When the time came for Gary Rossington’s family to decide what to do with his guitars and amps after his passing in March of 2023, daughters Mary and Annie along with his wife, Dale, looked for advice from his lifelong friend and bandmate, Rickey Medlocke.
The stash was considerable – 71 guitars including his famous ’61 Gibson “Free Bird” Les Paul SG, his first Silvertone, and the Custom Shop SG he played at his final concert in November of 2022 at the Ryman Auditorium – along with 55 amps.
“We were at a loss with what we were suddenly in charge of,” said Mary. “Ricky suggested we call Andrew Yonke at Chicago Music Exchange, saying he could answer all of our questions.”
The common fate for high-profile guitar collections these days is sale via auction house. But the Rossingtons, being uninterested in the commerce the guitars would certainly generate, were focused instead on furthering Gary’s legacy.
Inspired by Rossington, having been invited to play Duane Allman’s ’57 goldtop in 2016 (after which he told Alan Paul, author of Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album That Defined the ’70s, “Duane was my main inspiration growing up; he was my first and greatest influence and always will be.”), the family asked for Yonke’s help getting some of the guitars in the hands of players who truly cared about what they were and could help them be heard by generations of players to come.
Yonke was enamored with the idea. And the women knew that Medlocke had steered them right. “We instantly felt like we’d known Andrew forever,” said Mary. “There was a really good vibe.”
To assess the collection and get a feel for the task, Yonke and CME Vintage Manager Daniel Escauriza visited the Rossingtons in Atlanta.
“The first day they were here, they opened every guitar case and examined every amp with meticulous, careful hands,” recalled Dale. “We learned a lot about Gary’s guitars that day, and we were so pleased – and relieved – because it was overwhelming to be responsible for them.”
“We really just wanted to know what was in our possession,” Mary added. “Getting them documented and insured was goal number one. Goal number two was figuring out what we could do with them: How do we keep these beautiful instruments preserved correctly? How do we further his legacy?
“He got such a kick out of playing Duane Allman’s guitar, and always talked about how that was so special,” she added. “We thought,‘That’s the kind of thing we’d like to share with other players’.”
While 30 of the guitars were in Atlanta that day, others were in storage areas and the homes of friends. Eventually, they all made their way to Chicago.
Yonke first met Rossington in 2017, when Guns ’N Roses guitarist Richard Fortus invited him to take in a show by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hank Williams, Jr. Afterward, Fortus introduced Yonke to Medlocke, and the two bonded over all things guitar, then stayed in touch.
Rossington, Yonke said, was a true “guitars as tools” musician – he didn’t do guitar safaris on tour stops and didn’t gather collectible pieces or chase tones. His gear is exemplary of that pragmatism; “Choosing gear for a tour, he’d say, ‘Where’s my SG? Where’s my Les Paul? Let’s go!’” said Yonke.
The same applied to his amps; as Skynyrd gained steam, they were supplied Peavey amps that served them well, and when word got out that the amps were at CME, Yonke’s phone started ringing. Despite the stash famously including back line Marshall stacks from the band’s earliest days at Hell House – the lake cabin where they wrote “Simple Man,” “Tuesday’s Gone,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Don’t Ask Me No Questions,” “Gimme Three Steps,” and “Free Bird” – most were curious about the others.
“Probably 25 famous players called,” he laughed. “And 22 of them asked about the Mace amps.”
Yonke says it’s been relatively easy to attach specific guitars to stages in Rossington’s career, thanks to photos and video online.
“In the months just before the [October ’77] plane crash (that claimed the lives of singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, the band’s assistant road manager, and both pilots), every photo and video you see shows him playing the late-’60s SG with the small nut. And in the early days of Rossington Collins Band, he had a ’61 with side-pull trem. There’s another ’61 with a Vibrola that he’d bang against a cymbal as they played the outro of ‘Free Bird,’ so it’s headstock is bit hacked up, which is especially cool because most of his SGs are so well cared for; he didn’t wear bracelets or anything that would beat up the guitars.”
Another guitar of interest is Dottie, a late-’60s Les Paul Deluxe that Rossington had modified in the ’70s, routing it for humbuckers and painting it sunburst.
“In Rossington Collins Band, he played vintage SGs, Bernice (Rossington’s ’59 Les Paul Standard that resides in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), Dottie, a few backups, a Dobro, and some older acoustics,” Yonke said. “Then, with the re-formation of Skynyrd, other instruments entered the mix including late-’80s/early-’90s Les Pauls, D’Angelicos, and a few that people gifted to him. There’s a really cool black ’80s ES-335 he used on a gig or two, but there are very few photos of him using anything other than a Les Paul or SG.”
While sorting through the first 30 guitars in Atlanta, Yonke and Escauriza were delighted to learn that Gary and Dale had cataloged the guitars – she with pen and paper, jotting as he mentioned details about each. She recalls there was no specific reason – no health concerns – and that it was simply something they did while spending time together.
“It was fun,” she said. “As we opened each case, he would say a few things that I’d write down, then he’d sign the paper.”
In the early 2000s, Gibson approached Rossington about building a reissue of Bernice and an homage to the “Free Bird” SG. Given the skyrocketing value of his vintage instruments (not to mention their notoriety), he agreed it would be a good idea to retire them and play the new versions. And as anyone will tell you, Gary was not a collector. In contrast, he was the classic, “guitars are tools” player, uninterested in accumulating instruments or chasing collectibles.
“He knew the instruments, and especially the few that worked best for him,” Dale said. “When we opened those guitars, I don’t think he pulled them out or touched them. If he actually held one, it wasn’t for long, but he would say, ‘I remember where that came from,’ and who had given it to him or sold it to him. And of course he remembered which were used on certain songs.”
“So, you open a case and the note inside says something like, ‘Loved it, played “Free Bird” on it every night,’” said Yonke.
Once the guitars were ensconsed at CME, Yonke and his staff set about designing display space and strategizing how to get them in front of visitors – and audiences. Yonke will keep the family involved in every decision regarding who plays the guitars in a concert setting.
“I want them to be comfortable with whatever we do,” he said. “We need to know that they find joy in this.”
And when a guitar is offered, neither the family nor CME will ask artists to play anything specific. Rather, they’ll be encouraged to tell the audience what they’re feeling with it in their hands, and play a song of their choice.
“To have that opportunity to give back and hopefully inspire these younger generations to keep playing true music, to learn guitar, and practice as hard as he did,” said Mary. “We want artists around the world to use them and help further the music Daddy helped create.”
Their first opportunity happened November 7, when Charlie Starr and Blackberry Smoke played in St. Augustine, Florida. Yonke and Escauriza personally delivered the ’61 SG (after it traveled in its own airplane seat next to them) to Starr, who is a family friend, a devout fan of Rossington’s work, and even played a bit of guitar when Gary and Dale renewed their vows.
When he was approached, Starr was bit taken aback.
“My first reaction was ‘Why do I get to be the first person to play this guitar?’ I hold Gary and the music he and Skynyrd created in extremely high regard, and we do have quite a long history with them, but it was still a surprise and a gigantic honor,” he said.
Blackberry Smoke’s choice of songs to play with it required a bit of discussion.
“We’ve never performed ‘Free Bird,’” he added. “Not even when we were playing covers in clubs. I always felt like that song was sacred and belonged solely to Skynyrd, not to be fiddled with… However, this is a guitar that Gary really only played one song on. So, I figured, ‘Let’s do a section, then ease into ‘Tuesday’s Gone,’ which made sense to me, metaphorically, and is another one of Gary’s most-beautiful guitar melodies, and that guitar might be the best-sounding and best-playing example of a ’61 side-pull Les Paul SG that I have ever had my hands on – no exaggeration! I literally plugged and played, nothing else necessary. The piece of wire he used to lift the strings and a slide were sitting there in the case pocket, but I didn’t disturb them.”
“It was a quieter crowd, and when Charlie put the guitar on and started talking, every cell phone came out,” Dale added. “I don’t think there was a dry eye in the crowd. As soon as he plugged in, he said they knew what they had to do, so they put together ‘Free Bird’ and ‘Tuesday’s Gone,’ and it was magical. It sounded incredible onstage, and so pure.”
“Losing Gary was the roughest thing that our family has had to go through,” Dale added. “And being able to hear someone as fabulous as Charlie play his guitar was one of the biggest delights we have had since we lost him. We are gaining so much from this experience and we really hope we can continue.”
The Vault at CME
Conveniently coinciding with the arrival of Gary Rossington’s collection, Andrew Yonke and the staff at Chicago Music Exchange recently opened a new display area where customers and visitors can sit comfortably amongst instruments and take their time playing them or simply enjoying their auras.
The concept began almost by default. Around the shop, employees commonly referenced two large storage areas as “the vault.” Also, the store did an ad campaign showing guitars and amps perched in front of an actual old bank vault in a building across the street, and customers then started asking to see the vault, only to be told it wasn’t really a thing.
But their requests inspired Yonke, and when the store transitioned some retail space in an adjoining building, he had a massive metal door installed leading to it and hired an artist to decorate it with ’30s-style pinstriping and a logo in gold leaf. The Vault was born, conceived with a casual and comfortable atmosphere, properly decorated and where anything and everything can be played in a studio-like setting.
“There’s a lounge area large enough to accommodate an entourage of road crew and friends,” Yonke said. “The main seating is in front of the main display.”
Before the room was ready for prime time, Riotfest happened in late September and they were asked to host a few acts. One player who visited was Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner (VG, June ’24), who was looking for a Custom Shop Strat. His visit gave Yonke the chance to see The Vault in action.
“At the end of the day, I was able to stand back and say, ‘This is exactly why I did this!’ Everybody had a great time, and some players left with the instrument they were hoping to find. That’s the whole point of the room.”
And while displays in The Vault are museum-quality, there are no “Do Not Touch” signs. In fact, Yonke is adamant the room will be inclusive, and not strictly high-dollar.
“Right now in the room is an Epiphone acoustic that I paid $400 for, and it is awesome. It’s right there on a stand. Half the people who walk in ask, ‘What is that doing in here?’ I hand it to them and they go, ‘Whoa!’”
The area has 16 wall cases, none with locks. Still, it’s not a free-for-all.
“I can’t physically do that,” Yonke says. “A sales person has to sit with everyone, especially if we’ve never worked with them. We need to know what they like and may be looking for, so we can curate the experience.
“The future of guitar stores is going to come down to building relationships and the experience,” he added. “Hundreds of people visit us every day, and they come here to dream and to touch. The Vault lets them do that, and in the short time it’s been open, there have been so many people checking in just to see what’s in there. Anytime someone is serious about an instrument but they’re not in Chicago, Nathaniel Murphy will plug it in and create a video showing the details and sound of that guitar or amp they’re eyeballing.” – Ward Meeker
To read Vintage Guitar’s interviews with and memorial to Gary Rossington, search his name on www.vintageguitar.com.
This article originally appeared in VG’s January 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
