Brantley Gilbert grew up listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, so it was a dream come true when the country-rocker got to share the stage with the legendary Southern rock band in 2015. Gilbert and Skynyrd teamed for an episode of CMT Crossroads that included an incendiary performance of Skynyrd's all-time classic, "Sweet Home Alabama."

The artists took the stage in Nashville on June 27, 2015, for a set that included Gilbert's “Bottoms Up,” “Country Must Be Country Wide” and “Kick It in the Sticks,” as well as Skynyrd's “Simple Man," “What’s Your Name" and more.

For Gilbert, it was a chance to go back and re-live some of the records that influenced his hard-rocking country style early on.

“I got to reeducate myself and got a chance to listen to these songs that I’ve known for so long and hear the small things that you miss on a record. . . [like] a finger sliding on a string,” he said (quote via Rolling Stone). “That happened in that room, it wasn’t computer-generated.”

“I love seeing artists like him,” Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant said. “He has attitude. He’s like us at 30.”

“He’s for real too,” added guitarist Rickey Medlocke, “and you get that vibe from him. We didn’t know what to expect when we got here, but he’s a for-real guy.”

The match-up turned out to have genuine fire on stage. Click below to see Brantley Gilbert perform "Sweet Home Alabama" with Lynyrd Skynyrd on CMT Crossroads in 2015.

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