I’ve always considered this a true love story. The pure, sweet love between a boy and a grandfather figure and the music of the soul called the Blues. This song is also a beautiful testimony to the fact that your geography or skin color does NOT make you a racist. The band Skynyrd could not have embodied that fact more yet were so unfairly labeled as racist.
For real. I'm a southerner born and raised and I love all people. Don't matter none to me who you are or what color your skin is. God created us all equal. ✌️♥️✝️🙏🇺🇲
As a 57 year old white guy, with a history of appreciation for a lot of their music ... I'm happy that a brother my own age (of ANY skin color) can understand the beauty of "Curtis Lowe." Sometimes I feel alone in this. This particular song is truly, one of my favorites. Thanks for taking the time to listen to the whole song, my friends.
I've held this as one of my favorite songs since it was fresh ala '73 was it? You gentlemen were also quite enjoyable and it was fun to see the more senior gentleman break into smiles at all the right moments. This was the first track on the flip side of Second Helping. I was a teen living at home and Jeff was our 23 year old friend who had a house, and a great stereo. Its a good thing my mom didn't know what went on around there. It was about the time I heard Montrose for the first time and "Jimi Hendricks Experience" He played this album for me and for a Northwest boy I became quite a southern rock fan. (this isn't exactly rock but the context... Wonderful.
If I had only realized then, all of our history being hidden & altered by the Global Elites, to maintain their control over the rest of us. Sports & Girls were all that was important to me at that age, and I had all of the knowledge I'm still searching for today, right there at my own Family Reunions.
That song never fails to make me cry; especially at the end when he says "play me a song" again, because you can tell he would give anything to hear Curtis play for him again. And he just wants everyone to know he's always going to be the best.
Thank you for playing this song! I'm from Jax & grew up listening to this band. They played at a highschool dance two years before I was a student there. They had hit the big time then. Broke my heart when the plane crashed. Though not all members, the band died that day. I never got to see them play live😢 What has been call LS since is nothing but a cover band. Ronnie was the heart & soul of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Ronnie was a fantastic story teller and had a lot of interesting things happen to write songs about.😉 This song always strikes a cord in me how children very often see "The Truth" in life that adults are numb to. Skynyrd was a staple in my youth. I didn't see the original band (I was too young) but I did see them twice after.
I’ve seen them many times. Lucky enough to see Ronnie when I was a kid thanks to my MUCH older sibs. I actually delivered a pizza to Jonny in 1987 on Thanksgiving totally unaware. One of the best nights of my lives lol
The first time I heard a Lynyrd Skynyrd song was in 1974, and of course it was "Sweet Home Alabama." But the next song I heard was "The Ballad of Curtis Loew," and it has stuck with me ever since. A true Southern rock tribute to the blues originals. Makes me cry every time. Love me some blues.
It shows the true appreciation they had for the blues, and one in particular that made a big influence on a young man. For the time this was written and recorded, they were as down to earth as it gets.
All across the Mississippi Delta where i grew up every big to lil town had their bluesmen that would play the blues in many a blues bar or Honky Tonk as they were called way back. What alot of people didnt understand was alot of these guys were way more famous outside the Delta and more than a few outside the country..some of our bluesman were invited to play for the Royalty of England and then brought back to their dusty delta town only for some to make their way to Chicago , New York and other large cities to play for the masses of adoring fans...we love our bluesmen here and keep their spirits alive by remembering and copying certain styles to keep alive our memories of Curtis Lowe inwhich Ronnie Van Zant sang and Sam Chapman of Hollandale Ms...Muddy Waters of Rolling Fork Ms...Son Thomas of Leland Ms...B.B. King of Indianola Ms...and so so many more than can all be mentioned here...They loved to play and we loved to listen..and still do 🇺🇲
There were 3 of the VanZant brothers: Ronnie who founded and fronted Lynyrd Skynyrd and died in the plane crash, Donnie who founded and fronted 38 Special, and Johnny who helped resurrect and fronts Lynyrd Skynyrd now! "Simple Man" is a must hear from them along with others listed in comments!!
Johnny didn’t resurrect Skynard bro. He sucks and, in my opinion, shouldn’t be profiting of his brothers likeness. Can you imagine impersonating your brother for money? Lame AF.
You should watch the documentary "If I leave here tomorrow". It actually tells the story behind this song. It's more of a compilation of Ronnie Van Zant's boyhood heroes in the blues and an early band member and friend in his teens whose dad was a musician that played a dobro on his front porch for the boys.It's not really about just one particular black bluesman but more of Ronnie's perspective being a young southern kid who loved blues music.
Life long Skynyrd fan here. 1st time listener. That song was a metaphor for a "real person" named Shorty Medlock. I've got to give a back story for you to understand. If you look at the cover of the album "First and Last," the band at the time had a young man that played the drums and sang a few lesser known Skynyrd songs that he had written named "Ricky Medlock". Medlock is a Blackfoot Indian and was a childhood friend of Ronnie VZ. and is in the back row of the picture on that album cover. He went on to found his own successful band, "Blackfoot". He went on with that band for some 20 yrs until 1996, when he rejoined the rebuilt Skynyrd with the surviving members (They had a plane crash in '77 that killed Ronnie and others but not everyone) of Skynyrd as 1 of 3 lead guitar players that the band arrangement always had and they are still alive and play. Amazing guys that made a came back with Ronnie's youngest brother Johnny VZ as he sounded the closest to Ronnie's voice and is good. (Ronnie has a 3rd brother that sings in another successful band, ".38 Special" named Donnie VZ). So back to Shorty. He was Ricky's M. grandfather. He was a great musician in his own right and influenced them as boys and the song is about him in reality. Blackfoot: "Strikes" was the bands 1st and most successful album. The song "Train, Train" is still played on Classic Rock radio stations. Shorty plays that opening famous harmonica intro. On their 3rd album "Marauder," On the 8th track, the song "Rattlesnake Rock 'N' Roller; at the very beginning intro, the man talking then playing a little banjo is Shorty. So Shorty was the Real Curtis Lowe. Skynyrd has a fascinating history with their historical story and huge success and they came from nothing. Ronnie got killed at the height of his career and influenced many. (Raw Talent, Brilliant story teller, with positive song messages) Check out Blackfoot and 38 Special. Their all tied together and all are great bands in their on right. BTW. Their Not racist despite the confederate flag thing. It's quite the contrary. Not 1 racist slur in any of their material. They represented the South Land and that's what that means to them, not a hate symbol. Just wanted to make sure that point is clear. Every song they made is good. Thanks for sharing! Peace out! ✌️
Rickey Medlocke (Blackfoot & Skynyrd guitarist, and a former drummer for Skynyrd in the early days right before they hit big) is quoted as saying that Ronnie got the idea for this song partly from Rickey's grandfather, Shorty Medlocke, and if you don't know him check out Blackfoot's Train Train. Shorty does all the harmonica work in the song, and partly from the black bluesman Sun House, who's music RVZ absolutely loved.
Hey.i just read blind owl..Allen Wilson from canned heat re-taught sun house how to play guitar after yrs of drinking not playing he also was in that under 27 club glad you mentioned him!!
I did a tour with Gene Odom, Ronnie’s best childhood friend, who took us to the store where they took the coke bottles to, and they would get cash back. I think it was called Woodcrest store. I have a picture of Gene and I in front of the store. Sadly, the store was torn down, but it was in Ronnie Van Zant and Gene’s neighborhood.
This is my fishing song! A lot of people fish rubber worms too fast on slow days. So i cast out sing a few lines then move my bait a little. Then sing the same lines and then move the rubber worm at the same word. over and over it makes a fish attracting pattern. This forces me to fish slower[and it is more fun then counting] . Change the word you move it on to find a good bait speed. I have caught a lot of big bass thanks to the Ballad of Curtis Loew.
The world would be a much better place if we all got along together like we did back then. Me and all my friends ( black and white ) never saw color, it meant nothing to us!!!!!!
I love your uncle he’s a character man that laugh cracks me up, I’m so happy to see so many people from all kinds of backgrounds listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, everyone says they’re racist but those people all are FOOLS! In my opinion everyone needs to hear this song at least one time! I’m 19 and my dad is 61 he was in high school when the plane crash happened and his older brother got to see them before the plane crash but he wouldn’t take my dad because he didn’t want a 15 year brother old tagging along with him and his girlfriend😂😂 I grew up listening to them though and all of these songs inspired me to learn how to play guitar like they did and damnit I learned the whole free bird solo a year ago. Music is a way of bringing all people together and to forget about all the sad crazy shit that goes on in the world. Great video guys!
This is my first video of yours. A brother wearing a Redskins jacket listening to Skynyrd sing about Curtis Loew with his Dad. That's the most 100 thing ever. Thank You. Simple Man by Skynyrd - check it out. I think you'll love it.
I think you guys would really like Skynyrd's "All I Can Do Is Write About It". It's about the life you knew passing away far to quickly. It has some deep meaning.
The character according to Ronnie was actually an amalgam of several people who lived around Ronnie's old neighborhood, the name "Curtis Leow" was created by Skynyrd guitarist Ed King. And no Ronnie Van Zant and Steven Van Zandt (notice the d) are not related. Ronnie did have at least two other brothers though: Johnny, who took over as Skynyrd's lead singer when they reunited in 87, and Donnie, who co-founded .38 Special.
I remember the summer of 1984 this was the only song I played over and over in my then boyfriend’s cassette player in his car. He threatened to throw it out the window. Great memories!
Can't do it today, but yes we used to go out in the morning and collect the bottles, also sometimes you would hit the jackpot by checking the telephone booth coin change box.... great times
I commented a while ago and just wanted to say two things. I hope your dad is doing fine because he's a great human being, and the NOLES are playing tonight, but they are behind Georgia. Happy New Year.
FYI it wasn't just Ronnie (the singer) that went to listen to Curtis Loew. Guitarist Gary went too, I think maybe all the Skynyrd kids were fans & visited Curtis sometimes. Also Curtis Loew wasn't a real name, Ronnie chose it to fit in w/ the music, & the last name Loew he got from the nearby Loew's theatre where the guys went to the movies, & he used the name "Loew" mainly because it was easy to rhyme when he wrote the lyrics. Hey this is vital stuff, man...
I love that jacket, I used to have one exactly like it when we used to have a team called the Washington Redskins. Now they're called the Washington "Commies."
I love this song cause we had a black man in the neighborhood and us little white kids would be playing in the neighborhood and he would be playing what he called his Git fiddle guitar and we too would all sit down and watch Mr. Rich pick the blues on his ole guitar I miss those days we never got our butts whooped but our parents knew where to find us by his old garage and sometimes there was another guy who had an acoustic bass and they would play together every once in awhile all of his kids moved away so I guess he loved playing for us kids and he always would tell us it's super time you chillins better git on home so y'all don't get in trouble man good memories when he passed away we did get to go to his funeral with his family they were so nice but it was sad none of them did anything with his house and it finally fell down over time best times of my life being a young kid
The store that inspired that song, this small corner store called the "Woodcrest Grocery Building", but was named "Claude's" when Ronnie was inspired by it, as they lived down the street from it...anyway, that store was recently torn down, since it was abandoned, and just a hang out for kids, and addicts for a long time. It's a basic song, and beautiful...A quote from the AP: "The song, written by Van Zant and Allen Collins, tells the story of a young boy who collected bottles to raise money so the old man who hung out at the corner store could play his dobro. Curtis Loew was fictional, but the store was real."
Curtis Lowe did not exist. He was a fictitious creation of Ronnie Van Zant. Curtis Lowe was based on Ricky Medlocke’s grandfather Shorty who was a successful musician. But most of the song is fiction - Shorty was not black, he wasn’t a drunk, he didn’t charge kids to listen to him play, he didn’t die with nothing etc. Van Zant had an ability to take small pieces of real life and create songs from them.
Hey man i like your father, or is it your uncle? I`m not sure, sorry - but he`s a cool man and he know`s about blues is. I saw reactons of you both on the Stones with Muddy Waters and I like it very well. I wish you both react more of the old blues musicians like Muddy Waters or Howlin` Wolf and so on ;-)) Many, many greetings from germany, hamburg - I like you guys and thanks for sharing your opinion. (sorry for my bad english language)
You guys really, really, really should check out Live at Daryl's house. Daryl Hall of hall and Oates jamming out with his band and other artists. A good starting point is his jams with Smokey Robinson
The song is really about a white guy named Shorty Medlocke, think he was Ricky Medlocke's uncle or something they just changed him to a black guy for the song.
Excellent reaction to what is now a Southern Rock Classic. Curtis Loew, Reuben James by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition and Catfish John by Johnny Russell, all 3 tell the similar story. Reuben James is my personal favorite of the 3.
You would also like Toby Keith's song about his close friend that passed away...very touching song !. "Crying for me" ( Waymon's Song) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AHZCAcSh7ls.html
I love love love..your reactions with the older gentleman..is that your dad?..I dont know..but love it anyway...62 year old former marine from south carolina
