• Tweet

Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bad Company will team up this summer for a 12-city co-headlining tour.

Both bands will be celebrating their 40^th anniversaries this year, so the tour appropriately is dubbed “The 40 Tour.” Technically it’s been 40 years since Bad Company formed, and 40 years since the release of Skynryd’s debut album, Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd, so close enough.

The trek will kick off June 20 at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn, Washington, and the two groups will continue on the road together until a July 27 appearance at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, New York. Black Stone Cherry is set to open most of the shows.

“Every member of Skynyrd has been fans of Bad Company from the get go,” said Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant in a press release. “Personally, Paul [Rodgers] is one of my favorite rock singers. We have a deep appreciation for Bad Company’s music and look forward to being on the road with them and sharing the stage.”

Rodgers also seems to be happy to get on the road with the group, though the two bands have never toured together in the past.

“The Skynyrds and I go back to the 70′s and the days and nights at the Hyatt House on Sunset in L.A. aka the Riot House,” Rodgers said in the release. “In the 90′s the band introduced me to my wife Cynthia, and that’s why I am so damned happy and healthy these years.”

Rodgers is one of three original members of Bad Company, along with Mick Ralphs on guitar and Simon Kirke on drums. The band now also includes Howard Leese on Guitar and Todd Ronning on bass.

Today, the only original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd is guitarist Gary Rossington, though Johnny Van Zant is the brother of original singer Ronnie Van Zant, who was killed in the 1977 plane crash that also claimed two other original members.