"That's what I'd rather be doing more than anything," said Medlocke, whose grandparents legally adopted him. "I love to play and perform and write, record, do whatever--just stay in music. The only other things I can think of is going fishing and girls. That's the only two things I think are just about as good."

And things are good for Lynyrd Skynyrd, who recently spent time touring with Kid Rock (a.k.a. Bob Ritchie). For the spring and summer, the band is bringing back The Rowdy Frynds Tour, this time with co-headliner Hank Williams Jr.

"I think we're doing 22, 24 shows with him and us," Medlocke said. "That's always a good combo. We tour every year anyway. We love to go on tour. We love to play. We love to entertain people. As long as the fans keep comin' out, we're gonna keep making records and keep being there.

"The band, for the last 10 years, has enjoyed great success. When you got something like that going, why stop it? If you look at The Rolling Stones or Aerosmith, they continue, so why not us?"

The continuation of Lynyrd Skynyrd's career includes a new record slated for 2009. The group has been penning and gathering material for the album, but recording has not yet begun. The set may include "Cottonmouth Country," an obscure song that features the vocals of deceased singer Ronnie Van Zant, who died in a plane crash in 1977 near McComb, MS. His brother Johnny took over on vocals.

Medlocke, perhaps best known as a member of Southern rockers Blackfoot, spoke to LiveDaily about the tour, the forthcoming album and touring with Kid Rock.

LiveDaily: Why bring back the Rowdy Frynds Tour?

Rickey Medlocke: The success of it last year was really, really good. This year, already, it's turning out to be even better. We tried it, it worked. The first part of [this year's tour] is with Hank Jr. After the Hank Jr. thing is done, we're still out on the road with different bands opening. In August, we start a series of dates that [run] all the way through September; they're going to extend it maybe right on through the end of October--it's us and Kid Rock out together.

What was it like to tour with Kid Rock earlier this year?

I know Bobby real well. We've known Bobby for the last nine years or so. We've done shows off and on with him. We haven't ever done anything steady on the road packaging with him. He always comes out, sits in with us and jams with us and stuff like that. I'll give you a very interesting story. I had a band many years ago called Blackfoot. We had great success in the very end of the '70s going all the way in the mid-'80s. We played a place in Fort Wayne, IN, one time and believe it or not, his band back then, in the early, early days, was the opening act. I always thought that was so funny, man. My association with him goes all the way back to there.

I heard you have a new album in the works.

We've been gathering material together. We haven't started any, what you say "recording" yet, but we've been compiling songs, writing songs and looking at different material right now. Once this tour's done, then the band will be in recording. We'll have something out next year.

What can we expect from the album?

There's an old obscure song that Ronnie's on and was singing the vocals and stuff like that. It's called "Cottonmouth Country." We had talked about finishing the song. We'll see what happens with it. We've tossed around this idea for the last five years. I think that,. right now., it's going to materialize. I think that should be a real interesting thing for everybody.

That must have been emotional to work on it.

Well, it's emotional to hear it, and even consider working on it to put it out. Back years ago, in '96, we had a record out called "Twenty." We brought out one of the songs called "Travelin' Man." We took Ronnie's voice off of the master tapes and dumped it on to our tape. And Johnny got to sing a duet with his brother on the song. And it was very, very cool. We did a video with it and the whole bit. It's pretty awesome.

This new album would be your first since 2003's "Vicious Cycle." Why the wait between albums?

Johnny's been doing some stuff with his brother. Gary [Rossington, guitarist] has had some health issues. Coupled with everything, it's made it really kind of difficult for the band to buckle down and get back to basics, and get back to work. Right now is a great opportunity. Everybody's doing great. Johnny and Donnie have kind of taken a hiatus from doing their thing in the country market. It's time for the band to do something right now. It really is.