# Favorite 1970s Southern Rock Band **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896 "2013-08-10T20:01:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/41 "2013-08-13T12:50:54Z")
The Allmans, definitely. I loved Little Feat & saw them live at their peak–several times. But Lowell George was a California boy, even though their style was somewhat “Southern.” ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/42 "2013-08-13T13:08:10Z")
Blackfoot My first concert: Nazareth and Blackfoot. 1979 at the Jacksonville Coliseum. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/43 "2013-08-13T13:13:53Z")
One thing, I’m purposefully putting ZZ Top in a different category altogether, otherwise they’re my absolute top bill. By miles. > [@scabpicker](#): > > For me, it was a toss-up between The Allman Brothers and The Outlaws. The Outlaws did better rock songs, but the Allman Brothers were going well beyond simple rock songs. Plus, it’s hard to vote against Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, and Berry Oakley. You start a newsletter and I’ll subscribe. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/44 "2013-08-13T17:19:06Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > One thing, I’m purposefully putting ZZ Top in a different category altogether, otherwise they’re my absolute top bill. By miles. I agree, ZZ Top is Southern Rock in geography only. Rock from Texas has a much more umm, I want to say it has a more hard-edged, hardcore Psychedelic bent, but it’s something else that goes back further than all that. There’s something that just doesn’t seem to happen much in music east of the Sabine that makes Texas something other than “southern” musically. I can’t imagine a “Southern Rock” band playing “just Got Paid” or “I Heard It on the X” anymore than I can imagine a straight Jazz band coming up with “Steel Guitar Rag” by Bob Wills. The key and tempo would work, but somehow the feel is totally different. Also, Billy Gibbons is more than the equal of any Southern Rock guitarist, until you get to the early Allman Brothers. > [@](#): > > You start a newsletter and I’ll subscribe. Well, I do own a printing press (yes, an actual big, giant thing with a motor that prints plates, etc.; not an inkjet). However, my wife is the master of it. I’m more likely to get my cowpunk band together and start playing shows, how about I subject you to that? We can throw stuff in the quarry afterwards. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/45 "2013-08-13T18:28:12Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > Had to go with Marshall Tucker Band. I liked _Heard it in a Love Song_ first time I heard it and still like to listen to it. And _Desert Skies_ off the **Carolina Dreams** album is a fabulous song. I think what really made MTB’s sound unique was Jerry Eubanks’ flute…something one just doesn’t hear too often in rock music. > SS I’m with you, Seen. And i’d like to add _This ol’ Cowboy_ to the list… one of my faves. These guys may be less “popular” on the poll because they tended to keep more to the C/W style and less to the rock. BTW, i can still hear my dad singin’ “Pretty little loooove song, Pretty little looove-uv saw-ong”, ha. I don’t know if that was his take on it, or if he just did not hear the words. Wish he was here today… we could finally listen to the same music, ha! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/46 "2013-08-13T18:41:42Z")
Allman Brothers and Skynyrd are the only two on the list with any real claim to the title. I went with AB because they were more versatile IMO and had better blues cred, but I would be happy with either. While I love Little Feat they really don’t fit in this category. I did see a double bill of The Outlaws and Molly Hatchet which was quite the experience but most of the concert was waiting for “Green Grass” and “Flirting with Disaster”. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/47 "2013-08-14T15:36:10Z")
Maybe its a UK perspective, but I would have expected to see the Eagles on that list ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/48 "2013-08-14T15:48:34Z")
The Eagles were country rock, but they weren’t Southern in any way at all, either by sound or by origin. Well, one was a Texan, but the rest were Midwesterners. And they were Los Angeles-based band from the beginning, starting out as session musicians put together to back Linda Ronstadt. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/49 "2013-08-14T16:01:01Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I agree, ZZ Top is Southern Rock in geography only. Rock from Texas has a much more umm, I want to say it has a more hard-edged, hardcore Psychedelic bent, but it’s something else that goes back further than all that. There’s something that just doesn’t seem to happen much in music east of the Sabine that makes Texas something other than “southern” musically. I can’t imagine a “Southern Rock” band playing “just Got Paid” or “I Heard It on the X” anymore than I can imagine a straight Jazz band coming up with “Steel Guitar Rag” by Bob Wills. The key and tempo would work, but somehow the feel is totally different. Also, Billy Gibbons is more than the equal of any Southern Rock guitarist, until you get to the early Allman Brothers. I’m sorry, but none of that makes any sense to me. Of course ZZ Top were Southern Rock. They got listed in [Charlie Daniels’s pantheon](http://youtu.be/WeZFPcoQr0k), and that ends the debate. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/50 "2013-08-15T06:01:47Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > I’m sorry, but none of that makes any sense to me. Of course ZZ Top were Southern Rock. They got listed in [Charlie Daniels’s pantheon](http://youtu.be/WeZFPcoQr0k), and that ends the debate. 😃 \ Damn you, Charlie Daniels! 😃 I bullheadedly stand by my statement. I’ll also note, Charlie Daniels may not be from Texas, but he’s playing western swing there. Like ZZ Top, it’s not quite blues, not quite country music, not quite southern rock. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/51 "2013-08-15T11:10:08Z")
Well now you just sound like one of those folks from Texas who are in denial about Texas being a Southern state. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/52 "2013-08-15T17:28:38Z")
Ummm… It’s a fair cop? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/53 "2013-08-15T18:59:56Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Well now you just sound like one of those folks from Texas who are in denial about Texas being a Southern state. 😃 [QUOTE=scabpicker] Ummm… It’s a fair cop? [/QUOTE] OP here. Texas is in the unique situation of being geographically and politically part of the South but somewhat different enough to be considered either separate or part of the Southwest with New Mexico and Arizona. Musically, I think Texas is clearly distinct enough from the South to be classed on its own as either another subgenre or a sub-subgenre of Southern Rock. Maybe someone can start up a new poll for Texas Rock bands and acts? In addition to the aforementioned ZZ Top, you could also include Stevie Ray Vaughan, the 13th Floor Elevators, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Roy Orbison just to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/54 "2013-08-15T21:10:46Z")
No love for [Wet Willie](http://http://www.allmusic.com/artist/wet-willie-mn0000249303)?? ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/55 "2013-08-16T09:17:03Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > OP here. Texas is in the unique situation of being geographically and politically part of the South but somewhat different enough to be considered either separate or part of the Southwest with New Mexico and Arizona. Musically, I think Texas is clearly distinct enough from the South to be classed on its own as either another subgenre or a sub-subgenre of Southern Rock. > > Maybe someone can start up a new poll for Texas Rock bands and acts? In addition to the aforementioned ZZ Top, you could also include Stevie Ray Vaughan, the 13th Floor Elevators, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Roy Orbison just to name a few. Yeah, I should stop hijacking, huh? [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=699635) we go. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/56 "2013-08-16T14:52:39Z")
I voted for “Other”, as I lived in Atlanta during the Southern Rock era and, well, I’m voting for the hometown favorites. Otherwise I would have voted for MTB. ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/57 "2013-08-16T15:18:41Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Little Feat I love Little Feat and I would agree that they are a Southern Rock Band. But they’re not from the '70’s. I voted Lynyrd Skynyrd, because they were the first southern Rock band I was introduced to. I remember listening to radio Luxembourg in Sweden in the late '70’s and hearing “Sweet Home Alabama” for the first time. I went out the next day and bought my first Skynyrd album. I admit Allman brothers were awesome, but I didn’t hear them until much later and although I listen to both, I find myself listening to Skynyrd more often than Allman brothers. ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/58 "2013-08-16T15:19:57Z")
By the way, would the Steve Miller Band be considered Southern Rock? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/59 "2013-08-16T15:51:12Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > OP here. Texas is in the unique situation of being geographically and politically part of the South but somewhat different enough to be considered either separate or part of the Southwest with New Mexico and Arizona. Like I said, denial. 😃 [Here’s some pretty good graphic evidence that Texas is a Southern state](http://aschmann.net/AmEng/#LargeMap). It’s kind of hard to define Southern Rock exactly. What is it that ties it all together? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896/60 "2013-08-16T16:11:51Z")
> [@NiceGuyJack](#): > > I love Little Feat and I would agree that they are a Southern Rock Band. But they’re not from the '70’s… Little Feat was formed in 1969, in Los Angeles. Lowell George was a Californian & Bill Payne (the other founder) was from Waco, Texas. Lowell left the band at the end of the 70’s & died shortly thereafter. Those were definitely the group’s peak years, although I don’t blame the other guys for carrying on. Their music was Southern-influenced. As is most US music. But not “Southern Rock.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-1970s-southern-rock-band/665896.md?page=4)