Tales Of Allen Collins – Told By One Of His Best Friends

Updated July 7, 2023

Lynyrd Skynyrd Guitarist Allen Collins

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As one of the original members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allen Collins is very well-known among Southern Rock enthusiasts. But because of his well-crafted, memorable guitar solos, he is also known as one of the best guitarists in Rock and Roll history.

In March of 2023 a video was released featuring one of Colins’ best friends reminiscing about the musician, who passed away in January of 1990, and showing a lot of his memorabilia.

Steve Reynolds is the man’s name, and he still lives in the area just south of Jacksonville, FL where Colins, and other Skynyrd members lived, after the band had begun to get some notoriety.

“He (Collins) had a party at his house and they were all doing drugs, or whatever, and somebody said “I wonder, is that the real record that y’all recorded in there?” And he’s like, “I don’t know.” So they broke it and put it on a record player to see if it would play.”

Allen Collins was pretty notorious for the parties that he threw at his house. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the parties and the type of people that hung around with him, a lot of stuff was stolen.

But for fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Collins, this is a pretty interesting video. Lots of stories, interesting pictures, and even vintage instruments, gear, and old road cases from different bands Collins toured with.

Lynyrd Skynyrd Allen Collins friend Steve Reynolds Part One

This video is from The Griff Martin Files Youtube channel. (You can view part two of the interview with Mr Reynolds here.)

Griff Martin co-hosts The Stoned Roadie Show with legendary Skynyrd roadie, and former Tour Manager, Craig Reed. Martin is also a retired NASA employee and features some aviation videos on his channel.

 Allen Collins was indeed one of the most original guitarists in rock and roll from the ’70’s and 80’s, but he was a tragic figure as well. He experienced several traumatic episodes in his short life. 

There are many stories about how Allen was sought out by Ronnie Vanzant, Bob Burns, and Gary Rossington to be in the band when it first formed. Several of Collins’ guitar solos are standards still being played on classic rock radio stations.

As a result of a car accident in 1986, Collins was paralyzed from the waist down and was no longer able to tour. He passed away in January 1996 of complications from his paralysis. 

Allen Collins was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with his other Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmates in 2006.