The Hamilton Corner

November 25, 2024 · 49:17

Guest Host, Alex McFarland, is joined by musical dynasty, Van Zant

Culture & Media

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Guest Host, Alex McFarland, is joined by musical dynasty, Van Zant www.afaaction.net/life To donate call : 877-616-2396

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  1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
  2. 0:03It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
  3. 0:07This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
  4. 0:11It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
  5. 0:15Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
  6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
  7. 0:21God has called you and me to be his ambassador.
  8. 0:24Even in this dark moment.
  9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
  10. 0:29And now, the Hamilton Corner.
  11. 0:34Well, good evening America.
  12. 0:35Alex McFarland here on the Hamilton Corner,
  13. 0:38and we have got a great show.
  14. 0:40I mean, you know, it's Thanksgiving week,
  15. 0:41and I hope you're all set for a special week to praise God
  16. 0:45and to be with family and do special things that you love.
  17. 0:51But we've got a great show this week
  18. 0:53because we have got on the Van Zant Band, the website
  19. 0:58VanZantBand.com, Donnie VanZant and Johnny VanZant and they've got a brand new record out that
  20. 1:07is a wonderful Christian album.
  21. 1:10You know these guys from bands like Leonard Skynard and 38 Special.
  22. 1:14Listen, I grew up listening to their music.
  23. 1:17And several weeks ago I was on a show with them and they were just so gracious and this
  24. 1:21is a completely different audience and later on in the show we're even going to open up
  25. 1:25the funds and give you an opportunity to ask questions.
  26. 1:28But we've got them on and guys,
  27. 1:31I want to say thanks for being interviewed again by me.
  28. 1:35But welcome. Maybe this is your first visit to
  29. 1:39the American Family Radio Network and guys,
  30. 1:41we're glad to have you.
  31. 1:44Our pleasure, man.
  32. 1:45Yeah, our pleasure, man.
  33. 1:47Glad that we can be here and it's a great week
  34. 1:50and for families to all get together and have some Turkey
  35. 1:54It's a awesome week.
  36. 1:56Exactly.
  37. 1:57So what are you guys going to do?
  38. 2:00I want to get into the record and talk about this because you've gone to the absolute heights
  39. 2:08of pop music and rock and roll.
  40. 2:11But what led you to do a Christian album?
  41. 2:15And first of all, where can people get it?
  42. 2:18What's on it?
  43. 2:20And how did God lead you into creating some really awesome contemporary Christian music?
  44. 2:27Yeah, brother.
  45. 2:29We might have told you last time we told you, but we have a bucket list of things that we
  46. 2:34want to do as brothers together musically.
  47. 2:38And right at the top of that bucket list was doing a Christian record.
  48. 2:42So it's been great so far.
  49. 2:45You know, for us, it was pulling us years ago through our dad knowing the Bible.
  50. 2:50And of course, we're like a lot of youngsters.
  51. 2:53We went off and did our thing.
  52. 2:55And you know what?
  53. 2:57We've done that thing pretty well off,
  54. 2:59but there was always something missing.
  55. 3:02And that was Jesus Christ.
  56. 3:04And older in your life,
  57. 3:08you realize just how much you need him.
  58. 3:11And we're coming into the season of Christ.
  59. 3:16And it's just a wonderful time for us to have this album hit.
  60. 3:20actually hit November 22 Friday last week and oh well it's been a great great
  61. 3:25you asked where can you get it you can get it you can go to Vansant Band.com
  62. 3:30and also Frontier Records and hopefully soon Walmart and everywhere else but
  63. 3:41it's been that's where I go to yeah it's been a really really a blessing
  64. 3:48for us and we've sang for ourselves now we're seeing for Jesus.
  65. 3:53Well it is a great record and you know I I don't know I guess it was six or seven weeks
  66. 3:59ago I saw on a website that you guys were releasing this and by the way the album is always look
  67. 4:05up it is a great album and listen I've been fans of your music for decades literally and
  68. 4:13You know, I listen to it and hey, the lyrics are great,
  69. 4:16the musicianship is great, but folks,
  70. 4:20I wanna encourage you to support this album
  71. 4:22because I hope there's a whole lot more
  72. 4:25coming from you guys as well.
  73. 4:27And the website again is Van Zant Band.
  74. 4:32You mentioned Walmart, isn't it cool?
  75. 4:36Cause listen, I grew up spinning vinyl.
  76. 4:39I mean, you know, when I was a teenager,
  77. 4:42Anytime I could get my hands on a few dollars,
  78. 4:45you know, my sister and I were going down to the record store
  79. 4:48and I bought y'all's records.
  80. 4:50I'm from the South, y'all.
  81. 4:52But isn't it cool, like in places like Barnes & Noble
  82. 4:56and Guitar Center and Walmart, there's vinyl now.
  83. 5:01The records are back.
  84. 5:02Isn't that cool?
  85. 5:04It is cool.
  86. 5:05I mean, LPs are back big time.
  87. 5:07You know, we went from two records
  88. 5:10because that's one of the things they wanted to do.
  89. 5:13They're an Italian company and vinyl's really big in Europe.
  90. 5:19And we were like, great, we're all in because we want to see it.
  91. 5:23You know, cause we grew up as kids, like you just got to say,
  92. 5:27and you know, buying the vinyl and the double ones.
  93. 5:29Oh boy, I was thrilled when we got a double one.
  94. 5:32You know, to open, eat all this good stuff.
  95. 5:35And there's something very appealing.
  96. 5:39and yeah, attractive to have a vinyl,
  97. 5:42we're selling vinyl and CD,
  98. 5:43of course.
  99. 5:44Yeah, but it was always cool for me to have a LP
  100. 5:48because I open it up and read who wrote the songs,
  101. 5:52who produced it and engineered it.
  102. 5:55So we used to dream about that.
  103. 5:57We'd say one day it's gonna be us.
  104. 5:59I wrote a song.
  105. 6:02We recorded it, you know.
  106. 6:04So I gotta ask you this.
  107. 6:06What's it like to be out?
  108. 6:09Because I'm sure this has happened to you guys, you know, hundreds of times.
  109. 6:13Maybe you'll be out in a store or something and you hear yourself over the sound
  110. 6:19system. Some of your own music is because it's just become a part of the American
  111. 6:24culture. What's that like?
  112. 6:29Well, Alex, I can tell you for it.
  113. 6:31It's Donnie Vance.
  114. 6:32Yeah. Yeah.
  115. 6:33But I can tell you what the 30 eggs special I'm hearing at a public grocery store
  116. 6:38now. It's actually great. I mean, I got a kick out of it.
  117. 6:43Yeah, years ago, I was, I think I was in another grocery store
  118. 6:49here in Florida and we like it. Yeah. Amen.
  119. 6:54Southern. Yeah, amen. And I heard a song called Red, White and
  120. 6:59Blue of mine and Donnie's and I was sitting there shopping and I
  121. 7:02went, man, that song sounds familiar. And I heard, I mean,
  122. 7:06got mostly all the way through it before I realized it was us. So I was like, Hey, that's us, man. Yeah,
  123. 7:11there was a lot of stuff. Alex, I will tell you that what was really cool for us the other day
  124. 7:18was I like reading the comments about what people thinking about the records, you know. So there was
  125. 7:24one on there where actually it was fun. It's like a music director of another church that we know
  126. 7:31nothing about but they were actually worked up speak his name and we're playing in church
  127. 7:37and there's another church that was playing there you are in their church so it was like
  128. 7:43like a Christmas present for us. It was pretty cool. Donnie actually, we about 12 to 9 so
  129. 7:513,000 pounds like huh yeah okay and but hey you got us very excited you know what we're really excited
  130. 7:58about spreading to Word of God. You know, we, you know what, He has gotten us through hard, hard times
  131. 8:04in our life and things that maybe most people might not make it through, but with His help, He has
  132. 8:11helped us through it. And I always tell people say, at your darkest point, God wants you to come
  133. 8:17to Him. He wants you to ask Him for help. And all you have to do is go to Him and it really, really
  134. 8:25It is a pleasure to have this music out and spreading his name, you know, Lord Jesus Christ.
  135. 8:30But I'll be true of whether we first did it when we start doing the record. Between men, Johnny,
  136. 8:38we just said we could bring one person to Christ that would be worth the whole project. We have
  137. 8:44really... Yeah, so we're happy about it, man. Well, and I want to encourage everybody to look at
  138. 8:50the video of Jesus Christ. This is from Van Zand, the album is always look up. That guys, that is one
  139. 8:58of the most powerful songs. The lyrics are so powerful to that song. And you know what, we're
  140. 9:05coming to you from our little studio behind my house and you know, I have a picture of Jesus Christ,
  141. 9:12the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on my wall. And we didn't have a guitar, but we thought,
  142. 9:19I had an old broom in here and I thought, how would it be for Jesus to carry that cross? What would
  143. 9:25the music sound like? And we kind of started banging on that just going, do, do, do, do, do.
  144. 9:32And that's where it started at. And of course, all the lyrics are very, very true. Fortunately,
  145. 9:39that they're true because of course they sacrificed him. But the end of that song,
  146. 9:45he has risen and for your listeners don't think it's over with because we're getting
  147. 9:52ready to get busy at the end of that and pray.
  148. 9:56Amen.
  149. 9:57Hey, I got to tell you guys this several weeks ago you guys were graciously with me on another
  150. 10:05show and a lot of my friends were like did you really get to interview them and I was
  151. 10:10like yeah man they were super nice.
  152. 10:13So Donnie, I got to tell you this, the weekend several days after we had that previous interview,
  153. 10:20I went to a family reunion.
  154. 10:22And we saw a cousin that I hadn't seen in a lot of years, great Christian guy, Greg Layton
  155. 10:28is his name.
  156. 10:29So he has in his basement kind of a man cave where he's got a big screen TV and on the wall
  157. 10:34a lot of mementos.
  158. 10:35Well, he had this framed picture of a lot of concert ticket stubs that he had seen
  159. 10:42concerts over the years, but right in the middle of this framed picture, clearly it was the special
  160. 10:49one to him. Right in the middle was a big ticket stub of 38 special. And I said, if I was seriously,
  161. 11:00and I was like, Hey, check it out. I just got to talk to Donnie Van Zandt. So anyway,
  162. 11:06Forgive me for going all fanboy on you, but anyway, it's great. That's cool. I think that's great. You know what?
  163. 11:14That was back probably when that ticket sale was probably about $10, right?
  164. 11:20The prices have gone up now I gotta say this to
  165. 11:24Johnny I saw
  166. 11:26Leonard Skinner three times over the decades and I always remember I mean so many of the songs like
  167. 11:33like Simple Man and, you know,
  168. 11:37Sweet Home, Alabama and all that.
  169. 11:38But it was always, I mean, it was high drama at the end
  170. 11:44when those first piano chords would start of Free Bird.
  171. 11:48And, you know, people would cheer, many people would weep.
  172. 11:51Cause that is one of the most powerful songs.
  173. 11:54What was it like to, you know,
  174. 11:58get up in front of probably millions of people
  175. 12:01over the years and to be able to sing something that would captivate people so emotionally.
  176. 12:07What was that like?
  177. 12:08You know, when I first started with Skinner back in 87, I did not sing it.
  178. 12:16And we'd always put Ronnie's hat on the microphone and the crowd would sing it.
  179. 12:20We were out in Sacramento, California.
  180. 12:22I came off stage and Gary Rossings was like, Hey, you're singing Free Bird tonight.
  181. 12:27I was like, What are you talking about?
  182. 12:29And I said, no, man, don't we made that decision, you know?
  183. 12:32And he said, look, your brother was a singer and a songwriter.
  184. 12:36He'd want you to sing those words.
  185. 12:38And coming from Gary, who was Ronnie's, well, Ronnie was like a father to him, you know,
  186. 12:43they went to have a plane crash and went through all the stuff, the make-a-lin, and skinted,
  187. 12:48I went, okay, I'll try it tonight, you know, because he told me, he said, I'm not going
  188. 12:52back out, not unless you go out.
  189. 12:54We're going to have a riot.
  190. 12:58But you didn't know what, I did it at night, I've been singing it every since.
  191. 13:03And of course, I could never sing it as good as our brother Ronnie.
  192. 13:07All these Skinner songs I could never sing as good as him.
  193. 13:09He wrote them.
  194. 13:10It was heartfelt.
  195. 13:13And his message was, well, it's four generations broad now.
  196. 13:20But it's been an honor and a pleasure.
  197. 13:22And that song I've had people come up and say,
  198. 13:25I've played it that, you know, my father's funeral,
  199. 13:29or, hey, it was our great-
  200. 13:31Chantong, you know, free bird, yeah.
  201. 13:33You know what?
  202. 13:35I'll be to Johnny does a great job at it.
  203. 13:38He's not going to.
  204. 13:40He doesn't trip.
  205. 13:41Now you 20 bucks.
  206. 13:43You'll be 40 bucks.
  207. 13:44You'll be 40, oh, yeah.
  208. 13:46Right.
  209. 13:48It's been an honor and a pleasure.
  210. 13:50And I wish if I had my just about it,
  211. 13:53but I wish that Ronnie was here.
  212. 13:55You know, years ago, I tell people, me and Donnie
  213. 13:57went and seen BB King years ago.
  214. 13:59And it was a gentleman that came out on stage
  215. 14:01with a red solo cup and a towel.
  216. 14:05And he, they could be able to take the towel off
  217. 14:07of the arm, wife and space,
  218. 14:09and he'd take a sip of whatever was on that.
  219. 14:12Red solo cup.
  220. 14:14And I thought, man, you know, I could have done that,
  221. 14:17Ronnie.
  222. 14:18I wish that he was here.
  223. 14:20And you know with this gospel album always look up. I think well
  224. 14:25We wanted to have been like a fall three of us would have been here
  225. 14:27You know, but sure but he's in a hair in a better place than we are and we just got to work our way there to see him again
  226. 14:34We have a song called
  227. 14:36That's why I hold that for give me guys. We got to take a break
  228. 14:40Folks stay tuned
  229. 14:41Van Zant the the album is always look up great Christian album. I highly recommend it
  230. 14:46We're going to have more plus-year phone calls later on in the show.
  231. 14:49Stay tuned.
  232. 14:50The American Family Radio Network is back after this brief break, Alex McFarland with Van
  233. 14:55Zand, a discipleship minute with Joseph Parker.
  234. 15:03Sheep desperately need a shepherd.
  235. 15:06And we are like sheep.
  236. 15:09The Lord is my shepherd.
  237. 15:10I shall not want.
  238. 15:13Psalm 23 is not just a nice poem.
  239. 15:15actually is one of the most favorite passages in all of God's word.
  240. 15:20But the fact is, it's not just a nice poem, a nice psalm to be drawn from.
  241. 15:25It's a weapon, an important tool for us to read and meditate on every day to confess and
  242. 15:31stand on.
  243. 15:32Father, thank you for the gift, Psalm 23 is.
  244. 15:35Thank you for the opportunity for us to speak Psalm 23, and to know that we can trust your
  245. 15:41word.
  246. 15:42You have guidance.
  247. 15:43You have counsel.
  248. 15:44You have encouragement, strength, wisdom, and power, so much more for us as we simply read
  249. 15:49and meditate on your word and listen to the voice of you, our great shepherd.
  250. 15:53Thank you for the opportunity to do just that.
  251. 15:56In Jesus' name we do pray.
  252. 15:57Amen.
  253. 15:58Shiting light into the darkness, this is the Hamilton Corner, an American family radio.
  254. 16:12Welcome back to the program.
  255. 16:13Alex McFarland here.
  256. 16:15What a privilege to be talking to Donnie, Venzant, and Johnny Venzant.
  257. 16:20your life. You've been hearing their music. You've been hearing songs like
  258. 16:24caught up in you and hold on loosely and give me three steps and all the great
  259. 16:30songs of Leonard Skynard and 38 Special and they're so gracious to be with us
  260. 16:35tonight and we're promoting their their record always look up. It's on front tier
  261. 16:41records. It's available digitally and LP. I encourage you to support this. These
  262. 16:48guys are out there making music for the Lord and God is using them in a great way.
  263. 16:53And guys, welcome back.
  264. 16:55Thanks for being with us on the American Family Radio Network.
  265. 17:00Thank you.
  266. 17:01Thank you for having us.
  267. 17:04So let's talk and later on we will take some phone calls and I'll give that number.
  268. 17:10It's triple eight, five, eight, nine, eighty eight, forty, triple eight, five, eight, nine,
  269. 17:15eighty eight, forty.
  270. 17:19I wonder like, do you guys play in church?
  271. 17:23I mean, have you tried out some of these songs,
  272. 17:27you know, in your church?
  273. 17:29And then, hey, the ones that got the best reaction,
  274. 17:32you said, okay, we're gonna put that on the album.
  275. 17:34How did you select these songs?
  276. 17:37Wait, we sort of did, if you want another church.
  277. 17:40I mean, man, we went in here, you know,
  278. 17:42recording on Christian records.
  279. 17:44We had no really ideal, really what we were doing.
  280. 17:47We were just trying to write the best song we could write, you know?
  281. 17:51But we did all of Johnny coming here because it's his church.
  282. 17:54Yeah. Yeah. I have a, I go to a little community church here and my
  283. 17:58pastor's a great guy and I called him up and I said, Hey, we just recorded this
  284. 18:03song, Jesus Christ.
  285. 18:06Would you, uh, listen and see what you think, you know?
  286. 18:10And, uh, uh, I want to tell you listeners, neither one of us are perfect.
  287. 18:14and we're not preachers, we're just singers that love Christ.
  288. 18:19But I wanted to take it to my pastor, a man of God who's lived this whole life
  289. 18:25praising our Lord. And if I figured out if we got at least a C or we'd be okay.
  290. 18:32I played Jesus Christ for him and he looked at me and said, man, that's amazing. What, what,
  291. 18:38amazing. And you know what, that kind of gave us the encouragement to keep going to
  292. 18:44He's right and play in a more songs and
  293. 18:49We we used we used the church. It's called high point. Yeah, and we really we
  294. 18:57You know we play songs for them that give us our feedback and it was
  295. 19:03Well, it was really funny most of this record doing COVID, you know
  296. 19:07I was off the road for 15 months and scared to death like the restaurant world. What is this and and
  297. 19:12And I didn't leave home and Donnie's my neighbor,
  298. 19:16so we have our little studio here.
  299. 19:18And always kids say we shut down the grid here
  300. 19:22and Middleburg where we live at,
  301. 19:24because we use so much lights.
  302. 19:26We're up all night.
  303. 19:27God was just pouring it on us, you know what I mean?
  304. 19:30And we couldn't sleep.
  305. 19:31We're like, oh Lord, oh God, we got this.
  306. 19:33What about this lyric in it?
  307. 19:35And we had an amazing time,
  308. 19:37but we were trying to find a right home and for it.
  309. 19:41And what's funny is that my congregation for what,
  310. 19:46since 21 or the beginning of 22, the end of 21, 22,
  311. 19:52they've been going, when is this record coming out?
  312. 19:55We want it.
  313. 19:56Yeah.
  314. 19:57Yeah.
  315. 19:58It's really good.
  316. 19:59We're doing a thing December the 1st
  317. 20:01and appreciation thing at my church where we're gonna go
  318. 20:04talk about each song and how they came up with it,
  319. 20:08how we came up with it.
  320. 20:09and just to give back to the church,
  321. 20:13just an amazing place and Crowder has a song called
  322. 20:18Come As You Are.
  323. 20:19And you can come to my church,
  324. 20:22it's not a wealthy church,
  325. 20:23it's a really come church and people come as they are to it.
  326. 20:29And it's just gonna be an amazing day for us.
  327. 20:33Amen, amen.
  328. 20:34Well, are you gonna tour and promote the album?
  329. 20:39You know what, I'm a little more hopeful with it.
  330. 20:41I got to be.
  331. 20:43Donnie had, you know, ear problems.
  332. 20:45Yeah, you know, ear problems.
  333. 20:46I had internerve damage, which out here in ACE,
  334. 20:52I really wouldn't be able to hear you that well at all, really.
  335. 20:56But the last week we went to Nashville, Tennessee
  336. 21:00and did a lot of PR work.
  337. 21:01And we did some acoustic, about three songs.
  338. 21:05Yeah, acoustic-wise.
  339. 21:06And acoustic wise, I was able to do okay with it.
  340. 21:11You know?
  341. 21:13We'll see.
  342. 21:14If we do it, it probably have to be that way.
  343. 21:17You know, for us, we never say never.
  344. 21:20And God has to let us to this point.
  345. 21:23And if nothing else, getting a little older in your life,
  346. 21:27you realize there's very few things you can change.
  347. 21:31And, you know, you pay your life bill,
  348. 21:35you can take care of your kids.
  349. 21:37you know, but he leads you in what direction.
  350. 21:40To be honest, 10 years ago, if you told me,
  351. 21:42we were talking about doing an gospel album,
  352. 21:45I went, what?
  353. 21:45You know, even though it was hard and sold to do one day,
  354. 21:50you know, it just wasn't realistic at that point in time.
  355. 21:54There's a song called Praying on this album.
  356. 21:57And it's all about having the fame and all this stuff,
  357. 22:03but there was still something missing
  358. 22:05and that was Jesus.
  359. 22:07You know, we went living for Jesus.
  360. 22:09You know, people forget to thank Him every morning.
  361. 22:13And I go to, I get up in the morning,
  362. 22:14I go thank You Lord for the day
  363. 22:16and I go to bed at night praying.
  364. 22:18Whenever I was younger, I prayed for myself.
  365. 22:21I want to be successful.
  366. 22:22I want these things.
  367. 22:23I want all the, now I pray for my girls and my wife
  368. 22:27and my family and, you know,
  369. 22:30so you're as you grow older,
  370. 22:31I think you grow older than wise or as you go.
  371. 22:35Yeah, we want to pray for the good times and of that time.
  372. 22:38Yeah, definitely.
  373. 22:39And that's what we do.
  374. 22:41Yeah.
  375. 22:42Absolutely.
  376. 22:43Absolutely.
  377. 22:44So let's go back if we could.
  378. 22:48Your story.
  379. 22:49What were your first musical experiences?
  380. 22:52And maybe even talk about at what age did you decide, you know, I want a career in music.
  381. 22:57What were some of your first most unforgettable musical experiences?
  382. 23:02You know, for me, it was actually scattered, and they wouldn't call that at that particular
  383. 23:10time.
  384. 23:11But Ronnie Nim used to rehearse right there in our mother and father's ottment in the
  385. 23:16living room there.
  386. 23:17And at that time, they were calling, called 1%.
  387. 23:22But looking at him, watching him and watching Gary and Alan and all of them, I mean, they just
  388. 23:27looked like they were having such a great time.
  389. 23:30So maybe I can be like big brother, you know, and try this, you know.
  390. 23:35Yeah, he really paved the way for us.
  391. 23:39And for me, of course, was looking at him and Donnie, but even before that, you were really
  392. 23:45looking at me.
  393. 23:46Yeah, there you go.
  394. 23:48But for me, I can't remember when we were young, we had the old rabbit ears on the TV
  395. 23:55watching he ha
  396. 23:59Sullivan and you know that that kind of inspired me. I was like wow who's this guy that you know good looking fella
  397. 24:05They can dance on dead so oh that's Elvis
  398. 24:08you know and
  399. 24:09Then on the other channel he ha was George Jones and Tammy why not and all that man our parents
  400. 24:16loved music and
  401. 24:19You know as kids we had an old circle driveway
  402. 24:22And again, we only had four channels.
  403. 24:25We didn't have all the internet and everything.
  404. 24:27So we'd go out there and set around and sing.
  405. 24:30And, well, we'd amuse ourselves.
  406. 24:33You know, so.
  407. 24:34But our dad was a long distance truck driver.
  408. 24:37And our mother worked at a Dunkin' Donut shop.
  409. 24:39So that's what he listened to was country music.
  410. 24:42Yeah, so it really raised so much.
  411. 24:44And it was really like what Johnny said.
  412. 24:46I mean, you hear a lot of bands say this on the ad cell
  413. 24:49of the show.
  414. 24:50Yeah.
  415. 24:51The Beatles came on there in a rolling storms and that sort of changed it for us.
  416. 24:55Yeah, there was a guy named Farron Young.
  417. 24:58Oh, yeah.
  418. 24:59And he had the most perfect flat top.
  419. 25:02Yeah.
  420. 25:03For those of your listeners, what a flat top is you could set a ball on top of your head
  421. 25:08with butch wax.
  422. 25:09And that's the way we wore our hair whenever we were young, you know?
  423. 25:14Really.
  424. 25:15Yeah.
  425. 25:16Oh, yeah.
  426. 25:17So I was going to ask you, I mean, did you guys watch?
  427. 25:21Ed Sullivan, the night the Beatles were on, I guess it would have been February of 64?
  428. 25:26Yes, yes, yes, yes. I couldn't wait to get a pair of the Beatles boots.
  429. 25:32I don't have the best pants, the best pants are not too tall, you know.
  430. 25:39You can put an extra lip on the bottom of them.
  431. 25:42No, man, we'd actually grow our hair the same way.
  432. 25:47Try to go through school with it, but much time we got kicked out.
  433. 25:50you know, it was really cool. I was over in Liverpool, where the Beatles are from, and we
  434. 25:56rented a bus and took our crew and the band and everything. We did a whole tour of their
  435. 26:01neighborhood. They were much like Leonard Skinner, you know, and Skinner wrote songs and
  436. 26:06we still do about life, you know, and there was a strawberry field and, you know, all that
  437. 26:12stuff.
  438. 26:13And you know,
  439. 26:14And a mini lane.
  440. 26:15Yeah, any lane in the cavern where they played out, you know, all the time.
  441. 26:20and then there went on the stage and it was just an amazing thing.
  442. 26:23Hey, let me ask you this, if I could, Johnny.
  443. 26:29Ed King, the late Ed King.
  444. 26:31Okay, growing up as a kid, myself and a hundred million others, we wanted to learn the Sweet
  445. 26:38Home Alabama lick.
  446. 26:39And am I right?
  447. 26:40Didn't Ed write that song?
  448. 26:42Well, no, Gary Rosington started that with the...
  449. 26:46Do it justice, but
  450. 26:50At the old practice place here in green coast and Ed started
  451. 26:56Put the doodoo doodoo do it and then they finish now do
  452. 27:02Do down that of the down of that you know, but Ed came up with that doodoo doodoo
  453. 27:07but it was Gary's song in the beginning and
  454. 27:11Ed just added to it. Oh and then Ronnie added the lyrics and boy do they make a good one
  455. 27:16Oh yeah, I mean one of the top three or four most iconic guitar licks ever, you know.
  456. 27:23He's kid with people I say, you know, there's probably some kid in his bedroom.
  457. 27:30Right as we talk right now trying to figure out Lick out, you know, just an iconic.
  458. 27:37I still have him.
  459. 27:39Yeah, so let me ask each of you, what were some of your favorite songs?
  460. 27:46Johnny, I'll start with you. Did you have of all the repertoire of the
  461. 27:51skinned songs? What were the ones that you enjoyed singing most?
  462. 27:56Oh God, Simple Man would be my top one. Just about the lyrics, man. That song really
  463. 28:03blows me away. You know, everybody, at least good people and God-fearing
  464. 28:09people want to make their mom happy and that's a mother's speaking
  465. 28:12on. And just a great, great song. There's another song that I've sang on stage with
  466. 28:21Skinner at all I can do is write about it, which is about, you know, how too much development takes
  467. 28:27away from the country side of living. But there's so many. I mean, you know, really, our brother was a
  468. 28:34genius. God called him home at an early age, but genius at writing, just simple, great,
  469. 28:45communicating with people. And it's four generations bold now.
  470. 28:49And it's simple. When John Temple, I'm talking simple.
  471. 28:53Yeah, he lived his life. It's hard to write, Sam. It really is.
  472. 28:59Donnie, how about with 38 Special?
  473. 29:02What were your favorite songs to perform?
  474. 29:05You know what, man, 38 was our worst enemy.
  475. 29:09I mean, it had to be picked by committee.
  476. 29:13Everybody sort of had to like the song.
  477. 29:16So it was written on 38.
  478. 29:21But I'm just thinking about it right now.
  479. 29:24The first one I would think about
  480. 29:25would be rocking into the night.
  481. 29:28And I've been, hey, that is because it was actually a song that broke the ice for 38 special.
  482. 29:35I mean, it was like a song for us.
  483. 29:38He had a lot of hit songs.
  484. 29:41Yeah, it was like a number one song in a country.
  485. 29:46And it was pretty cool.
  486. 29:49But I don't know.
  487. 29:51So I was sort of like the songs that wasn't it, songs too.
  488. 29:56A wrote a song actually dedicated it,
  489. 29:59older brother, running called Rebel the Realm.
  490. 30:04So after songs too.
  491. 30:07But it's almost like,
  492. 30:09and both of you had so much success,
  493. 30:12but now you've got like a whole other career emerging
  494. 30:16with the Christian music.
  495. 30:20Yeah, you know what we
  496. 30:23We didn't go into this
  497. 30:25To be big Christian stars or anything. We just wanted to do something in honor of Jesus Christ
  498. 30:32That's a God's honors
  499. 30:33now you can't hide what you're doing from Christ and it and it came from our heart and
  500. 30:42We'll see where it all goes out and there's so many great Christian artists
  501. 30:49you know, singers that are fantastic.
  502. 30:51You know, myself, I love Crowder, I love Mercy Me,
  503. 30:55I love casting crowns.
  504. 30:57You know, Toby Mack, Zach Williams,
  505. 31:02they're all fantastic artists.
  506. 31:04And for us to even be mentioned in the same category
  507. 31:09with them is pretty amazing.
  508. 31:13Hey, I wanna give the number folks.
  509. 31:14We're talking with Donnie Vincant
  510. 31:16Johnny Van Zant of the Van Zant Band dot com.
  511. 31:21That's their website.
  512. 31:22If you want to ask a question, you want to call in,
  513. 31:24you can do that.
  514. 31:25The number is 85898840.
  515. 31:29If you want to ask a question, 85898840.
  516. 31:35Hey, you know, I was in Guitar Center a few weeks ago,
  517. 31:39and I was talking to this guy.
  518. 31:41We bought a lot of our mics and radio equipment
  519. 31:44from Guitar Center.
  520. 31:45And anyway, and Frank, I was trying to share the gospel
  521. 31:49with this guy.
  522. 31:51And he said this, and I thought it was pretty interesting.
  523. 31:53He said, you know, it's the churches and the praise bands
  524. 31:57that buy the gear nowadays.
  525. 32:00He said, you know, guys aren't starting bands like they did
  526. 32:03when we were teenagers.
  527. 32:05And I quote, he said, if it wasn't for the Christian bands,
  528. 32:09I don't know that we would even be selling that much gear.
  529. 32:12And I was like, well,
  530. 32:14Because when I was in junior high, I meant everybody was in a band.
  531. 32:18But now I guess it's in the church that the bands are.
  532. 32:21But...
  533. 32:22Guys...
  534. 32:23Guys...
  535. 32:24I believe that.
  536. 32:26I'm just watching the call board fill up like instantaneously.
  537. 32:31Because I think a lot of people are excited to hear from you guys.
  538. 32:35Hey, we've got a brief break.
  539. 32:37Stay tuned.
  540. 32:38It's Van Zant with us on the American Family Radio Network.
  541. 32:42What an honor to be talking with Donnie and Johnny.
  542. 32:45They've got the new album out.
  543. 32:47Always look up.
  544. 32:48I highly recommend it.
  545. 32:49It's a fantastic record.
  546. 32:50We'll talk with them more after this brief break, folks.
  547. 32:53Don't go away.
  548. 33:07The feature-linked documentary Culture Warrior, Don Wildman, and the Battle for Decency, premiering
  549. 33:12November 11th, chronicles the life and ministry of Don Wildman.
  550. 33:17It takes you through the founding of the National Federation for Decency, what has become AFA.
  551. 33:22a call to stand firm for righteousness and shows how that resolve can make a huge difference
  552. 33:27in our world.
  553. 33:28If we lose this cultural war, we're going to have a hedonistic humanistic society.
  554. 33:33Find out more and watch the trailer at CultureWarrior.movie.
  555. 33:37The Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Bitted Common Terrets are available at AFR.net.
  556. 33:47Back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
  557. 33:53You know what's really a blessing when you get to meet some of your musical heroes that
  558. 33:58you've followed for years and they're everything you hoped for and more.
  559. 34:03They're just so nice and accessible and such is the case with Donnie Van Zant, Donnie Van
  560. 34:09Zant.
  561. 34:10These guys are the leaders of bands that you've heard your entire life, 38 Special Lenders
  562. 34:14Skintered, but they've got a new album out on Frontier Records.
  563. 34:17It's called Always Look Up.
  564. 34:19It's a Christian contemporary Christian album.
  565. 34:22Because would you call it Christian Rock?
  566. 34:25I don't know, but it's just good music is what it is.
  567. 34:29We're going to go to the calls.
  568. 34:31If you have a question for our guest, Van Zant, we're going to start out in Mississippi.
  569. 34:37Hey Wood in Mississippi, are you there?
  570. 34:40The guy out of the bag, right out of the shoe, Alex McFarland, this is going to be one of the
  571. 34:49greatest things you ever did.
  572. 34:53gonna reach so many people, the generation, and now we're gonna hear
  573. 35:01Christian music from one of the greatest rock and roll families in human history.
  574. 35:06What a blessing. Hey guys, hey.
  575. 35:13a
  576. 35:16a
  577. 35:18a
  578. 35:21a
  579. 35:23a
  580. 35:26a
  581. 35:28a
  582. 35:30a
  583. 35:32a
  584. 35:34a
  585. 35:36a
  586. 35:38a
  587. 35:40a
  588. 35:42a
  589. 35:44Pete, are you there?
  590. 35:46Yeah, I'm glad you're talking to you.
  591. 35:50What's got me?
  592. 35:54I'm blessing, Holly, favored.
  593. 35:57I've been listening to y'all all my life and I'm glad to
  594. 36:02read Union tour.
  595. 36:04Y'all done in bad roots when I started over again.
  596. 36:09And I went to the third day one night and brought my
  597. 36:14daughter and that how we had a great meet and he was tells a story about he they opened up we all
  598. 36:23at one time. I mean yeah yeah that's awesome that is awesome yeah and he was playing yeah yeah
  599. 36:34sorry sorry we got I love y'all music I can't wait to hear y'all new music. Hey Pete thanks for calling
  600. 36:42man. God bless you. We're going to go to Arkansas. Bruce and Arkansas. Welcome to the American
  601. 36:50family radio network. Hey, thanks for taking us home. Hey, I'm Bill Grayman and how you
  602. 36:57all doing? Good sir. You're great. I speak to you. Good. I, I listen to AFR going to work
  603. 37:06and coming home from work every day and coming home today. Alex was interviewing y'all and
  604. 37:14He mentioned the song, Jesus Christ.
  605. 37:19And whenever I, I wasn't aware of the church
  606. 37:24and then Christian Evelyn.
  607. 37:27I've been a letter to Scener and paying all my life.
  608. 37:29I saw the one more from the road to her.
  609. 37:34I love 38 special.
  610. 37:35I love the letter to Scener later on.
  611. 37:38Just I just love you guys.
  612. 37:42I love you.
  613. 37:43I got home from work and I'm sitting out in my driveway right now, and I just got through YouTube and
  614. 37:51Jesus Christ and Alex hit the nail on the head man. That's a powerful song
  615. 37:57Thank you so much, sir. Thank you so much. You thank you. Thank you. It's good that it's out. I'm glad it
  616. 38:05touched you, you know what that's that's a blessing to us because that's what we try to do through song and and
  617. 38:11And for you to say that's a great compliment.
  618. 38:15Bruce, I'm so glad you called in.
  619. 38:16I'm sorry.
  620. 38:17I'm sorry.
  621. 38:18Bruce, I'm glad you called in because folks, I kid you not.
  622. 38:22A month ago, when I found that on YouTube, Jesus Christ by Van Zant, I started telling
  623. 38:28all my friends, I said, check this out.
  624. 38:30This is awesome.
  625. 38:32And I didn't know I would get to interview the Van Zant's who made that song and that
  626. 38:37music.
  627. 38:38Bruce, I'm glad you checked it out.
  628. 38:41Folks, this record, you will not be disappointed.
  629. 38:44It's called Always Look Up.
  630. 38:46The website is Van Zant Band Phenomenal.
  631. 38:50Bruce, thanks for the call.
  632. 38:52Also in Arkansas, David, David in Arkansas,
  633. 38:55welcome to our conversation with Johnny and Donnie Van Zant.
  634. 39:02Man, this is all right.
  635. 39:03I love you.
  636. 39:04I'm talking to him, you know,
  637. 39:05it's, you know, I had a quick story.
  638. 39:08sister. Well y'all might remember this but Donnie I think when you did the shortest
  639. 39:15St. Patrick's Day parade in Hoss Springs, Arkansas one year. My sister got a picture taken with you and
  640. 39:24she shows that picture to everybody when she meets them and I mean that's
  641. 39:31we all she don't care about us but she gonna show you that picture of you and you and her you know
  642. 39:36And
  643. 39:39Y'all are dying, I don't mean that the bad way. It's a good
  644. 39:42I mean you just man you just touch so many people with your lyrics and anybody can relate to it
  645. 39:48You know, and it's just man. I just it's it's just the honor to talk to you man. I mean
  646. 39:54It's you know man. I've been listening to you like I'm 52
  647. 39:58I come in the I come in later in in the in the deal, but man I've been listening to you since
  648. 40:06I can remember listening to music, you know, but uh, just man. Hey, I wish you all you all great success, man
  649. 40:13I know y'all have already had it
  650. 40:14But you know the one thing the one thing that you always wonder when you hear people on the radio when everything is you know
  651. 40:20Do they know the Lord and man? I am so blessed to know you know that y'all have grown up that way and that y'all are now just I mean
  652. 40:32It's awesome man, you know, and now I can look at listen to your music and and understand where it's coming from because you don't always know
  653. 40:39You know you think but you hear things whatever, but but now I know you know
  654. 40:45Yeah, well, thank you so much and God bless you. I have a great Thanksgiving with your family tell your sister
  655. 40:53Hi, yeah
  656. 40:59Hey David
  657. 41:06We might have lost.
  658. 41:07And that name is Lisa.
  659. 41:10Elisa.
  660. 41:13Hello for me.
  661. 41:15Will you please?
  662. 41:17Cool.
  663. 41:18David, thanks, man.
  664. 41:19We're going to go to North Carolina.
  665. 41:21Stephen from North Carolina.
  666. 41:22What you got, brother?
  667. 41:23Hello.
  668. 41:25Yes.
  669. 41:26I'm from North Carolina probably about an hour from where Alex lived in Hickory, North Carolina
  670. 41:30and listen to classic rock and winter skinner than 38 special my whole life.
  671. 41:35but I sort of put it away for some decades
  672. 41:37and changed over to contemporary music,
  673. 41:40but now I'm starting to play guitar myself.
  674. 41:42So I was just curious about,
  675. 41:45I could see you guys meeting up
  676. 41:48with somebody like Zach Williams and Toby Mack
  677. 41:52and having a big concert like they had in Wilkesburg
  678. 41:55or a lot of faith this.
  679. 41:57So looking forward to seeing you meeting
  680. 41:59with other people playing groups together.
  681. 42:03Yeah, there were two groups you're talking about,
  682. 42:06talking about it, Zach.
  683. 42:08We love them, man.
  684. 42:09I mean, they're very inspiring to us.
  685. 42:12Yeah, we don't know what's gonna happen in the future.
  686. 42:14You know, it's all in God's hands,
  687. 42:15and we're pretty amazed that we're speaking to you tonight,
  688. 42:18and God got this out, you know, and spreading the word.
  689. 42:22So we're gonna let Jesus take the will,
  690. 42:26and we're gonna go for it.
  691. 42:28But we did, sir.
  692. 42:30at the beginning of the project, we told each other we could just bring and I said it earlier,
  693. 42:36just bring one person to Christ, it'd be worth the whole project.
  694. 42:40It looks like God.
  695. 42:43Yeah.
  696. 42:44Wonderful.
  697. 42:45Let's go to Oklahoma.
  698. 42:47Kent, in Oklahoma.
  699. 42:49Kent, are you there?
  700. 42:50Yes, sir.
  701. 42:51Hey, Alex, my old friend.
  702. 42:53I told you a few weeks ago about the forgiveness question.
  703. 42:57Okay.
  704. 42:58Welcome to our conversation with the Van Zans.
  705. 43:01Oh, yeah.
  706. 43:03What a pleasure.
  707. 43:04Hey, Johnny Van Zan.
  708. 43:05Are you there?
  709. 43:07Yeah.
  710. 43:08Oh, my gosh.
  711. 43:09I'm talking to lead singer Skinner.
  712. 43:12That's right.
  713. 43:13I saw you in Ardmore.
  714. 43:15Like in 1990, do you remember playing that little heritage hall?
  715. 43:19Where?
  716. 43:20I'm sorry.
  717. 43:21Ardmore, Oklahoma.
  718. 43:23Uh huh.
  719. 43:25It was a venue of like 2000, but you guys did the coolest thing.
  720. 43:29did free bird you had them playing the ridge on the background and you guys from the foreground
  721. 43:34and I want to tribute to your brothers you know and then but at the end of the concert you let us
  722. 43:40come to the stage and you greeted us and there was a man in a wheelchair who couldn't get up there
  723. 43:46and you guys came off the stage and met this man and I like these guys are so genuine.
  724. 43:52You know, we love the fans. You know, a lot of people say they love their fans and that's great.
  725. 43:59And I hope they do, but we truly, truly love her. Love the fans and and you know what? I do a Sunday
  726. 44:07thing every Sunday. I've been doing it since COVID. My daughter talked me into it because I wanted to
  727. 44:13know what the fans were up to. How, what was going on with them? Really care about them. And I started
  728. 44:20doing it and I've done it every Sunday since then and that was probably about a few weeks
  729. 44:26into COVID when I started doing it in 2020 and I just love talking to them. You know,
  730. 44:34Skinner fans are God-fearing hard-working people and that's what Skinner's always been
  731. 44:42about. You know, and we love them and thank you for being one my friend.
  732. 44:47We're gonna go to Georgia Roy in Georgia Roy. Thanks for holding welcome to our conversation with
  733. 44:54Vanzant band calm
  734. 44:57Yeah, I like the last name my grandfather was a Vanzant my dad was a Vanzant but
  735. 45:03You say you guys were short my grandfather was six six
  736. 45:11My dad and your dad was in the same Sunday school class my dad was born at Kings Ferry
  737. 45:16you know when you guys played in Tulsa back in 80 they're that first reunion tour I was
  738. 45:28going to Bible school at Waima and I cut you guys out a little wooden Jesus both of y'all
  739. 45:33and you know a little while back then and I couldn't get past your security guard in the
  740. 45:38hotel I said well my name is Robert Van Zant and and I'm related to them and I said yeah we
  741. 45:43don't care. But I've been praying for you guys all these years
  742. 45:49and I've rewritten free bird rewritten sweet home and we
  743. 45:54written. Uh, to see he's gone into gospel stuff. God's give me
  744. 46:01the words and all that stuff. But I live here in Tipton,
  745. 46:04Georgia. I've been I went up to see you and uh, Oh up there
  746. 46:09at Perry when you're up there a few years back. Perry, Georgia
  747. 46:14I'm not that big.
  748. 46:16But anyway, I hope you're here from here sometime.
  749. 46:18And everything.
  750. 46:20Hey, Chuck.
  751. 46:22You know what?
  752. 46:23There's two sizes of bands in it.
  753. 46:26The six feet and higher, and then you got the five, six,
  754. 46:29and low.
  755. 46:30Yeah, we got that five, six, and lower.
  756. 46:34Hey, Roy, thanks very much.
  757. 46:36We're going to go to Mississippi.
  758. 46:37James in Mississippi.
  759. 46:38James, welcome.
  760. 46:41Yes, sir.
  761. 46:42Thank you.
  762. 46:44I just left y'all's brother monument Saturday is my first time being there even though I
  763. 46:48lived right by it.
  764. 46:50And I was going to see if possible.
  765. 46:52Do y'all do any touring with your Christian music?
  766. 46:56Not yet.
  767. 46:58Not yet brother.
  768. 46:59We are leaving it up to God where he leads us to.
  769. 47:03But you know what?
  770. 47:04We really wanted to record the music and get it out to the masses and then see really what
  771. 47:10happens with it.
  772. 47:11know, we, we, what we're doing and we're honored in our Jesus Christ's name and, and we'll see
  773. 47:19what happens in the future. Yeah, last week, brother, we were in Nashville and we recorded
  774. 47:25three songs acoustic-wise. So that turned out pretty cool. So, you know, yeah, you know,
  775. 47:31it's kind of crazy. We did that and on Facebook, they got over a million hits in less than three
  776. 47:37days we were like wow oh man that's phenomenal guys I know you probably know
  777. 47:42this but I mean from a social social media standpoint I mean that is phenomenal
  778. 47:48yeah yeah I was pretty kind of we were like well okay my niece Kristen
  779. 47:54called us up and was telling us about it first and first when it first came out
  780. 47:58it was five hundred thousand you know and I went do you mean 500?
  781. 48:03Yeah, we got a song out of my mind.
  782. 48:06That was out pretty cool.
  783. 48:09Yeah.
  784. 48:10Yeah.
  785. 48:11Yeah.
  786. 48:12And now we're almost out of time guys.
  787. 48:13I want to say thanks.
  788. 48:15The single Warrior is out, right?
  789. 48:18Yeah.
  790. 48:19Yeah.
  791. 48:20We just put that out and again, the album came out last Friday, November 22nd and Warriors just a great song.
  792. 48:28consider ourselves warriors for our Lord and Savior and that's kind of what it's all about.
  793. 48:33Yeah, fighting for the kingdom of God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
  794. 48:36Guys, I just want to say thank you. God bless you. I wish you much, much success in all your
  795. 48:42endeavors. And hey, I'm grateful for this time, Johnny and Donnie. Thank you.
  796. 48:48We are too. And as always a player, let's do it again.
  797. 48:54Again, the record is always look up. It's on frontier records. You can get it on
  798. 48:58vinyl digitally. It's a fantastic record they've done. The website vanzantban.com. God bless you.
  799. 49:06Thanks for listening. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.

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