Good evening Rawkers. I'm feeling the need to talk about one of my favorite musical subgenres, Southern Rock. So let's fry it up with some grease, smother it in gravy, sop it up with cornbread, wash it down with homebrew and pick our teeth while the good ole' boys lay it down southern style.This is a great, great genre with a proud tradition of long hair, Gibson guitars, honky-tonk piano and whiskey-soaked vocals. I'm hard-pressed to tap a "number one" so i'm giving my fave nod to a tie, both blistering bands whose names are synonymous with the music -- the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Before going further, with no disrespect intended, you need to know that other greats on my ipod playlist include Molly Hatchett, ZZ Top, Mountain, Gov't Mule, Marshall Tucker, Blackfoot, and the Outlaws.
And let's never forget the hot n' nasty Black Oak Arkansas. Jim Dandy indeed!
Of course, country/rock cross-overs like Charlie Daniels, Hank Williams, Jr., Dwight Yoakam and even Kid Rock could also be included here, but blogs aren't magazine articles....
For my money, the cd's I take to the proverbial "desert island" are the Allmans and Skynyrd.
Both have experienced their share of tragedy -- the 1971 motorcycle death of brilliant Allman Bros. slide guitarist Duane Allman, and Skynyrd's well-known 1977 plane crash that took, among others, guitarist Steve Gaines and singer/band leader Ronnie Van Zant. But both have also perservered, growing beyond the tragedies to continue bringing great music to the world.
Favorite cuts of the GOT's from each include:
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (Allmans)
Melissa (Allmans)
One Way Out (Allmans)
Come and Go Blues (Allmans)
Saturday Night Special (Skynyrd)
Needle and the Spoon (Skynyrd)
On the Hunt (Skynyrd)
Poison Whiskey (Skynyrd)
Hope you enjoy these boys as much as i do.
Go in peace....
G.O.T.
Ha! I was thinking about Southern Rock a few days ago! Mountain and Mississippi Queen.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about the movie "Vanishing Point", the old one with Barry Newman.
Where does Bad Company fit in?
Bad Co.??? Where were they from- Southern England. I don't think. I agree with GOT but ZZ Top has to be up at the top. One of my first concerts as a kid in 75 I think was ZZ Top, Lynard Skynard and Marshal Tucker Band. Still one of the best shows ever. Black Oak Arkansas, although short lived, was great. Some of todays country like Travis Tritt would have been considered southern rock in the 70's. Great, as you call it, Sub-genre. Of course I am from the South, the REAL US of A, my home-boy music.
ReplyDelete