Rickey Medlocke (born February 17, 1950) is an American musician best known as the frontman/guitarist for the southern rock band Blackfoot and a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd. During his first stint with Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1971-1972, he played drums and sang lead on a few songs that would initially be released on 1978’s First and Last. Medlocke would rejoin Blackfoot in 1972 and later returned to Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1996 as a guitarist where he continues to tour and record today. (More from Wikipedia)
The Southern hard rock band Blackfoot also has strong Native American roots and chose the band name to highlight this, though they are not so well known for their heritage as Redbone. The band is from Jacksonville, Florida, with two of the bandmembers – drummer and vocalist Rickey Medlocke (Sioux) and bass guitarist Greg T. Walker (Eastern Creek) – performing in a band called Fresh Garbage in the spring of 1969 with New York City native Charlie Hargrett (lead guitar) and Ron Sciabarasi (keyboards).
After Sciabarasi moved on by the fall, three members of a band called Tangerine – Jakson Spires (Cherokee) on drums and backing vocals, DeWitt Gibbs on keyboards and backing vocals, and Jerry Zambito on lead guitar – joined Rickey Medlocke (who by then had switched to playing guitar), Greg T. Walker and Charlie Hargrett in a new band called Hammer. When they learned that a West Coast band already had this name, the band changed its name to Blackfoot. After Rickey Medlocke and Greg T. Walker left the group in 1971 to join Lynyrd Skynyrd for a time, the band had a hiatus and then a series of personnel changes before settling into the line-up of Rickey Medlocke, Greg T. Walker, Jakson Spires and Charlie Hargrett.
Blackfoot front man Rickey Medlocke’s grandfather, bluegrass musician Shorty Medlocke (Blackfoot) wrote the band’s biggest hit single from this album, “Train, Train” and played harmonica on the song. Another track from this album, “Highway Song” was a hit later in 1979. Shorty Medlocke wrote and also performed on several other songs for the band – “Railroad Man” (on No Reservations), “Fox Chase” (on Tomcattin’) and “Rattlesnake Rock ’n’ Roller” (on Marauder).
Blackfoot has remained active over the years with a succession of bandmembers and has released 10 studio albums, plus 5 live albums including Fly Away (2011). Rickey Medlocke hand-picked a new line-up of Blackfoot in 2012.
(August 2013)
