Southern rock isn’t dead yet. Not by a long shot.
Despite my upper Midwest upbringing, I cut my teeth on southern rock. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, the Allman Brothers, Wet Willy, Tony Joe White, Charlie Daniels, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Black Oak Arkansas, and, yes, Confederate Railroad – we all knew them and plenty more like them. The late ‘70s were the heyday of southern rock, that fascinating combination of rock & roll, country, Tony Joe White’s “swamp rock” with generous doses of blues and even gospel thrown in.
I’m still a southern rock fan, and a couple of years ago I learned that the genre still has some young up-and-comers. One great band formed up in Atlanta in 2001, with lead vocalist and lead guitar Charlie Starr, rhythm guitar player Paul Jackson, bass player Richard Turner, and keyboard player Brandon Still. Richard Turner’s brother, Brit, was the drummer until his sad death in 2024, with Atlanta drummer Kent Aberle taking over.
The band is called Blackberry Smoke, and they’re putting out some stuff that makes me nostalgic for a 1966 Ford, an AM radio, a pack of Camels in my t-shirt pocket, and a bunch of winding gravel roads to kick up dust on. Here are six of my favorites.
Good One Coming On (2015): We’ve all had a weekend or two like this. I know I have. A couple of six packs of Shiner, a bottle of Patron, a pickup truck, and a steamy night by the lake, or in my case, more likely the muddy old Mississippi up by Waukon Junction, Iowa. Good times, good memories, and a good song, with an entertaining video showing the usual aftermath of one of those evenings.
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Keep On Smiling (2020): This is a cover of the old Wet Willy song, and features Wet Willy lead singer and harmonica player Jimmy Hall, one of the pioneers of southern rock, taking on his old role as lead vocals for this great old tune. Great combination, great song, great tribute to one of southern rock’s most underrated acts.
You Hear Georgia (2021): This, the title song from the band’s 7th studio album, is an ode to the band’s home state. In a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, lead singer Charlie Starr said of the song:All Over The Road (2021): A fun song, this one’s about breaking away from one life to start another, and doing it in gusto – describing, among other things, breaking a glass bottle on a road sign on the way out of town.“Lyrically, the song is about the South being misunderstood. It’s obviously a rough and tumble world, and there’s a lot of bad people. But there’s a lot of good people too,” Starr says in a statement. “It started with the idea of how people might have a preconceived opinion of you because of a thick Southern accent, then expanded into the reality of how some people just seem to have such a hard time getting along, thanks to political or religious views, or simply what part of the country you come from.”
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Man of Constant Sorrow (2013): This is (of course) a cover of a 1913 song written and performed originally by Kentucky’s Dick Burnett. It was originally titled “Farewell Song,” but one of the first to cover the song, one Emry Arthur, changed the name in 1928, and the new name stuck. You all may remember this song from the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou” with George Clooney – the movie is a heavily adapted take on Homer’s “Odyssey” – the song isn’t done too badly in the film, but Blackberry Smoke puts a real shine on it.
One Horse Town (2014): Finally, a more thoughtful tune, a song that brings out an image of a young man frustrated with his tiny community, the restrictions he sees it placing on him, and a desire to saddle that one horse and ride on out. It’s a great tune – although it doesn’t jibe as well with my own experience, as I hated the necessity of leaving my little northeast Iowa community but saw it as the price I had to pay to make it in the larger world.If you aren’t familiar with Blackberry Smoke, check them out. They have an extensive YouTube channel, and they’re on Spotify too if that’s your cup of tea. If you liked the old southern rock in its heyday, you’ll like these guys – and if you find any great songs I didn’t mention, well, then, the comments are (as always) all yours.
