Thu Jun 30, 2011 6:54pm EDT
DETROIT (Billboard) - Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd are "just getting started" on a new album, their follow-up to 2009's "God & Guns," according to frontman Johnny Van Zant.
"We're getting about to the end of the writing part," Van Zant told Billboard.com, predicting the recording would run from November through January.
Van Zant hoped for a smoother and less dramatic recording process than "God & Guns," which was several years in the making and marked by the deaths of bass player Ean Evans and keyboardist Billy Powell within three months of each other in early 2009.
"To pull that one off took all of our energy and our spirits and our beliefs and everything, so we're hoping with this one we just have their spirits with us," he said.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, now down to just one member -- guitarist Gary Rossington -- from their pre-1977 plane crash lineup, will be on the road through the summer. But Van Zant is not expecting the band to road test any new songs.
