Southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd will return to Tuscaloosa for a stop on what is being called its farewell tour. The Jacksonville, Florida-born band that implanted "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird" into the DNA of generations will play the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater on May 10 on what's been billed "The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour." Country singer Cody Jinks will open the show at 7 p.m.

Skynyrd's history in Tuscaloosa dates back to a show, with the Charlie Daniels Band opening, at Memorial Coliseum in March 1975, two years before the horrific plane crash that killed lead singer and chief lyricist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines, along with three others aboard the aircraft.

Formed in 1964, the band became road-tested veterans, cutting juke-joint-rock singles such as "Gimme Three Steps" and "What's Your Name" alongside more message-heavy songs such as the anti-gun "Saturday Night Special," and the anti-drug "That Smell."

Named mockingly after a P.E. teacher at their high school who strictly enforced rules against long hair on boys, earlier versions of the band had been called My Backyard, The Noble Five, The One Percent, and Leonard Skinnered (the coach's name was Leonard Skinner), before switching to Lynyrd Skynyrd by 1970.

After working out various lineups and kinks playing around Florida, the band cut its debut "Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)" in 1973. That and the four following discs, 1974's "Second Helping," 1975's "Nuthin' Fancy," 1976's "Gimme Back My Bullets" and the 1977 "Street Survivors," all sold gold or platinum.

The 1974 "Sweet Home Alabama" single became the band's first Top 10 hit, and ultimately its highest-charting. Guitarist Gary Rossington, the only original member still touring with the band, wrote the picked out D-C-G riff, and Van Zant wrote lyrics in response to Neil Young's scathing "Southern Man" and "Alabama" songs, taking the South to task for slavery and racism.

Van Zant was quoted saying "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two." One verse name-checks Young, who later admitted, in his 2012 autobiography "Waging Heavy Peace," "My own song 'Alabama' richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don't like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue."

The Floridians chose to use Alabama in part because it sang better than Florida, and in part due to this state's troubled racial history. Not fully laudatory, "Sweet Home Alabama" boos former Gov. George Wallace, lumping him in with disgraced Richard Nixon and Watergate, and checks Birmingham for its civil rights struggles. Still, it's been taken on as anthemic, partly due to the sunny bounce, and for legitimate boasts about the Swampers of Muscle Shoals, where Skynyrd cut early demos.

Not content to release one legendary song in 1974, the band also cut for radio a 4:41-length single of its song "Free Bird," which in original album form ran 9:08. In concert it may go on for a bit longer; Skynyrd's played the epic-length three-guitar romp to end its concert for decades. Van Zant originally found the multiple chord layers, written co-founding guitarist Allen Collins, to be too busy for a melody, until at a rehearsal, something clicked. The singer wrote the melody and lyrics to "Free Bird" in less time than it takes to play it. Their piano-playing roadie Billy Powell wrote an intro. The band added not only that passage, but Powell as their keyboardist. Van Zant used to dedicate the song to the memory of late guitarist Duane Allman.

After the crash, the band broke up. Surviving members underwent multiple therapies to recover from extensive injuries. Gradually many of them worked back into music, in various groups, but didn't reform as Lynyrd Skynyrd until 1987, bringing in Van Zant's younger brother Johnny as lead singer. They've continued to write and record, but on tour lean heavily on their '70s heyday, with "Tuesday's Gone," "Simple Man," "Call Me the Breeze" (a J.J. Cale cover), "The Ballad of Curtis Loew," "I Know a Little" and "Don't Ask Me No Questions" frequently joining the above-mentioned songs. Skynyrd previously played the Amphitheater toward the end of its inaugural season, Oct. 16, 2011.

Jinks' 2016 album, "I'm Not the Devil," peaked at No. 4 on U.S. Country charts; the 2018 "Lifers" hit No. 2. His singles include "Must Be the Whiskey" and the recently released "Somewhere Between I Love You and I'm Leavin'."

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, for $39.50, $59.50, $79.50, $99.50, $149.50, and $155.50 at the Amphitheater box office, through Ticketmaster.com, or by calling 800-745-3000.