good friends with Jakson. One year after los- ing Jak, Bobby got sidelined from losing feel- ing in his arm at any given time, so we asked Jay Johnson to come in. Jay did an outstand- ing job taking over lead vocal and lead guitar. After six months Bobby improved enough to come back in but at about 50%. Now we were five piece with three guitars and two lead vo- calists. As Bobby got stronger month by month he was eventually able to function at 100% and we had to ask Jay to step aside. It was painful but necessary. Three other drum- mers would play with us the next four years. In 2010 Bobby had another setback and this time had major, almost emergency surgery and would be out for a long time. Mike Estes came in and soon afterward the drummer left so we brought Kurt Pietro in. We remained with this lineup until July, 2011, then Charlie quit and we brought in a replacement but it all came crashing down December 31, 2011 when we lost the rights to perform under the name Blackfoot forever. For the second time in my life I saw the band I formed end, resur- rect and end again. Two of the worse heart- breaks I have suffered in my life.
I don't have much to say about the so called "new" Blackfoot. It's acceptable for a band to continue if one by one original members die and are replaced. It's another thing when three of four original, founding members are alive and well and a new band is assembled with four young, non-original members.
What have you been doing since Black- foot ended the last time? During 2012 and half of 2013 I was in a proj- ect called Monsters of Southern Rock which was me, Mike Estes, Charlie, Jay, Kurt, and Jimmy Farrar. We had Bruce Crump join us on a show which was great. I did a few "one offs" with all-star lineups also. January of this year I recorded a CD with a band in Paris called Lloyd Project. Great bunch of guys, great writers and there is talk of doing an-
other CD some time next year, which is not far away. And, I have been rehearsing with a new band recently.
I saw you in Bands of Dixiemagazine, playing with a band called Natchez. Who are they and how did that come about. Natchez is a Southern Rock band from France. These guys are killer! I was intro- duced to them in a venue in Paris last year and asked to come up and play a few songs. They told me they knew a Blackfoot song. We played “Railroad Man” from the No Reserva- tions album note for note and a couple of other songs and it was a hoot! A few months ago I was part of a studio jam and one of the Natchez guitarists was there. Of course, it was great.
I want to offer you a Soap Box, Greg. I feel you have been kind of shafted in relation to royalties from original Skynyrd recordings you played on? Am I right? This has always been a bit of a sore spot with me. To answer your question yes, I do feel like I got shafted for never receiving any kind of royalties from the songs I recorded that came out on many albums and CDs through the years. My problem was never with the band members, it's with the record company. They are responsible for tracking, collecting and distributing monies to the band or their representative. Either the record company has money being held in an escrow account or it was given to someone else who never gave it to me. But, the fact remains I have never been paid for my part, nor received an expla- nation why not. It's never been about the amount as to how much or little, it's the prin- ciple. I have publicly stated countless times I always wished the best for the band, and told one member not many years ago I hoped they continued another twenty years and recorded 20 more albums. My wish continues for this,
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