38 Special has been singing for decades. It's a story of survival.

Within a few minutes of speaking to Don Barnes, one of the founding members of the Southern rock band 38 Special, it becomes clear that he is a man with stories to share.

Barnes will be handling lead vocalist duties for his band when they appear alongside Lynyrd Skynyrd June 29 at Raleigh's Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, the only Triangle performance on Skynyrd's Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour.

While a number of acts have performed in front of Skynyrd on this tour, it feels right that the guys in 38 should take a bow here alongside their peers this weekend, as the South has meant so much to the identities of both acts as musicians and artists.

"We weren't from New York or Los Angeles, and that meant we had to crank those guitars louder to make our statement, maybe a little bit more than those who had an easier time of being heard," Barnes said, discussing the vitality of Southern rock.

"When you have a harder time getting anyone to listen, it steels you against adversity, which I feel is reflected in the music," he said. "We all came from Jacksonville, Fla.: the Allman Brothers Band; Molly Hatchett. Even Tom Petty came from right down the road in Gainesville. We were all kids playing these Naval clubs down there, making a little bit of money at 15 years old playing music, learning all of the fundamentals of songwriting by playing all of the hit songs of that time."

He continues with a laugh.

"Then you get cocky and think you can write your own songs, which is when you starve for 10 years, because no one knows who you are and don't care if you live or die," he said. "But again, that builds a steely character. (Lynyrd Skynyrd) started out sleeping on amplifiers in the back of a van, playing dirt floor clubs all around the South, but when they found success they showed everyone that you could make it in music coming out of Nowheresville."

Barnes took a few moments during a break in 38 Special's never-ending tour schedule to speak to The News & Observer about being a part of rock history. Southern rock continues to hold as much commercial radio airplay real estate as any other movement in music history, nearly 50 years after first breaking onto the scene, and Skynyrd's continued popularity points toward it not slowing down anytime soon.

Q: 38 Special has been performing over 100 shows a year for quite a while now, even after four decades on the road. How do you prevent burnout?

A: The traveling is what beats you up, but it's a necessary evil. This is a great job, to be able to bring this kind of joy to people. When you get (onstage), and you put in your ear monitors and hear your guitar cranked up to 10, you can go out there and feel like you're 19 years old again. The crowd is 100 percent there for you, because they all want to have a good time, so you have to live up to their standard. There have been times that I've been doubled over backstage after a show, from the heat and exhaustion, but I knew the job was dangerous when I took it.

Q: You are supporting Skynyrd during their farewell tour. What is it like to perform with a peer that has said the time has come to retire?

A: There's mixed feelings. We come from all the way back there with them from Jacksonville, Fla., with the original Lynyrd Skynyrd being our hometown heroes. We were opening for them when we had only one album out, and learned a lot from Ronnie Van Zant (the late original founder of the band), keeping you hungry to go out there and give it your all. (The current members in Skynyrd) have done a good job of keeping the music alive all these years, so I give them all the credit in the world. I understand Gary (Rossington, the only founding member still performing with the band) has some health problems, so I congratulate him for doing it this long.

We saw the abuse back then — the decadence, you could say — and those guys were out there for any and all things. We learned some lessons from that, too, where we realized, "Eh, maybe I don't want to go quite all the way down that road. I want to stay healthy, if I can."

But the end can't help but feel bittersweet. I knew all of the (original) members' families when I was a kid; I could have taken a nine iron and just about hit all of their houses with a golf ball. The current guys in the band have kept a lot of fans happy over the years, I'll give them that. Ronnie would be proud of them to make it all this way.

Q: You have a solo album, "Ride the Storm," that you recorded nearly 30 years ago finally being released the day after your Raleigh performance. What took so long?

A: A&M Records offered me a solo record (in 1989). Everyone involved behind the scenes were just thrilled with (the album), and as soon as the record was mixed and about ready to go out, the record company got sold to Polygram Records for a billion dollars or something like that. Everyone who had an album due out (through A&M) that year, it was the kiss of death, because anyone who had been championing their project in the office was now gone.

I was left with a killer album, but I was just standing there alone, because there was no one left there that I knew. I was looking around for someone who cared, and most of those people couldn't even find their desks.

No one there had any vested interest in the project, so my manager and I thought that we might shop it around. Well, it turned out that Polygram ... didn't want to sell the masters to anyone. We tried year after year to sell it, trying to figure out a way to weasel the album out. Those are the heartbreaking things about the record business; the machinations aren't for the weak-hearted or thin-skinned. You learn to pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and move on. I can tell you right now, anyone's music career boils down to 90 percent failure, 10 percent success. Most of your struggle is dealing with the failure, because inevitably you're going to see a lot of it, and you have to learn to believe in yourself.

Other companies approached me about releasing the album over the years, and I would tell them, "Don't even bother." Universal Music Group now owns what used to be A&M, since it's been sold three or four times since that first sale, and they also didn't want to deal with any selling of the masters. Melodic Rock Records contacted me about getting the record out, and they facilitated three individual searches through Universal's vaults. See, in the back of my mind I had always thought over the years that they had been planning to release this (after I died), so they probably had the masters in a climate controlled vault or something — and then I got the call telling me that Universal had destroyed (the masters). After all that work, they just took it as a tax write-off and literally threw it away. I was heartbroken about that, but then I realized that I was literally the only person in the world who still had the two track mixes stashed away.

My buddy Jim Peterik, who founded the band Survivor ("Eye of the Tiger") and cowrote "Hold on Loosely" with me, probably put it best after he listened to the album. Knowing that it had been shelved, he just looked at me and said, "Man, I think I'd just walk around in my robe for two months, depressed." The day we finally released this (internationally), I opened a bottle of champagne with my wife, to celebrate the rebirth of it.

Q: While you were taking a break from the band to make that solo album, 38 Special went in a different direction, leaning heavier on ballads and scoring a hit under new vocalist Max Carl with "Second Chance." Nothing against Mr. Carl, but why is it that it seems every band begins cutting more ballads as soon as they take on a new frontman?

A: I know! Foreigner made the same mistake, rocking with all of those great songs like "Feels Like the First Time" and "Double Vision," and then they started putting out all of those heartfelt ballads. The reason why is because there are always plenty of people out there wanting to cry into their beer, but I've always wanted to move people rhythmically. I can't really find a real answer for it outside of it seems to always bring success and sell a lot of records. It alienates the rock fanbase, though, and there is always the chance that those fans won't come to your shows anymore. There are so many different bands out there competing for the same audience, if you get a fanbase, you have to hold onto them.

Details

Who: Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special with Cheap Trick and CJ Solar

When: 6 p.m. June 29

Where: Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, 3801 Rock Quarry Road, Raleigh.

Tickets: $29.50, $49.50 and $199.50.

Info: 919-831-6400, walnutcreekamphitheatre.com

This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 5:13 PM.