Duane Allman once said that the term “Southern rock”
was redundant: “Rock was born in the South, so saying
‘Southern rock’ is like saying ‘rock
rock.’” But in the early 1970s, when (mostly white)
down-home hippies fused soul, country, and jam blues while
aggressively embracing their knotty heritage, they invented a new
music that forced the rest of the country to take notice. Over the
years, it’s influenced everything from heavy metal to new
wave, indie rock to hip-hop.
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND EAT A PEACH (Polydor, 1972) The Allmans were cosmic longhairs whose spiraling jams spun blues rock into far-out redneck jazz. This half-live, half-studio double album pays epic tribute to guitarist Duane Allman, who died in a motorcycle wreck the previous year. On the 33-minute "Mountain Jam," Duane & Co. take it to the bridge by way of Valhalla; countless neo-hippie bands still camp in this song's foothills.
