Southern Rock: My Favorite Songs From a Sometimes Strange Genre
What Even Is It Really?
To paraphrase Somerset Maugham, I have never begun an article with more misgiving. In reality, Terry Barr is far more qualified to speak on the subject of what Southern rock really is than I am, given that he is from Alabama and I’m just a Texan. That’s not me being self-deprecating; Texas never has known where the hell she belongs — West? South? Mexico? — it’s a conundrum.
I will trudge on, however, and for the purposes of this post will place Texas in the same spot she was after that stupid, catastrophic decision in 1861: squarely with the rest of the South. I only make this one disclaimer: there will be Texas bands that are only Southern in the loosest, most geographical sense of the word.
So what exactly is Southern rock? According to the source of all knowledge that is Wikipedia:
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 electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculates the term “southern rock” may have been coined in 1972 by Mo Slotin, writing for Atlanta’s underground paper, The Great Speckled Bird, in a review of an Allman Brothers Band concert.
