The southern United States is an eerie place of equal parts woods in the moonlight and the ancient mystery of the Civil War. From this special, almost mystical place, perhaps the best kind of rock and roll was born. The southern United States knows the blues like no other district in the world – this translates into simply poetic lyrics and excellent guitar riffs.
Ranking 5 Of The Southern Classic Rock Bands Of The 70s
Charlie Daniels Band
Yeah, that guy and none of us knows a single person who can sing better the bars of “Devil Went Down To Georgia” than Charlie. He’s there more for the girth of his work than for the # 1 hits, but Charlie made the violins a little cold, a little.
The Marshall Tucker Band
They plowed good ground with songs like “Fire on the Mountain” and “Heard It In A Love Song.” Doug Gray sings the downcast but happy southern boy part, damn, sure they’re the most influential band out there, but they sure hit the hole once with “Heard It In A Love Song.”
ZZ TOP
Come on, these guys deserve a lot of credit for still being around, they still have their beards. Points for that, seriously, even though some of the best rock guitar melodies come from this band like “La Grange” might be the best rock and roll guitar song ever, it’s like ranking your favorite fingers. They make lyrics like “A Haw Haw Haw / A Haw Haw Haw Haw” sound good.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Named after their high school gym teacher. This is one of the most played Southern Rock bands of all time. They have anthems like “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Gimme Three Steps” and “Every Mother’s Son” are classics too. And, like Lowell George and Duane Allman, Ronnie Van Zandt died too early, this time in a plane crash, along with two other bandmates and pilot and co-pilot.
The Allman Brothers Band
“All Night Train” is one of the best jam songs of all time that we have ever heard and the Allman Brothers built their foundation on playing the instruments well, then turned to drugs and alcohol. And they certainly weren’t the most attractive group of men, but Justin Bieber or any of the crap out there today sucked and these guys were beautiful.