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.

Pay attention to that phrase “a genre of Americana,” because it goes well beyond just music and into identity. That identity is in something of a crisis right now (isn’t everything) as we reconcile both some of the songs and the images long associated with them with the truth behind those images. Without turning this into a sociological and/or political post, let’s just say that songs like Tom Petty’s “Rebels” (great tune though it is) and the Confederate flags that have dominated the genre from album covers to concert backdrops have to be honestly reevaluated in 2021.

That said, for me, Southern rock has always been something you might just as easily hear on a good country radio station, at least the ones that don’t play the shit coming out today that is an affront to the memory of Johnny Cash. It has just enough blues and gospel influences to intrigue your Pentecostal grandmother and enough pedal steel guitar to keep your auto mechanic dad from calling you a long-haired freak. Maybe.

All that preamble out of the way, here are my favorite songs that fall into what I consider the Southern rock genre:

“Heard It in a Love Song,” Marshall Tucker Band (1977). This classic from the Carolina Dreams album was the highest-charting hit the band from Spartanburg, South Carolina ever had, peaking at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Just to back up what I said earlier, it also reached #51 on the Country chart and #25 on the Adult Contemporary chart. 44 years later it is still an awesome song, which is why it starts us off.

“Southern Accents,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1985). It doesn’t get much more Southern than the boys from Gainesville, Florida. And no matter the potential issues today with a song like “Rebels,” this melancholy ode to the South is enough to make you wish you were from Montgomery or Macon even if you were born in Boston.

“Gimme Three Steps,” Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973). You probably expected that I would choose “Sweet Home Alabama” as my favorite from the legends from Jacksonville, Florida, but this one is even more Southern to me. It appears on their amazing debut album, which also included “Tuesday’s Gone,” “Simple Man,” and “Freebird,” and belongs here for a simple reason: if you’ve never prayed for a head start out of a roadhouse bar after an encounter with a girl named Linda Lou (or Bobbie Sue) who turned out to be married/engaged/seriously involved, then I don’t believe you ever spent a day south of Maryland.

“The Road Goes on Forever,” Robert Earl Keen (1989). Probably the most country song on this list. Houston native Robert Earl Keen is the perfect blend of folk, country, and rock; he’s like the love child of Bob Dylan, Bob Wills, and Bob Seger. And I know for a fact that when I hear this song, I’m not thinking of New York City.

“Copperhead Road,” Steve Earle (1988). The best-known song from the…let’s say nonconformist…from Hampton, Virginia straddles the line between Robert Earl Keen and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Though he is officially classified as “outlaw country,” this song reached #10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It’s one we loved to blast from our tanks and helicopters back in my Army days in Georgia, and it may sum up the combination of hopelessness and defiance that many Southerners cling to with a death grip better than any other.

“Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone,” Texas Tornados (1991). You probably know this song from the original Charley Pride version that hit #1 on the Billboard Country charts in 1970, but that was pure country. This version by the Tejano Supergroup of Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender, Flaco Jimenez, and Augie Meyers is my favorite (with apologies to my mother, who worshipped Charley Pride). Can I really call a Tejano song Southern rock? Well, these boys are from South Texas, and they damn sure rock so yes, yes I can.

I left off several Southern bands that don’t fit the Southern rock genre at all, including Bowling for Soup, Brave Combo, and Pantera. Except for “La Grange,” I don’t even think ZZ Top fits the category. There were bands that truly are Southern rock that I never really listened to, like Black Oak Arkansas and The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. And as for the Allman Brothers Band, considered by many to be the godfathers of Southern rock, I just never liked them. Maybe that’s a sacrilege, but it’s true.

I guess the best way to sum up these songs — and Southern rock in general — is that they always remind me of home, even if that home is an idealized version of something that never really was.

Music does that for you, no matter where you’re from.