I remember this angle VERY well. The Freebirds appeared on Mid-South wrestling in 1979 and came to the ring with the live version of "Freebird" in the background. I think Gordy was 17 and Hayes was about 18 at the time. They upset Col. Buck Robely and Cowboy Bill Watts on their very first TV appearance for the Mid-South tag titles!
JYD was in the beginning stages of his monster Mid-South push. He had actually been a heel only three months earlier with Gino Hernandez as the tag team "Beauty and the Beast". Gino, like an idiot, dumped the dog for Ernie Ladd, and JYD picked a no-name rookie jobber named Tom Pritchard to be his partner and beat Hernandez/Ladd. JYD was an instant hero.
After the Freebird tag title win, Watts claimed an injury and Robely was without a partner for the big rematch about a month later. The 'birds were in the ring demanding a forfeit victory when all of a sudden Jim Croce's "Bad Leroy Brown" (meaner than a junkyard dog) hit and JYD rolled Robely in a wheelbarrow to the ring for wild melee. Robely loaded his arm brace and came off the top rope knocking out Gordy for the win. I remember this was also the first time I had ever seen a face flagrantly break the rules for a win.
The next week, Hayes (at his best) was livid, screaming that JYD had stolen their titles AND their idea to come to the ring with music. That started a year-long feud that established JYD and the Freebirds as stars. But the Freebirds did come first with the music.