Rock The Country: .38 Special & Trace Adkins

.38 Special will be performing at "Winstock" this year, and for those of you wondering why, well, they have some strong roots in Country Music.

.38 Special was started in Florida back in 1974 by Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zant.  Donnie is the middle of three brothers.  Ronnie was the oldest and was the original singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd.  He died in 1977 in a plane crash in Mississippi.  Johnny is the youngest and he is currently the singer for Skynyrd.  Donnie and Johnny also have put out Country Music under the name "Van Zant".

Lynyrd Skynyrd are without a doubt the most famous Southern Rock band of all time, in fact the basically invented the genre.  .38 Special started out as a more Pop version of them and moved more towards the Arena Rock and AOR sound in the early 80's.

Most Country artists will tell you they have strong influences from both bands even though neither of them were ever in the Country Charts.  There was a shift from the "Western" sound to the more "Southern Rock" sound in the 1990's and it's even more prevalent in today's Country Music.

Back in 2007 .38 Special did the "Crossroads" show with Trace Adkins.  Here's one of the songs they did "Wild Eyed Southern Boys".