Gary Rossington gave fans a scare earlier this year, but the Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist says he's well on his way to recovery.

As previously reported, Rossington suffered chest pains while on the road last summer, forcing the group to cancel concerts on doctors' orders while he underwent heart surgery. Rossington's history of heart problems includes a 2015 heart attack that led to the cancellation of an earlier round of tour dates.

But these days, Rossington told the Florida Times-Union, he's feeling "all right, knock on wood" — and optimistic about his continued recovery.

"Just staying ahead of the game. I’m feeling real good and trying to take care of myself and living healthy. As good as I can feel," he added. "With life and grandkids and the whole thing, every day is busy, but I’m so thankful to God that I’m still here."

In addition to his domestic responsibilities, he has a new album to promote. Released Nov. 4, Take It on Faith revives his Rossington side project, which sees him working with wife and vocalist Dale Rossington. Billed as a record for the fans, Faith is a set he describes as "a quick thing" they put together between Skynyrd's many tour dates — as well as a musical departure from the band's signature sound.

"We didn’t want to sound exactly like Skynyrd. My guitar playing sounds somewhat like it, but we just tried to do our own thing, and I took a bunch of different guitars to get different sound. We wanted it to be our own little thing, rather than just break off and do some Skynyrd songs with Dale," he said. "We first started doing a blues record, but then we started getting into other things and we had a few things in our pocket, so we changed it to rhythm and blues. There’s a few different styles on there."

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