* France
* BnF data

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

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