Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dwight Yoakam Entertain Trucking Execs at MCE
AUSTIN, Texas — Legendary Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd closed out American Trucking Associations’ 2018 Management Conference & Exhibition with an energizing performance for trucking industry executives.
The rock icons played classic songs such as “What’s Your Name,” “That Smell,” “Tuesday’s Gone,” “Simple Man,” “Gimme Three Steps” and “Sweet Home Alabama” at ATA’s annual banquet Oct. 30 at the Austin Convention Center.
The band played to the trucking crowd, with singer Johnny Van Zant reminding the audience that his daddy was a trucker.
Dwight Yoakam performs at the TruckPAC event. (Sue Hensley/Transport Topics)
After an encore performance of “Free Bird,” the band welcomed ATA President Chris Spear onto the stage as the show came to a close.
A few nights earlier, country singer Dwight Yoakam treated the crowd at the Oct. 28 TruckPAC event to a rousing selection of his hits, peppered with some newer songs and a tribute to country legend Merle Haggard.
Yoakam, dressed head-to-toe in denim and his trademark cowboy hat, was backed by a band decked out in Nashville-appropriate sequined jackets for a set list that included hits “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere,” “Little Sister” and “Honky Tonk Man” and new songs “Pretty Horses” and “Then Here Came Monday.” During a tribute to Haggard, he played that singer’s hit, “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down.”
The event, held at Brazos Hall — an intimate venue where exposed brick serves as the stage backdrop — was hosted by TruckPAC, the political action committee of ATA.
Lynyrd Skynyrd entertains at MCE. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)
