Rickey Medlocke has stepped out from Lynyrd Skynyrd for “Never Run Out of Road,” a new charity single he recently released. The guitarist composed the song with Mark Woerpel, a member of the latter-day version of Medlocke’s Blackfoot; the recording includes piano by Skynyrd’s Peter Keys and backing vocals by Medlocke’s wife Stacy Michelle, who’s one of Skynyrd’s backup vocalists.

Proceeds from the single go to National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, which works to end the trafficking of Native American Women (Medlocke is of Lakota, Sioux and Cherokee descent), as well as the International Wolf Center and the Dreamcatchers Charitable Fund in Canada. Medlocke tells us that the charitable component in particular made doing the song worthwhile:

“This business has been good to me in my life, and the fans have been incredible and good to me in my life and I just feel like thi sis a way for me, not only the music that we play live and people come to see us and stuff, but this is a very good cause and a very good way to give back in some form. So that’s why I did it.” :31

Medlocke was part of Lynyrd Skynyrd during 1971-1972 and rejoined in 1996. He leads the band with frontman Johnny Van Zant after the death of guitarist and co-founder Gary Rossington 11 months ago.

Skynyrd kicks off a new leg of its Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour with ZZ Top on March 8th in Savannah, Georgia. The trek has dates booked into September.