Here is an article from Loudwire that discusses how Brent Smith was going to stop performing Simple Man…but thanks to my man, Sully he hasn’t pulled it from their set list.
Also, I found a cool interview where Brent was discussing how the song, Simple Man happened:
He said that covering that song was not planned. The reality is that the lineage between Skynyrd and Shinedown is very real. Judy Van Zant had asked him to do it for like a year. I didn’t realize, but, Jasin Todd, who was on their first two records, was married to Melody Van Zant, which is Ronnie Van Zant’s daughter. He finally gave in and told her, “I have no idea how I’m gonna pay you back….but I promise you, one day I’ll pay you back.””
He worked up a version of the song to play at a club called Freebird Live which the Van Zant’s owned. This was Brent’s way of saying “thank you” to Judy. He actually thanked her in a bigger way (check out Fun Fact). At a radio station stop in Boston, he would sing it on the air for the first time. The DJ, Mistress Carrie, would asks bands to do cover songs for the listeners. They had a song planned, but it was just not working out, so they needed another idea. So Brad Stewart, the original bass player, suggested to do “Simple Man” and Brent was not keen of the idea. He didn’t feel fully prepared to perform it, but they went for it. Six weeks or so went by after that performance and they had returned back to Boston where DJ, Mistress Carrie shows them the downloads of over 500k for Simple Man, so back to Florida to record it and put it on the record.
Fun Fact, Judy Van Zant owns 51% of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Publishing. So, Brent ended up paying her back in a BIG way!
