Southern rock, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 Then
Blues rock 1963
Electric blues played louder, longer and with improvised solos. The direct bridge between Muddy Waters and Black Sabbath.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Cream - Sunshine of Your Love. The riff that showed how thick a trio could sound.
The pick names a track. This is the record the encyclopedia holds by them.
Cream, Fresh Cream (1966) - 3 What you asked about
Southern rock 1969
Blues rock with a Southern accent: two or three lead guitars, slide playing and songs as long as a Georgia highway.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East. The best live rock album there is.
The Allman Brothers Band, The Allman Brothers Band (1969) - 4 Where to go next
Emo revival 2010
A new generation rediscovers the Midwest sound, this time with Bandcamp instead of fanzines.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Algernon Cadwallader - Some Kind of Cadwallader. Cap'n Jazz reincarnated, unapologetically.
Algernon Cadwallader, Some Kind of Cadwallader (2008)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Southern rock descends from, in order. Southern rock has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.