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Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music and blues, and is focused generally on and vocals.
In the 1960s, rock musician Lonnie Mack blended black and white roots-music genres within the framework of rock, beginning with the hit song "Memphis" in 1963. Lonnie Mack Memphis Retrieved November 16, 2022 Music historian Dick Shurman considers Mack's recordings from that era "a prototype of what later could be called Southern rock". Late 1960s, The Box Tops, Sir Douglas Quintet, and Dale Hawkins were popular in southern states.
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 two Hour Glass albums and an Hour Glass session in early 1968 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama had caught the ear of Rick Hall, owner of FAME.
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." "Eric Clapton Tells How a Guitar Solo Brought Him and Duane Allman Together", Guitar Player, March 29, 2015.
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.
Early 1970s, popular musicians in the southern area included Creedence Clearwater Revival (from California), Delaney & Bonnie, Janis Joplin, Leon Russell, and Tony Joe White.
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 the Atlanta Rhythm Section, ZZ Top, Black Oak Arkansas, Potliquor, Barefoot Jerry, Grinderswitch, Wet Willie, Blackfoot, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter Group, and Sea Level.
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 of country rock".
The Marshall Tucker Band, from Spartanburg, South Carolina, opened many of The Allman Brothers Band concerts using elements of blues, country rock and blues rock in their music. 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 singer Ronnie Van Zant and two other members of the group in a 1977 airplane crash.Ron Eckerman Turn It Up!. Smashwords.com. Retrieved on December 15, 2012. After this tragic plane crash, members Allen Collins and Gary Rossington started the Rossington Collins Band. Rossington Collins Band Retrieved November 10, 2022
During the 1990s, the Allman Brothers reunited and became a strong touring and recording presence again, and the jam band scene revived interest in extended improvised music.
Georgia's alternative rock band R.E.M. released the album Fables of the Reconstruction which explicitly invokes the Reconstruction Era in the title and is considered a Southern Gothic album. The 1990s also saw the Black Crowes rise to mainstream popularity with the releases of Shake Your Money Maker (3× platinum), the Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 and certified 2× platinum), and Amorica (certified Gold).
In 2005, singer Bo Bice took an explicitly Southern rock sensibility and appearance to a runner-up finish on the normally pop-oriented American 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.White, Dave. "Southern Rock 101" (). About.com. 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
A number of books in the 2000s have chronicled Southern rock's history, including Randy Poe's Skydog: The Duane Allman Story and Rolling Stone writer Mark Kemp's Dixie 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 book The Southern Rock Revival: The Old South in a New World.
South rock musicians like Little Big Town, Billy Currington and Ryan Adams combine the Southern rock sound with country, bluegrass music and blues. This has been propelled by record labels like Capitol Records Nashville, Mercury Nashville and Lost Highway Records. Record label info, Mlive.com; accessed August 6, 2014.
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