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| Southern rock | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1960s and early 1970s,Southern United States |
| Fusion genres | |
| Southern metal | |
| Regional scenes | |
| Southern United States | |
| Other topics | |
Southern rock is a subgenre ofrock music and a genre ofAmericana. It developed in theSouthern United States fromrock and roll,country andblues, and is focused generally onelectric guitars and vocals.
Rock music's origins lie mostly in the music of theAmerican South, and many stars from the first wave of 1950srock and roll such asBo Diddley,Elvis Presley,Little Richard,Buddy Holly,Fats Domino, andJerry Lee Lewis hailed from theDeep South. However, theBritish Invasion and the rise offolk rock andpsychedelic rock in the middle 1960s shifted the focus of new rock music away from the rural south and to large cities like Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.
In the 1960s, rock musicianLonnie Mack blended black and white roots-music genres within the framework of rock, beginning with the hit song "Memphis" in 1963.[1] Music historianDick Shurman considers Mack's recordings from that era "a prototype of what later could be called Southern rock".[2] Late 1960s,The Box Tops,Sir Douglas Quintet,[3] andDale Hawkins were popular in southern states.[4]
The Allman Brothers Band, from Jacksonville, Florida, made their national debut in 1969 and soon gained a loyal following.Duane Allman's playing on the twoHour Glass albums and an Hour Glass session in early 1968 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama had caught the ear ofRick Hall, owner of FAME.[5]
In November 1968, Hall hired Allman to play on an album with Wilson Pickett. Allman's work on that album,Hey Jude (1968), got him hired as a full-time session musician at Muscle Shoals and brought him to the attention of a number of other musicians, such as Eric Clapton, who later related how he heard Pickett's version of "Hey Jude" on his car radio and called Atlantic Records to find out who the guitarist was: "To this day," Clapton said, "I've never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record. It's the best."[6]
Author Scott B. Bomar speculates the term "Southern rock" may have been coined in 1972 by Mo Slotin, writing for Atlanta's underground newspaper,The Great Speckled Bird, in a review of an Allman Brothers Band concert.[7]
Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1971.[8] Theblues rock sound of Allman Brothers Band incorporated long jams informed byjazz and also drew from native elements ofcountry andfolk. They were also contemporary in their electric guitar and keyboard delivery.[9] Gregg Allman commented that "Southern rock" was a redundant term, like "rock rock."[9]
Early 1970s, popular musicians in the southern area includedCreedence Clearwater Revival (fromCalifornia),Delaney & Bonnie,Janis Joplin,Leon Russell, andTony Joe White.[10][11]
Lynyrd Skynyrd of Jacksonville, Florida, is known for "Free Bird", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Saturday Night Special", and "What's Your Name". 70s southern rock bands include theAtlanta Rhythm Section,[12]ZZ Top,Black Oak Arkansas,[13]Potliquor,Barefoot Jerry, Grinderswitch,Wet Willie,Blackfoot,Johnny Winter,Edgar Winter Group, and Sea Level.
Charlie Daniels'self-titled debut album, released in 1970, was a pivotal recording in the development of the Southern rock genre, "because it points the way to how the genre could and would sound, and how country music could retain itshillbilly spirit and rock like a mother," according toStephen Thomas Erlewine.[14] Erlewine described Daniels as "aredneck rebel, not fitting into either the country or the rock & roll [...] but, in retrospect, he sounds like a visionary, pointing the way to the future when southern rockers saw no dividing lines between rock, country, andblues, and only saw it all as sons of the south."[15]
Daniels later formed the Charlie Daniels Band, a group which fused rock, country, blues, and jazz. Erlewine described the band's sound as "a distinctly Southern blend" which emphasized improvisation in their instrumentation. After the success of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", a single which Erlewine described as a "roaring country-disco fusion", Daniels shifted his sound from rock to country music and "helped shape the sound ofcountry-rock".[15]
The Marshall Tucker Band, from Spartanburg, South Carolina, opened many of The Allman Brothers Band concerts using elements ofblues,country rock andblues rock in their music.[16][17] They also collaborated with Charlie Daniels. Their self-titled album, released in 1973, included the hit "Can't You See". Perhaps known best for the single "Fire on the Mountain," the Marshall Tucker Band hit "Heard it in a Love Song" charted in 1977.
Lynyrd Skynyrd played British hard rock influenced music until the deaths of lead singerRonnie Van Zant and two other members of the group in a1977 airplane crash.[18] After this tragic plane crash, membersAllen Collins andGary Rossington started theRossington Collins Band.[19]
By the beginning of the 1980s, the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd had disbanded, and Capricorn Records had gone bankrupt. Leading acts of the genre (in particular,38 Special) had become enmeshed inarena rock. With the rise of 80sMTV,new wave,heavy metal,synth pop, and urban contemporary, most surviving Southern rock groups were relegated to secondary or regional venues. Rock musicians such asMolly Hatchet,Outlaws,Georgia Satellites, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jimmie Vaughan, Point Blank,[20]Tom Petty, Bruce Hornsby, Steve Earle,Arc Angels,[21]Dangerous Toys,Artimus Pyle, andKentucky Headhunters, emerged as popular Southern bands across the southeastern United States during the 1980s and 1990s.
During the 1990s, the Allman Brothers reunited and became a strong touring and recording presence again, and thejam band scene revived interest in extended improvised music.
Georgia's alternative rock bandR.E.M. released the albumFables of the Reconstruction which explicitly invokes theReconstruction Era in the title and is considered aSouthern Gothic album. The 1990s also sawthe Black Crowes rise to mainstream popularity with the releases ofShake Your Money Maker (3× platinum), theSouthern Harmony and Musical Companion (debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 and certified 2× platinum), andAmorica (certified Gold).
New musicians such as theTedeschi Trucks Band (and before thatthe Derek Trucks Band),Warren Haynes,[22]Gov't Mule, Chris Duarte Group,[23]the Allman Betts Band,Blackberry Smoke,Whiskey Myers,Whiskeytown,the Black Crowes,Dixie Witch,Widespread Panic, andKid Rock[24][25][26] are continuing the Southern rock art form.
In 2005, singerBo Bice took an explicitly Southern rock sensibility and appearance to a runner-up finish on the normally pop-orientedAmerican Idol television program, with a performance of the Allmans' "Whipping Post" and later performing Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and, with Skynyrd on stage with him, "Sweet Home Alabama".
Southern rock currently plays on the radio in the United States, but mostly on oldies stations and classic rock stations. Although this class of music gets minor radio play, there is still a following for older bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers play in venues with sizable crowds.[27]
A number of books in the 2000s have chronicled Southern rock's history, including Randy Poe'sSkydog: The Duane Allman Story and Rolling Stone writerMark Kemp'sDixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race & New Beginnings in a New South.Turn It Up was released by Ron Eckerman, Lynyrd Skynyrd's former manager and plane crash survivor. Sociologist Jason T. Eastman analyzes contemporary Southern rock to illustrate changes in today's southern identity in his bookThe Southern Rock Revival: The Old South in a New World.[28]
South rock musicians likeLittle Big Town, Billy Currington andRyan Adams combine the Southern rock sound with country,bluegrass and blues. This has been propelled by record labels likeCapitol Records Nashville, Mercury Nashville andLost Highway Records.[29]
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| Southern metal | |
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| Stylistic origins |
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| Cultural origins | 1990s, Southern United States |
| Regional scenes | |
| Southern United States | |
| Other topics | |
| Country metal | |
Southern metal is a fusion genre combining southern rock with heavy metal music. It appeared in the 1990s and is performed by bands such asCorrosion of Conformity,Black Label Society,Maylene and the Sons of Disaster andTexas Hippie Coalition.[30][31]
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