70's redneck rock

[The_Casual_Observer]

Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, .38 Special, Molly Hatchet, Charlie Daniels, the Outlaws, the Marshall Tucker Band, Black Oak Arkansas...

Jesus, am I glad that times change. What started that shit anyway? was it the Eagles and the Grateful Dead?

[Syrinx]

1. the Allman Brothers

Were one of the best rock bands ever.

[TryingToWarnYou]

9. Ahem...they still kick ass. Newest CD is great.

Im one of their biggest fans.

[playahata1]

27. I would not call them rednecks, either.

They have a BLACK drummer, Jaimoe. Their debut album is one of the best records ever, IMO.

"It Ain't My Cross To Bear," "Dreams," "Whipping Post" -- STRONG stuff.

[Zomby Woof]

28. and FILLMORE EAST

A milestone of live albums. :thumbsup:

[playahata1]

31. Yes.

I remember listening to their version of "Stormy Monday" on the local classic rock station. That track still plays in my head after all these years.

Duane Allman (RIP) was one of the best guitarists ever. Period.

[Syrinx]

48. I actually think "Melissa" is about my cousin

Her name isn't Melissa, but I have reason to believe. ;)

[Nevernose]

2. In defense of Southern Rock

NO ONE rocks harder than the Doobie Brothers -- I've seen every act from Pantera to Abba, and the Doobie Brothers blew them all away.

Skynyrd's also great, lot of blues mixed up in their music, as is the case w/ other Southern Rock groups. .38 Special bites (and I'm not certain they qualify as Southern), Allmans are average, and The Dead aren't Southern Rock -- they've got more folks influences than blues. ZZ Top's killer, a mix of old fashioned Texas Swing Blues and modern day RnR.

Anyway, every gengre has its good acts and its bad ones. Matter of taste as to which ones you prefer.

[playahata1]

29. .38 is Southern rock. They just got caught up in the '80s commercial bug.

They are from Yulee, Florida, just north of Jacksonville -- home of LYNYRD SKYNYRD, the GREATEST Southern Rock band.

[Zomby Woof]

33. YEAH!

Now you're talkin'! Skynyrd is my #1.

People here probably don't realize that .38 was started by Skynyrd founder Ronnie Van Zant's younger brother Donnie, and that their early good stuff had more than a passing influence from older brother's band. I didn't care for the heavy-pop stuff later, but still love the first 5 albums.

[bo44]

37. The Doobies were a biker band from the Central Coast in California

The Allman Brothers are not average and they did not play Southern rock. They play the blues and country music. ZZ Top sucks. They play the same Albert King Texas Shuffle into the ground. The Allmans have the chops to play any style of music.

[Nevernose]

42. Where they're from and the style of music are separate issues.

Although, to be fair, the original thread was about "redneck rock." My mistake.

ZZ Top only sucks now, when they've done their schtick to death. They kicked ass in 1979.

The Allmans are talented, just not my cup of tea and most folks identify them w/ Sotuhern rock (as do the Northern California based Doobies). "Southern rock" IMO can best be defined as "rock n' roll with an infusion of blues and country" -- hence, the Allman Brothers.

[Droopy]

3. I like songs from every band you mentioned

But I'm not a redneck. I'm good ol' Ohio boy.

[Radical Activist]

10. Ohio has lots of rednecks

This is the home state of Jerry Springer after all. Especially in southern Ohio.

[Droopy]

14. Well maybe I am a redneck then

But I loathe Jerry Springer and I dislike country music. But I sure do like that southern fried rock. Pass the sunscreen, baby, because my neck is getting burnt.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

21. Divine Rights Trip.

...the book by Gurney Norman, serialize in the whole earth catalogue, pretty much nails the redneck element in SW Ohio..which is very appalachian, culturally.....

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

23. how about Pure Prairie League....(i like the bands mentioned, too)

...PPL was an Ohio act...from Cincy/N Ky.

[AlFrankenFan]

40. Rednecks are everywhere

Redneck: A glorious absence of sophistication. It can be permanent, it can be temporary, but we are all guilty of it at one time or another. (From the comic genius of Jeff Foxworthy)

And for the record in response to this thread, I grew up in Virginia (well 7 years of my "growing up" anyhow) and I am a lover of Southern rock from all the bands mentioned, no matter the artists' political positions.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. It's not so bad

Just way overplayed on classic rock stations I guess.

[Zomby Woof]

35. well, there ya go!

TURN OFF YOUR RADIO. It's poison. It can ruin lots of good music.

[ForrestGump]

5. Southern rock's the only rock worth having

Well, in some ways, certainly if you consider all rock to have deep southern roots...even the Beatles were just one musical generation removed from Memphis and the Mississippi Delta.

[Wapsie B]

17. I know McCartney has talked about

how Buddy Holly influenced him and his music.

[ForrestGump]

34. And check out his dead-on Little Richard turns -- he perhaps does a

better Little Richard than does Mr Penniman himself.

Elvis was a biggie to him ("Lady Madonna" was Paul's Elvis song, and he's also done many of Elvis' songs live, in the studio, and in jamsd and rehearsals), though John was the biggest Elvis fan of the group. Paul's "Long Tall Sally" and their early live "I Got A Woman" also owe more to Elvis' versions of these songs than they do to the originals (Little Richard and Ray Charles, respectively).

[EstimatedProphet]

6. The Eagles were involved maybe. The Dead-HOW DARE YOU!

Hardly!

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. Influence only!

Particulary the Working Man's Dead. (Am I digging myself a hole here?)

[EstimatedProphet]

18. Nah

Workingman's Dead was about acoustic guitar. the southern rock movement was all electric-way amped up.

[playahata1]

39. Very heavy electric guitar at that.

The original concept for what would become The Allman Brothers Band came from the influence of "power trios" such as Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The line-up was supposed to be Duane Allman (guitar), Jaimoe (drums), and Berry Oakley (bass). Eventually they brought in Richard Betts, Butch Trucks and Greg Allman, and the rest is history.

[Nevernose]

8. The Eagles weren't even ROCK

They're the greatest C/W band ever, though.

[Radical Activist]

11. I think Elvis started it

When he started singing old blues songs. I think his earliest roots rock recorded in Memphis was his best music.

I also think the Allman Brothers are one of the greatest bands of all time.

[ForrestGump]

30. Elvis was born in Tupelo, MS

Jerry Lee Lewis - Ferriday, LA
Johnny Cash - Kingsland, AR
Carl Perkins - Tiptonville, TN
Little Richard - Macon, GA
Ray Charles - Albany, GA
Fats Domino - New Orleans, LA
James Brown - Barnwell, SC
Buddy Holly - Lubbock, TX
Ben E. King - Henderson, NC
Sam Cooke - Clarksdale, MS
Ike Turner - Clarksdale, MS
Otis Redding - Dawson, GA
Wilson Pickett - Prattville, AL
Gene Vincent - Norfolk, VA
Lloyd Price - Kenner, LA
Roy Orbison - Vernon, TX
Clyde McPhatter - Durham, NC


Check 'em out and you'll see that these dudes are prime influences to everyone from Dylan and Creedence to the Beatles and Elton John (actually, Elvis Himselvis takes care of all of these acts quite handily).

[playahata1]

41. Agreed about Elvis.

Many indeed consider the Sun Studios stuff to be his best work. It was only when Elvis went to a major label (RCA) and Colonel Parker got hold of him that the music was "tamed," and Elvis SLOOOOOOOOWLY made his descent -- personally and professionally.

It is safe to say that if Sam Phillips did not have to sell Elvis' contract in order to get out of debt, Elvis would still be with us. Then again, would he have become "The King" had he not gone to a major label?

[floridaguy]

12. It's comments like this that make us remember the War of Aggression!

It's bad manners to badmouth an entire section of the country and a genre of music all at the same time. Now, personally I'm not a redneck, and I don't particularly like NASCAR and I hate country music. As far as Southern Rock goes, the guitar solo in Freebird is just about as good as it gets. Of course, questioning if the Eagles or the Dead started Southern Rock shows that this was meant to be a joke, right? Perhaps when you're old you'll retire down here and tell us how everything was better up North.

[floridaguy]

13. Oh yeah, I forgot

38 Special was from the Jacksonville area so they definitely qualify as Southern Rock, and my cousin was in Molly Hatchet, so I am a little biased. Ever heard of Gator Country?

[Zomby Woof]

24. who is your cousin?

I am a big fan of Hatchet, going back to the first couple of albums. My sister graduated the same high school in Va Beach as Steve Holland. My history teacher in high school (same city, different school) had home movies of him when he was a kid growing up on her street. When he moved to Jacksonville, he helped found the band. Love 'em still.

[floridaguy]

49. Small world isn't it? Steve is my cousin.

You know, I don't know why the hell he wore that New York Yankees shirt in concert! When the band was playing the gritty redneck bar circuit, they played a gig at the Open Hearth lounge here in Naples. I'm talking rough:scared: In fact, I think I remember Danny Joe got in a fight in the parking lot. I partied wiht Dave Hlubek, the guy that played those ridiculous licks on lead guitar, Steve, & Banner Thomas the bass player at a record store in Ft. Myers. I might be able to hunt down some pictures. We were definitely "Flirting with Disaster". I'm pretty sure Steve had moved to Jacksonville after high school, because that's what he was claiming home when the band was really hot, and a lot of our family moved to Jacksonville either from the Virginia Beach area; Holland, Virginia; or South Georgia.

I'd like to know more about the connection with Steve. I'm the family history buff. I was just in Virginia Beach last year doing the family history trip. Very Cool. I got to see where my Great Grandparents were married and where the family went to church since 1750. The church is one of the oldest in the US.

You can email me at [email protected]

[Zomby Woof]

51. that is too cool

Steve graduated literally a decade before my older sister did (Princess Anne High School), and yes, from the interviews he granted on the local radio when they came to town, he did move right after high school. I lived in Va Beach from 1972-75, and again 1979-1988.

I met Banner back in '92 when a heavily revamped lineup came to Seattle to play a small club. They hung around after the show, and he wasn't a vert talkative sort. But my friend and I enjoyed chatting with Bobby Ingraham, who was in Danny Joe's band in '81, and joined Hatchet in '87 - still in the current lineup. I told him about all teh great shows I saw Hatchet play at the Hampton Coliseum and the Boathouse at Bessie's Place.

And as far as Hlubek is concerned, his playing at the Boathouse is the cause of my partial deafness in my left ear.

Thanks for the email. I may very well be in contact with you.

[Radical Activist]

15. you forgot CCR

and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

[EstimatedProphet]

19. CCR was from California though n/t

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

26. Porterville and Lodi.....

song titles, but towns in the San Joaquin valley.

I was pretty suprised to find out they where from Cali, too.

[ForrestGump]

46. Maybe from California, but they channeled the Sun sound better

than just about anybody. By the time Creedence came to be, the sound had escaped the South (thanks primarily to the Big E, who initially suffered massive assaults of cultural prejudice from more than one corner as a result) and was no longer even an American phenomenon. It went global in the '50s, and has been ever since, but it started in the Land of Cotton...

[Tom_Foolery]

16. Rick Nelson was the father of Southern Rock...

even though he lived in Southern California. Listen to some of his late '60s and early '70s stuff. It was good.

[ForrestGump]

47. He was VERY good

But he was a son of the fathers of Southern rock...he started as an Elvis impersonator, basically. Southern rock began, essentially, in Sun studios -- it's probably the trinity of Elvis, Jerry Lee, and Carl Perkins who were more responsible than any others for forging the sound and the attitude.

But, just like trying to untangle the 'real' beginnings of rock 'n' roll itself, the real roots of 'southern rock' lay in the influences of these and other pioneers. Also, the very label 'southern rock' seems so infinitely nebulous to me, given that all genres of rock ultimately came out of Southern musical traditions.



Hey! Get that flag out of here!

That balloon goes over like a lead zeppelin

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

20. dont forget Wet Willie.."Keep on Smiling:"...

You're just hangin' out
At a local bar
And you're wonderin'
Who the hell you are
Are you a farmer?
Are you a star?

[Zomby Woof]

22. oh, just Coltrane and the Stones and Muddy Waters

To name a few of the influences of the bands you listed.

And Hank Williams Sr., Jimmie Rodgers, The Beatles, Robert Johnson, and many many more.

Most of those bands are/were damn good, and were among the best the 70's and early 80's had to offer. Sure beat the hell out of disco or arena rock, and most punk.

[tcfrogs]

25. I like them all

and I'm a northerner!

[Cocoa]

32. you forgot Little Feat

and you're way off with the Eagles and the Dead.

[playahata1]

36. Is Elvin Bishop Southern Rock?

I don't know a hell of a lot about him other than "Fooled Around and Fell in Love," but I know that he gets major props as a guitarist.

[Zomby Woof]

38. He is blues-rock

Elvin is fantastic. He was the younger of the two hot guitarists (the other being Mike Bloomfield) in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 60's. The song you refer to was from his 70's solo career, and sung by one of his band members. Top 20 hit that year.

He was from Oklahoma, and went to the University of Chicago on a scholarship, because he came from a family of engineers, and was expected to go that route. Instead, he skipped college altogether, and jammed in blues dives all over Chicago, eventually landing a gig with Butterfield.

I always loved that line in the Charlie Daniels song "The South's Gonna Do It": "There's Elvin Bishop sittin' on a bale of hay, he ain't good lookin', but he sure can play..."

I have seen him live 3 times, and the last time, he jumped off stage (this was in Seattle) with his cordless and played across the dance floor, to get to the bar for a beer. I jammed right in front of him on air guitar and he had the biggest grin.

I HIGHLY recommend his albums from Alligator Records out of Chicago. Any of them will do, but "Ace In The Hole" is a good a place as any to begin. He is a hilarious storyteller in his songs, and his guitar does sear and smoke!


http://www.alligator.com

[playahata1]

43. The singer in "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" is none other than

Mickey Thomas, who went on to sing in that abomination known as STARSHIP. (Damn you, Grace Slick and Paul Kantner, for allowing one of the great groups of all time to sink to such lows!)

Thanks for the Elvin Bishop info. Peace.

[AntiCoup2K4]

44. I live About as "north" as you can get in this country (excluding Alaska)

...and I've always listened to "southern rock" Skynyrd, Allmans. older 38 Special. Remember a few Molly Hatchet songs, Outlaws,etc.

And if it all was influenced by any one band, I'd have to say Creedence. Even though they were from Northern California.

As far as country influence in rock goes, that's been there since Elvis Presley. Yeah the Eagles were obvious about it, as was Creedence, and the Dead & the Rolling Stones have certainly done their share of songs which could have come right out of Nashville.

But the influence is a little more subtle in some other bands you wouldn't even suspect. Led Zeppelin, anyone?

Steel guitars all over that third album. Even a BANJO on "Gallows Pole".

Oh and that Who song "SqueezeBox" - Sure you can argue whether or not it's their best song (it wasn't) but it was a solid hit for the band. And Pete ain't playing no power chords on that solo, he's plucking a goddamn redneck banjo. But then, didn't Baba O'Reilly end with a fiddle solo ;)

Van Halen did a cover of Roy Rogers & Dale Evans "Happy Trails".

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - good ol' Southern boys from Gainesville Florida in their own right- did an entire album with Johnny Cash. And Johnny also turned up on U2's Zooropa album. Which is about as far from country as you can get.

Seems like that damned redneck influence is all over the place. Probably a good thing too, since without it, music would probably sound like Pat Boone :evilgrin:

[playahata1]

45. And don't forget Bob Dylan and his "country" phase in the late '60s.

"Nashville Skyline" and "John Wesley Harding." He also did some stuff with Johnny Cash.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

50. HEY NOW

I LOVE that shit. You can apologize now.