That’s a good call.
I come to this from some weird summoning, but I think “Nazareth” is more authentic than half these playrunners.
Miss Misery is every Southern or Northern Mama I have known…
Personal perspective here . . .
If you ever saw the ORIGINAL Allman Brother’s band . . . I did. At Piedmont Park in Atlanta, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in 1970. Free and open to “the people.” Duane was the unquestioned leader, Greg was just the kid brother playing keyboard and adding soulful, then powerful vocals. I was standing about 15 feet from Duane, closer to Greg. Started with Whipping Post, Duane doing that long slow build-up and then Greg . . . it’s still there like it was this past Sunday.
And then Duane got on that motorcycle.
I am too young to have seen the original ABB, but was a fan well before I got into the rest of the “southern rock” scene, in the late 70s, early 80s and saw them twice back then (I was close enough one night to feel the Whipping Post bass intro vibrating my boot-cut jeans.)
I think that it was Skynyrd that really made it popular (at least in my NJ town in that era), but that was ramping up just around the time of the crash. Based on what I liked about Skynyrd, I explored, and saw, other groups mentioned here.
Charlie Daniels played at Seton Hall (?) in maybe 1979, just before “Devil” got a lot of airplay, and I bought all of his early albums. It was a shame when he went MAGA because the CDB put on a great show (and cataloged what they felt was “southern rock” in “The South’s Gonna Do it Again.”)
We also saw Molly Hatchet (can’t remember any songs, was never that into them), CDB, Outlaws, .38 Special, Rossington/Collins, Henry Paul band (warmup) at the old Capitol Theatre in Passaic. I couldn’t hear much of my HS graduation after sitting next to the speakers during Marshal Tucker. Looking back, those kind of bands came through NJ a lot in that era, and that’s what I would consider “southern rock.”
I haven’t seen Little Feat mentioned - would they be considered southern rock?
Allman Brothers first album was in 1969 and Skynyrd in 1973. But I think Skynyrd definitely wins the popularity contest even if their music isn’t as impressive as Allman Brothers. FREE BIRD!
I guess I’d put them in the same category with Creedence. A California band but definitely had a southern sound, although with probably a little more funk/soul than CCR. And of course their big hit was “Dixie Chicken”.
I saw the Outlaws and Molly Hatchet in Boston in 1978, and even up north there was a solid Southern Rock audience and feel. I just looked up the ticket price, $8.50. 
I think that when people generally use the term “southern rock”, they are thinking of the types of bands epitomized by Skynyrd and the Allman Bros (IMO).
If I take these two as the center of the defining area, then I’m looking for a band that fuses rock, blues, and country, but also fuses these influences in a certain way, mostly defined on how they approach their guitar elements.
So, I’d say a lot of the bands discussed fit in closely around Skynyrd/ABB, but bands like Creedence (more heavily country influenced rock than blues influenced, with a completely different approach to guitar) and Little Feat (lighter rock influence, more fusion of country with blues, also with a very different guitar approach) aren’t “southern rock”, even though they aren’t too far outside the boundary line.
As I asked, I was wondering if my perception of Little Feat was influenced by the connotations of “Dixie Chicken” (and “Oh, Atlanta” for that matter) and didn’t really know much about their origins, despite listening to a lot of their stuff back in the day. But agreed they were not in the same style as the others being mentioned.
I agree with this. Southern Rock for me is a narrow category. Rock with influences from earlier Southern music is common, but not Southern Rock.
Listening to modern country, I’m often amazed that it sounds like 70s rock with vocal twang. Country music was an important influence on Southern Rock, although the blues are more dominant. That’s why bands who grew up in California never quite cross the line. They didn’t spend their youth listening to Southern radio stations or go to Southern roadhouses. Bands like the Allmans did, melding those sounds with guitar-driven rock.
Little Feat leader Lowell George’s Wiki entry states:
During this period, George viewed the teen idol-oriented rock and roll of the era with contempt, instead favoring West Coast jazz and the soul jazz of Les McCann and Mose Allison.
CCR and The Band sounded country, but they weren’t from the Deep South. The former was from California and the latter from Canada, with the exception of Levon Helm who was born in Arkansas, which is often not considered a Deep South state. Lowell George was born in Hollywood.
IMO, overdriven guitar is a big part of the Southern Rock sound, or at least the sound that we associate with the term now, considering the contributions of Molly Hatchet, 38 Special, etc. (both from Florida, also considered on the fringe of the Deep South). In that sense, Lynyrd Skynyrd (also from Florida) laid the groundwork, with full-blown power chords (Mr. Saturday Night Special and other tracks).
First band I thought of. CCR was huge before Lynyrd Skynrd released a studio album.
On the Wiki entry for Southern Rock, they allude to Lonnie Mack as the progenitor of the Southern Rock sound. I don’t know how true this is, but he was apparently spoken of highly by at least one of the Allman Brothers guitarists talks about him with great admiration (as well as Link Wray).
I checked out some cuts on YouTube and on this one, about 45 seconds in, I can really hear echoes of the Allman Brothers (or maybe I can hear the echoes of his guitar in the Allman Brothers, since this record was released in 1963)
Equivalent to about $40 today. Not too bad, either.
I have no idea what Lonnie Mack contributed to Southern Rock, but I’m his newest fan. Thanks!
I’ve thought the exact same thing.
TIL a new term!
Whereas the intro is pure “surf.”
More Joe Meek to my ears, but a lot of people think Telstar is Surf.
The bands that come to my mind when discussing Southern Rock are The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Molly Hatchet. They were the Big 3 (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven) of Southern Rock.
Danny Joe Brown (lead singer of Molly Hatchet and co-writer of some of their hits, including Flirtin’ With Disaster, and Whiskey Man) was a patient of mine in the 80s. Both he and his wife were very sweet, down-to-earth folks, totally unaffected by fame. Danny Joe was in bad shape with chronic diabetes (which eventually killed him in 2005), but it didn’t affect his Southern charm. RIP.