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Southern rock cannot strictly be confined to either music from the South or musicians from the South. During its nascent period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was a reaction to and offshoot of black blues artists like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Elmore James, etc.; rockabilly artists like Cash and Carl Perkins; and white American and British Rock. There were already southern themes in most rock music because, by and large, it had traveled up from Mississippi through Memphis in the mid-1950s. The big English bands like the Rolling Stones, Animals, Bluesbreakers, and Beatles were all students of blues and rockabilly, and maybe the southern rock genre was just a movement to put a more authentic voice on it. We should distinguish between southern rock bands and southern rock songs. I wouldn't call the Eagles a southern rock band either, but certainly some of their early songs were influenced by country music through the Gram Parsons-led Byrds and Burrito Brothers.It would be hard to argue that "Born on the Bayou" or "Proud Mary" were not southern rock songs.We also should not discount all Californians, because many were dustbowl refugees from Oklahoma and points east and south (Half the Eagles went to N. Texas State U., Parsons was from South Carolina). As for the current crop of country songs on commercial radio, many are just faux "Sweet Home Alabama." Possibly singer/songwriters like Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, Robert Earl Keane and some other AAA artists are the real progeny of 60s-70s southern rock. But that is another discussion. Sam Lorber Tennessee State University Nashville, TN
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