george clinton tour

George Clinton Reflects on Five Decades of Funk, Retiring From Touring

By Kory Grow

“What’s happening, man?” a spry-sounding George Clinton asks when he picks up the phone. The Parliament – Funkadelic mastermind is turning 78 in July, but says he still feels like he did when he was just starting out in the Fifties and Sixties.

Despite this, he’s announced that his upcoming run of shows , a trek he’s dubbed the One Nation Under a Groove Tour, will be his final outing. It’s something that’s been in the works for a long time, the latest step in a plan he mapped out for himself when he put out his 2014 memoir, Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? and two new recent albums with Funkadelic and Parliament. Once he stops touring, he expects the P-Funk band to continue without him, spreading funk across the planet.

“It’s like theater now,” Clinton tells Rolling Stone . “So I feel good to be able to help direct it. The band is keeping on into this new generation of representing what the funk is about.”

Ahead of the tour, the Funkmaster General recently took some time to reflect on just what the funk he’s been talking about for all these years.

You’re calling the trek the One Nation Under a Groove Tour. Why that name now? We got the masters back to that album. We own the masters. Then we got the publishing back. So the album belongs to me now, even though there’s still a few bootlegs out there. We’re re-releasing it along with some extra cuts and things. I have lots of stuff in the vault.

That record came out under the Funkadelic name in 1978, a couple of months before you put out Parliament’s Motor Booty Affair . And then you had new Parliament and Funkadelic records the next year. What was going on back then? When we did “One Nation,” we went out on what we called the Anti-Tour. We had been out on the road so long with the Mothership and the “underwater tour” [for Motor Booty ] and all of that stuff. We’d introduced [the group] the Brides of Funkenstein, and we went on tour with them. We had on fatigues, like army pants. We had no limos, no roadies. You had to go in and set up the shit yourself. Then “One Nation” hit out of the clear blue, because we wasn’t ready for it. We didn’t have time to get a production behind it. We just said, “Get a flag and some fatigues,” and the band went out as an army. That was the “Anti-Tour.” We didn’t know what to do, but Funkadelic just stayed like we always were: funky.

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We bought all the stuff out of the Army-Navy stores, and after that you started finding it in the department stores. It became fashion. And the shit went up so high at the Army-Navy; it wasn’t cheap like it was when we bought it.

What do you remember about writing “One Nation”? We had just gotten a bunch of equipment from Yamaha. Everybody opened it up, brand new out of the box just to test it out, and it was the first track they was just jamming on. It was Junie Morrison, who had just got with us from Ohio Players, and Bernie [Worrell, keyboard], Doug Duffy [keyboard], Garry Shider [guitar]. It flowed so good that I had a name for it from something someone said. Some people from Washington, D.C. said we looked like one nation under a groove, and that this was my land. And then [ sings ] “Ready or not … ” and it all flowed together so easy that we put it together in a couple of days. We never really mixed it. We tried to mix it for real with all of the EQs and stuff but we actually took the board mix, and that’s the mix that came out on the radio. We tried to mix it again but nothing sounded as good.

And it became the anthem to all of what we was doing. We was doing funkin’ from every which direction. You better be ready, ’cause here we come. We’re gonna dance our way out of this shit.

You were singing about uniting people. That’s always been the thing. We came through that from Motown, which was a big family, right into that rock & roll, hippie type of vibe in ’68 and ’69. For me, that was the best thing. One big community of those two sets of families was always the dream to me. It could be like Woodstock with the fans. Funk, to me, was just the groove that united everything.

What should people expect from the tour? We have to go through the history, and we have to do the new stuff because we have such young kids that’s into the group now that know the history, by way of the Chili Peppers and hip-hop groups. They know us through these different realms, so we have to represent all the different eras we’ve been through. So I usually call the songs when I get on the stage, according to what the crowd feels like to me. I can jump from 50 years ago to right up to now, and people will be familiar with the songs. And since we never do them the same way, it’s a new experience.

It sounds like the band must have hundreds of songs rehearsed then. You never know what I’m gonna say. With some audiences, we can just jam, so I can just call something that we don’t even know and go through it right there. You can’t do that everywhere. We could play a Motown set and nobody would look up to say, “Why are you doing that?” If we go to Oregon or San Francisco, we can go straight rock & roll and take a little bit of “Flash Light” and “We Want the Funk” and turn them into rock & roll. And then we’ll play some songs that people sampled us on. We’ll do [De La Soul’s] “Me Myself and I” [that sampled Funkadelic’s “(Not Just) Knee Deep”] and sing their lyrics, ’cause they made those licks so famous.

George Clinton Details Final Tour With Parliament-Funkadelic

See george clinton, parliament's trippy hospital adventure in new video, george clinton to get star on hollywood walk of fame: 'i'm proud as hell'.

How will you be presenting it? Will you be bringing back the Mothership? The Mothership is in the Smithsonian now. That’s probably one of the biggest displays there.

So what will you have? Since [Parliament’s 2018 album]  Medicaid Fraud Dogg album is out, it’ll have a doctors-and-nurses look. It’s so theatrical. It’s brand new. It gives it a whole ‘nother energy that looks like the Mothership.

It sounds like you still enjoy performing. Is it going to be hard to stop? It really is, but I still have a lot to do.

Like what? I’ll still be making music, but I’ll be finding different ways of getting it out there, through social media and whatever these new equipments they’ve got going on. Once you reach a certain age with radio stations, you’ve got to be an oldie but a goodie. If you wanna do something new, you’ve got to find a new way to present it to people. Otherwise, ain’t nobody trying to hear that shit. But it can be done.

So you’re not considering a full retirement, where you stop everything? No, I’ma be in there doing something that my old ass can do real easy.

There are a lot of artists right now doing their final tours: Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John, Kiss are on their second farewell tour. Yeah, we all old as a motherfucker.

“I’ma be in there doing something that my old ass can do real easy.”

Are you still going to come out and do appearances with the band? Yeah. I’ma check in on them. I’m probably gonna do a reality show to see which one of them is gonna be capable of leading the band [ laughs ]. That would be a good thing to keep them focused.

How do you take care of yourself on the road these days? I don’t do shit until I get on the stage. I save all the energy until I get on the stage and then I have a burst of energy and look like I’ve been jamming all day long. But other than that, I’m a granddad, great granddad. I’m all of that shit. A lot of [the band members] are my grandkids. I have no illusions on that. I can do it on the stage and entertain and motivate them, and then I take my ass home.

What was it like in the old days? Oh, in the old days, you partied all night. You didn’t go to bed ’til 7. You were in bed from 7 to 10 and then you get back up. But I don’t even do legal meds. Back then I had every kind I could get my hands on, illegal or not. Now I look around, and everybody on legal meds look like I looked when I was doing street shit.

Every time you turn around, people are talking about the meds and the government. It’s about your insurance and your meds. Big pharmaceuticals run the world. It’s one nation under sedation.

When did all this change for you? About six, seven years ago.

That wasn’t very long ago. That wasn’t long ago, but I ain’t trying to count no days either. It would have come in handy if I had got out of it before then. But that’s the way it is, so shall it be.

When you look back on all the years of touring you’ve done, what stands out as the wildest concert you’ve played? The first time we played Madison Square Garden [in 1975]. We already had done the spaceship landing, but not with that massive audience with flashlights and things. The whole place lit up like lightning bugs. They had flashlights and those Star Wars swords. That’s where the whole concept of “Flash Light” came from. You couldn’t even hear yourself. When Bootsy stepped in and said, “Hallelujah!” it sounded like the world came to an end.

Do you think you’ll get Bootsy up for any of these last shows? Oh, yeah. He’s retired, too. He can say he can’t play, but he’ll be up there doing something. He’ll play drums or something. He ain’t gonna let this go by. Him or Sly. They ain’t gonna let that whole thing go by. They gonna do something.

Other than the flashlights in the audience, what stands out to you as the craziest thing you’ve seen in a crowd? People had boomboxes of every kind in the audience. They tried to dress like Bootsy or myself, but a giant-sized version of it. There were people on stilts and shit. We used to have a crew of people go around with us and be on stilts and you never knew who they were, because they had all these big, 12-feet-tall, big doll costumes. They followed us around for a while.

When you were doing the shows with the Mothership, did you have to pay for that out of pocket or did the label support you? I did. I told Neil [Bogart, Casablanca Records founder] that it was easier for him to put the money into financing the Mothership than it would have been to give me that much money. That was, like, a quarter of a million dollars. Then the costuming was the same thing. That was Larry LeGaspi, when he was doing all the Broadway plays.

Do you remember your first concert? The first concerts would have been around Jersey at the high school, the Y or the park. We’d also go over to Brooklyn or up to the Apollo Theater for amateur night. When “Testify” came out [in 1967], we played a block party right on 125th St. with WWRL and [radio DJ] Frankie Crocker. He introduced us with “Testify” being Number One on WWRL. We was friends throughout his whole career. He brought us to Madison Square Garden with some other people, and he brought us back in ’96 at Central Park.

Lately, you’ve been fighting to reclaim the copyrights to many of your albums. How is that going? That’s been my mission. I’ve got One Nation back, Knee Deep and Hardcore Jollies ; now I gotta fight for “Flash Light.” You gotta fight for these copyrights. It gave me energy to reignite my career and write new shit, and I’m thankful for that. I’ma kick they ass. That’s my mission now. I’m gonna do a documentary on this. Nobody would believe what they had to go through to try to hide the millions of dollars that they’ve taken. That’s a bigger story than anything you could write about. So that’s my next mission.

But we got those back and we’re going to pay some respect to those songs. They’ve been a part of a lot of people’s careers — all the people that sampled those songs, everyone. So we gonna try to give it something worthy of it. And we’re getting new shit and getting those copyright straightened out for our families. Some of them, I will probably have some problems with, but we’re up for the down strokes.

Finally, what did you think of Ice Cube’s new song, “That New Funkadelic” ? He kind of replicated your sound. I love it. I had it for six months before he put it out. It took everything in the world I had not to post it. [ Sings ] “Ice Cube’s got that new Funkadelic, new Funkadelic.” Matter of fact, we’ll be doing it onstage pretty soon.

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Funk legend George Clinton brings P-Funk farewell tour to Oakland's Fox Theater

By Dave Pehling

Updated on: November 18, 2023 / 11:39 AM PST / CBS San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO -- George Clinton and his Parliament-Funkadelic crew brings the funk maestro's ongoing farewell tour to the Fox Theater in Oakland Saturday with support from LA greats Fishbone and New Orleans band Dumpstafunk.

Though he came after originators James Brown and Sly Stone, George Clinton has undoubtedly earned the title "Godfather of Funk." Colorful, subversive and groundbreaking, Clinton fused rock and R&B in the '60s, set the dance floor on fire with funk classics in the '70s, helped usher in computer-driven new wave and was a cornerstone of hip-hop since the '80s.

He started in the '50s as a vocalist in New Jersey soul group the Parliaments, but Clinton soon relocated to Detroit to try to jump aboard the Motown gravy train. Though he did some songwriting work for the soul label, his sensibilities were far grittier than what Berry Gordy was aiming for to remain "the sound of young America." For his group Funkadelic, Clinton took cues from high volume acid-rock era giants Jimi Hendrix and Cream (not to mention the influence of Detroit rockers the MC5 and the Stooges) to bring together soul grooves, psychedelic guitar and an outrageous stage show. But despite the crew's outlandish theatrics, Clinton also proved to be an astute sociopolitical commentator, addressing serious subject matter on the seminal albums  Maggot Brain and the sprawling double LP  America Eats Its Young .

By the mid '70s, Clinton was leading both Parliament and Funkadelic from underground status to chart success and extravagant arena productions that put the group on the same strata as Earth Wind and Fire. Clinton's excellent ear for talent also brought some of the best players in the business to his outfits including the late psychedelic guitar giant Eddie Hazel, keyboard scientist Bernie Worrell, and former James Brown sidement like Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley. The subversive ringmaster and self-proclaimed Maggot Overlord shepherded his Parliament Funkadelic disciples to create classic hits like "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)" "Flashlight" and "Not Just (Knee Deep)," which would some of the most influential and heavily sampled music of the decade.

Combining humorous, satirical lyrics and space-age concepts with ferocious grooves, Clinton has remained an influential original throughout his career. Even as his solo star waned after early '80s hits "Atomic Dog" and "Do Fries Go With That Shake?" Clinton's songs were soon being sampled relentlessly by hip hop's new guard (Dr. Dre and N.W.A, Digital Underground, De La Soul and Tupac to name just a few).

Though his live performances during the 2000s added loose-limbed improvisational element that took away from the bite of his funk, Clinton has returned to performing and recording with a vengeance since breaking a longtime addiction to crack cocaine. The funk maestro detailed his triumphs and tragedies in the revealing memoir  Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?  that came out in 2014 to glowing reviews. More importantly, Clinton and his collaborators issued the first new Funkadelic album in over three decades two years later.

A sprawling three-disc release that touches on the classic Funkadelic sound (soaring corrosive guitar solos, tongue-twisting vocals and scatological humor),  First Ya Gotta Shake The Gate  finds Clinton adding modern elements of hip-hop production and Auto-Tuned vocals to the mix. In 2018,Clinton announced earlier this year that he would retire from touring the following year after continuing his modern renaissance with the first album under the Parliament banner in nearly four decades --  Medicaid Fraud Dogg  -- a sprawling 100-minute opus that tackles the nation's struggle with pharmaceuticals and social media while still indulging in the funk overlord's habit of "sayin' somethin' nasty."

The funk icon was also featured prominently in the latest season of Mike Judge's animated Cinemax show Tales from the Tour Bus , which featured the twisted escapades Clinton and his band got caught up in during the '70s (the band leader also served as a consulting producer and provided this season's revamped theme song). Clinton has suggested that P-Funk will continue on without him when he finally retires from the road, continuing to bring his music to audiences live.

The timeline of his retirement has changed since his original announcement. Clinton and company appeared at what was thought to be the band's final Bay Area appearance at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga in the summer of 2019, but since the pandemic derailed more touring plans, he has since returned to the region with the band several times despite passing his 82nd birthday. The current "Just For the Funk of It! Final Tour?!?" brings P-Funk back to Oakland for this post-Thanksgiving show Saturday night at the Fox featuring support from Fishbone and Dumpstafunk.

They might not be the biggest band to emerge from Los Angeles during the early '80s, but pioneering ska/punk/funk outfit Fishbone remains one of the most influential and eclectic acts to call LA home since first coming together in 1979.

Formed by a group young Black teens who were brought together by their school district's busing program, founding members the Fisher brothers (Norwood on bass and Phillip "Fish" Fisher on drums), singer/trumpet player "Dirty" Walt Kibby III, keyboard/trombone player Christopher Dowd and guitarist Kendall Jones were all from South Central Los Angeles. They met the group's future frontman and saxophonist Angelo Moore when they were sent to Moore's native San Fernando Valley during junior high school.

The band's brash mixture of punk, ska and funk influences quickly helped Fishbone build a following as the group played punk venues around LA and established a reputation for high-energy stage performances as it became a fixture of the SoCal club scene in the early '80s. Signed to Columbia Records, the group's eponymous EP in 1985 became an underground hit and earned significant airplay with the infectious anti-war single "Party at Ground Zero" and the radio roll call tune "? (Modern Industry)" that name checked the call letters of several Bay Area stations.

While the band's first full-length album  In Your Face  didn't further elevate the band in the mainstream, it showed a growing political consciousness in the lyrics and polished the band's amalgam of styles. A spot opening for the Beastie Boys on the  Licensed to Ill  tour helped introduce Fishbone to a far wider audience.

They made a creative breakthrough with  Truth and Soul  in 1988, introducing heavier guitars on the crushing cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead" and the hardcore frenzy of "Subliminal Fascism" while showing of their funk chops with the explosive "Bonin' in the Boneyard."

The band's next album --  The Reality of My Surroundings  in 1991 -- stood out as their most ambitious yet and seemed to signal the breakthrough they had been working towards for a decade. With the addition of former Miles Davis musical director John Bingham on guitar and keyboards (who joined during the  Truth and Soul  tour), the band further established its status as arguably the best live act of the era.

After the release of the more metallic  Give a Monkey a Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe  in 1993, the band joined the third edition of the Lollapalooza with Primus, Alice in Chains, Tool and Rage Against the Machine and appeared poised for even greater success when guitarist Jones had a mental break and quit the band.

When Norwood Fisher tried to convince the guitarist to rejoin the band, believing he'd been brainwashed by a religious group, the bassist ended up being charged with kidnapping. While the band was able to participate in Lollapalooza and Fisher was eventually acquitted, the incident marked the beginning of a gradual disintegration for the band. Dowd would depart the following year and by 1995, Fishbone had been dropped by Sony. As the end of the decade approached, "Fish" Fisher and Bingham were gone as well.

But Moore and Norwood Fisher would soldier on with a variety of collaborators who helped the band maintain its reputation as a fiery live act, including former Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Rocky George and keyboard player Dre Gipson. Their recorded output became more sporadic, but the group continued to tour regularly and were frequently name checked by the legion of Orange County ska revivalists like No Doubt and Reel Big Fish who were inspired by the band. The crew experienced some renewed interest after their fascinating saga was told in the acclaimed 2010 documentary  Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone.

2017 found Fishbone reuniting its classic-era late '80s line-up with longtime stalwarts Norwood Fisher, "Dirty" Walt Kibby and kinetic frontman Moore once again teaming with Fisher's drum-playing brother, guitarist Bingham and keyboardist/trombonist Dowd. Since then, the revitalized group has been tearing up stages and appearing at a variety of festivals over the past year in addition to touring with acts including the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Living Colour and P-Funk.

While Bingham would leave the band again in 2019 (guitarist/keyboardist Mark Phillips took his place) and Phillip Fisher relinquished the drum stool to his previous replacement John Steward late in 2021, the band has continued to bring its explosive, high-energy stage performances to enthusiastic audiences across the globe. The group returned to San Francisco for its first post-pandemic appearances almost exactly a year ago, packing the Bottom of the Hill for two nights. The long hinted at new Fishbone EP produced by NOFX mainman Fat Mike finally materialized this past May with the ska-focused tunes getting a warm reception from fans and critics alike. Opening the show will be Dumpstafunk, the potent New Orleans groove machine led by Aaron Neville's son Ivan that features the double-thumping, two-bass attack of Nick Daniels and Tony Hall. 

George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic with Fishbone and Dumpstafunk Saturday, Nov. 25, 5:30 p.m. $59.50-$89.50 Fox Theater

Dave Pehling started his journalism career doing freelance writing about music in the late 1990s, eventually working as a web writer, editor and producer for KTVU.com in 2003. He moved to CBS to work as the station website's managing editor in 2015.

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George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars Setlist at Cascades Park, Tallahassee, FL, USA

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• Party Boys ( The Parliaments  cover) Play Video
• Heart Trouble ( The Parliaments  cover) Play Video
• Good Old Music ( Funkadelic  cover) Play Video
• A Joyful Process ( Funkadelic  cover) Play Video
• Alice in My Fantasies ( Funkadelic  cover) Play Video
• Let Me Be ( Parliament  cover) Play Video
• P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up) ( Parliament  cover) Play Video
• Flash Light ( Parliament  cover) Play Video
• Atomic Dog / Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) ( Parliament  cover) Play Video

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Songs on Albums

• A Joyful Process by Funkadelic
• Alice in My Fantasies by Funkadelic
• Atomic Dog / Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) by Parliament
• Flash Light by Parliament
• Good Old Music by Funkadelic
• Heart Trouble by The Parliaments
• Let Me Be by Parliament
• P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up) by Parliament
• Party Boys by The Parliaments

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Lynyrd Skynyrd, George Clinton, Roger Bansemer, Xavier Cortada in Florida Artists Hall of Fame

Florida artists hall of fame already includes ray charles, burt reynolds, tennessee williams, zora neale hurston & ernest hemingway..

Visual artists Roger Bansemer and Xavier Cortada and musicians George Clinton and Lynyrd Skynrd are the 2024 inductees to the Florida Artists Hall of Fame , according to Wednesday's announcement from the Florida Department of State .

"Today, we honor the newest inductees into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, celebrating their enduring influence on our state's vibrant cultural legacy,” said Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd in an April 24, 2024, release.

“These individuals have not only left an indelible mark on our state's artistic landscape but have also woven themselves into the fabric of our collective identity," he said. "Through their creativity, passion, and dedication, they have inspired countless others and helped shape our beloved Sunshine State.”

The Florida Artists Hall of Fame was created in 1986 to recognize people, living or dead, who have made significant contributions to the arts in Florida. There are currently more than 50 inductees so honored, including musician and performer Ray Charles, actor and director Burt Reynolds, writers Zora Neale Hurston, Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemingway, filmmaker Victor Nunez, and visual artists Duane Hanson, Robert Rauschenberg and James Rosenquist, the state's Division of Arts and Culture said.

Inductees receive a commemorative bronze sculpture commissioned from St. Augustine artist Enzo Torcoletti and a permanent plaque on the Florida Artists Hall of Fame wall located in the rotunda of the Florida Capitol building. 

Artist Roger Bansemer of St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine resident Roger Bansemer is most known for his nationally televised independent series “Painting and Travel with Roger and Sarah Bansemer,” a staple on PBS stations and the Create Channel, the Division of Arts and Culture said. They've completed 143 half-hour programs, reaching 91% of the country in 168 markets.

An author, artist, filmmaker and balloonist, Bensemer has lived and worked in Florida since his parents moved to Clearwater when he was nine years old, 66 years ago. He pursued his passion for art at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota before serving in the U.S. Navy and using his abilities as an Illustrator/Draftsman for the “Cruiser-Destroyerman” magazine while stationed on an aircraft carrier in Mayport. Since then, his impressionist work has hung in galleries from around the country and his murals delighted the city of Clearwater where he was its first artist-in-residence.

George Clinton of Tallahassee, Florida, aka Dr. Funkenstein

George Clinton, Dr. Funkenstein himself, was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina but has made Tallahassee his home since 1994. A musical visionary since the 1970s, Clinton created two groundbreaking funk bands, the Funkadelic and The Parliaments, both famed for their flamboyant shows and their fusion of rock, soul, funk and psychedelic music.

Most recently, Clinton was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , a special proclamation from Leon County , and a key to the city of Tallahassee . In 2016, Clinton was the musical guest of honor during the 20th Annual Rainbow Concert of World Music where FSU’s Balinese gamelan orchestra performed a percussive rendition of his signature hit “Atomic Dog.” He was nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year but missed the cut.

"As a musical trailblazer, George's legacy inspires artists worldwide, solidifying his place among Florida's esteemed artistic icons," the Division of Arts and Culture said.

Flaming Lips, George Clinton and more: Word of South announces lineup of artists for 2024 festival

Artist Xavier Cortada of Miami, Florida

Xavier Cortada , a Cuban American artist with a passion for engaging people with public artistic displays about climate change, rising seas, and other environmental issues, is a New York native but has lived in Miami since the year he was born.

"Cortada's work spans various disciplines," the Division of Arts and Culture said, "creating over 150 public artworks, installations, collaborative murals, and socially engaged projects on six continents."

In 2006, Cortada pioneered eco-art in Miami with his participatory mangrove reforestation initiative "Reclamation Project." He founded the " Underwater Homeowners Association " in 2018 with watercolor paintings in front of homes showing precisely how high sea levels needed to rise before each house would be underwater to raise awareness of Miami's vulnerability to rising seas. Recently, he received a Creative Capital Award in 2022 to support his latest art project, "The Underwater," which involves over 2,000 students from his alma mater, Miami Senior High School, in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.

Lynyrd Skynyrd of Jacksonville, Florida

The question is not why Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, but why it took so long.

This legendary Southern band was formed in Jacksonville in 1964 and shot up the charts with "their distinctive Southern rock sound, characterized by soulful vocals, intricate guitar work, and powerful lyrics," the Division of Arts and Culture said.

"Since their inception, Lynyrd Skynyrd has been synonymous with the spirit of the South, captivating audiences with anthems like 'Sweet Home Alabama' and 'Free Bird.' Despite facing adversity, including the tragic loss of band members in a plane crash in 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd's legacy has endured, inspiring generations of fans worldwide."

Loss and tragedy continued, with the deaths of longtime keyboard player Billy Powell in 2018 and founding guitarist Gary Rossington last year . But Skynyrd keeps going, with a new tour in 2024 .

"With their unmistakable sound and uncompromising authenticity, Lynyrd Skynyrd has solidified their place as cultural icons," the Division of Arts and Culture said. "Their music continues to resonate with audiences of all ages, earning them a well-deserved spot in the Florida Artist Hall of Fame. As ambassadors of Southern rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd's contributions to music history are unparalleled, ensuring their legacy will live on for years to come."

Lighters up! Skynyrd is Jacksonville's favorite homegrown act

An induction ceremony for the 2024 inductees will be announced once details are finalized.

Alicia Devine, Tallahassee Democrat, contributed to this article.

Governor George Anthony compiled this series of correspondence on crime and criminals, specifically the Bender case, from letters received while in office from 1877-1879. The Bender family operated a remote road house near Cherryvale, Kansas. When several travelers disappeared, local residents became suspicious of the Benders. A search of the property revealed eleven bodies buried in the yard, all of them dead from severe blows to the head. The Bender family members escaped and were never found. A complete transcription is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

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Collections - State Archives - Governor's Records - Anthony, George Tobey Date - 1870s - 1877 Date - 1870s - 1878 Government and Politics - Crime and Punishment - Crime - Murder Government and Politics - State Government - Governors - Anthony, George Tobey Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Correspondence Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Letter People - Notable Kansans - Anthony, George Tobey, 1824-1896 People - Notable Kansans - Bender family, 1869-1872 Places - Cities and towns - Cherryvale Places - Counties - Montgomery Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Government records - Correspondence Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Letters

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Mike Johnson and the troubled history of recent Republican speakers

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson attends a news conference at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month. Julia Nikhinson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson attends a news conference at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.

When the House returns from its recess next week, Speaker Mike Johnson is now widely expected to resume his duties without immediately facing a motion to oust him.

Just such a "motion to vacate the chair" was filed against Johnson in March by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. But Greene has yet to make the motion "privileged," which under the rules would necessitate a vote within two days.

Greene had vowed to press her challenge after Johnson announced a strategy to pass $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan earlier this month. About two-thirds of that money was for Ukraine, an issue Greene had called her "red line" for moving against the speaker.

Two colleagues had spoken up to say they would join Greene in such a vote, giving her enough to defeat the speaker if all the chamber's Democrats voted to do the same. That's what the Democrats did when a motion to vacate the chair ousted the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, last fall. He had been in the job less than nine months.

But this time around several Democrats have indicated they would cross the aisle to support Johnson and frustrate Greene & Co. if it came to a vote. Democratic leaders have indicated they are open to this, and it essentially repeats the strategy that allowed Johnson to pass the Ukraine portion of the aid bill earlier this month.

3rd Republican joins motion to oust Mike Johnson as House speaker

So Greene may have missed her moment. Johnson has gained stature and won bipartisan praise for letting the whole House vote on the aid package. He also got strong support in the Senate , where even an outright majority of Republicans voted for the aid on Tuesday. The package was signed into law by President Biden the following day.

But as Greene has said, the existence of her motion serves as a warning. She could activate a vote at any time so Johnson should know he is skating on thin ice.

And that is true, he should. Even a glance at the history of Republican speakers since World War II would tell him that.

The current state of internal politics among House Republicans is so unsettled that almost anything could happen at almost any time.

As Shakespeare wrote: "Uneasy rests the head that wears a crown," and in recent history that goes double for speakers who are also Republicans.

Johnson is the sixth Republican elevated to the speakership since 1994, the year the party won its first House majority and elected a speaker of its own for the first time in 40 years. The hard truth is that the five who preceded Johnson (McCarthy, Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Dennis Hastert and Newt Gingrich) all saw their time in the office end in relative degrees of defeat or frustration. And to find a Republican speaker who left voluntarily in a moment of victory, moving on to another office, you have to go back to the mid-1920s.

There's been a history of hard landings

The 30-year saga began with Gingrich of Georgia, who was the first member of his party to gain "the big gavel" since the early 1950s and the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Gingrich had been a backbench rabble-rouser since coming to the House in 1978 and built up a cadre of supporters until he won the party's No. 2 power position as minority whip in 1989. He soon eclipsed the party's leader, Robert Michel, who was nearing retirement.

In 1994, two years into the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton, Gingrich organized a campaign around a 10-item agenda called the "Contract with America." It provided a unified message for the party's nominees, who flipped more than 50 seats and stormed into the majority.

Gingrich managed to restore many of the powers of the speakership but clashed repeatedly with Clinton and even with Republican leaders in the Senate. In 1997, in his second Congress as speaker, he barely survived a largely covert challenge from within his own leadership team. And just shy of his fourth anniversary in the job, he was voted out by the full House Republican conference in December 1998.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (center), shown here surrounded by House Republicans, holds up a copy of the "Contract With America" during a speech on April 7, 1995 on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Richard Ellis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (center), shown here surrounded by House Republicans, holds up a copy of the "Contract With America" during a speech on April 7, 1995 on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Once Gingrich was gone, the line of succession was not clear. The No. 2 Republican at the time did not have the votes, and the No. 3 declined to run. The chairman of the Appropriations Committee was nominated by the party conference but withdrew after a magazine story accused him of marital infidelity.

The mantle fell to Hastert of Illinois, the chief deputy whip. Like Johnson an era later, Hastert was a relatively quiet member of the leadership who enjoyed goodwill generally in the rank and file. Hastert was speaker through the last two Clinton years and first six of the George W. Bush presidency. But he voluntarily resigned after the GOP lost badly in the 2006 midterms, a defeat Bush called "a thumpin' " at the time.

Those eight years actually made Hastert the longest-serving Republican speaker in history. But any luster left after 2006 was lost when he went to prison for bank fraud charges stemming from hush money payments he had made to a former student he admitted to having sexually abused decades earlier.

The next two Republican speakers would be John Boehner, elevated to the job by the GOP recapture of the House in the "Tea Party" election of 2010. Boehner worked hard to fashion budget deals with both a Democratic President Barack Obama and a Democratic Senate. But his efforts alienated some in his own ranks who in 2015 formed an insurgent group known as the House Freedom Caucus. Increasingly exasperated with his untenable predicament, Boehner simply resigned in October of that year.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (right) and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy walk through the Capitol rotunda on May 17, 2023. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (right) and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy walk through the Capitol rotunda on May 17, 2023.

Here again, the line of succession was not as clear as it appeared. The well-respected No. 2 Republican, Eric Cantor of Virginia, had lost his primary in 2014. The No. 3, McCarthy, soon ran aground over remarks in a TV interview and lacked the votes to be speaker. The party settled on Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who had not sought the gavel but agreed to take it.

Ryan, then just 45, was the youngest speaker in nearly 150 years but had already been party's vice presidential nominee on the 2012 ticket. Once he had Boehner's job, however, he experienced much the same internal strife. Ryan also had a strained relationship with then-President Donald Trump, with whom he had a falling out during the fall 2016 campaign. In April 2018, Ryan said he would not serve another term and left as the party was losing its majority that fall.

More distant memories

Prior to the GOP's 40-year sentence as the minority party, several of its speakers had risen to the top rung largely on their personal popularity among their colleagues. One was Joseph Martin of Massachusetts, who led the party in the House during two brief interludes of majority status after World War II. Both lasted only the minimum two years, the first ending with Democratic Harry S. Truman's surprise White House win in 1948. Martin was back four years later when Eisenhower was first elected president in 1952, but that tour at the top was cut short by his party's sharp losses two years later.

Prior to that, the last Republican speaker had been Nicholas Longworth of Ohio, who died in 1931. Technically, he died as speaker, but his party lost its majority before the next Congress convened and elected a Democrat to the job.

Nicholas Longworth, speaker of the House, holds a gun once owned by famous outlaw Jesse James on Jan. 23, 1930. Bettmann Archive hide caption

Nicholas Longworth, speaker of the House, holds a gun once owned by famous outlaw Jesse James on Jan. 23, 1930.

Although Longworth was speaker for only a little over five years, he was well-regarded and symbolic of Republican prosperity in its heydays under Teddy Roosevelt (his father-in-law) and again in the 1920s. When Congress authorized a new House office building in 1931, shortly after Longworth's death, it was named for him and remains so today.

His predecessor, Frederick Gillett of Massachusetts, also had the top job for less than five years. But when he left after the 1924 session, his party was still firmly in control and had just elected President Calvin Coolidge to a full term. Gillett himself moved on to the Senate.

Longevity has simply not been a hallmark of Republican speakers. The list of the 10 speakers who served in the job longest includes just one Republican (and in the ninth slot at that). That speaker was Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, notorious as the autocratic "Czar Cannon" during three two-year tours as speaker that ended with his party's historic defeat in 1910.

Democrats and durability

Democrats too have had their short speakerships. In 1989 Speaker Jim Wright of Texas resigned under pressure following revelations about a book deal the House Ethics Committee saw as circumventing fundraising rules. Wright had only been in the job a little over two years at the time. Longworth's successor, John "Cactus Jack" Garner of Texas, left the office after just over a year to be Franklin Roosevelt's first vice president.

But as a rule, the Democrats' succession machinery and their regional political balancing long known as the party's "Boston-Austin axis" (or vice versa) helped lend stability.

On that list of the 10 longest-serving speakers, seven are Democrats. Most of them served in that long stretch when their party held the majority for four decades. The most recent Democrat, however, is Nancy Pelosi, still a House member and the House speaker emerita. She comes in at fifth on the longevity roster, having served one day shy of eight years from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023.

Correction April 27, 2024

An earlier version of this story misspelled Barack Obama's first name.

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