Van Zant

Blackberry Smoke - Find A Light (2018) {3 Legged Records MOSH609} (Complete Artwork)
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© 2018 3 Legged Records / Earache records | MOSH609
Rock / Southern Rock / Blues Rock

Blackberry Smoke's southernness is so deeply ingrained that when they knock out an expert homage to Skynyrd, as they do on "I'll Keep Ramblin'," it seems effortless. This is just who they are – they've internalized all their influences – not just the late, lamented Ronnie Van Zant, the Allman Brothers, and Tom Petty, but a bunch of classic rock 45s from the '60s, plus a hint of Crosby, Stills & Nash – and they can kick up a storm and lay down a mellow groove with equal ease.

Wynonna had no problem with the spotlight; or, as the tabloids regularly revealed, with opening up her private life for all to poke through and ponder. For all of her cultivating of celebrity, her albums continued to turn down the lights and focus on the softer glow of emotional verities her albums. Revelations is another worthy solo effort by the younger member of the Judds, the mother-daughter duo through which she first found massive fame. Often somber, and just as often right on the money, she casts a blue tint to several reflective songs that examine spirituality (without sermons) and the quiet discoveries that come with mature relationships.

The Allman Brothers came first, but Lynyrd Skynyrd epitomized Southern rock. The Allmans were exceptionally gifted musicians, as much bluesmen as rockers. Skynyrd was nothing but rockers, and they were Southern rockers to the bone. This didn't just mean that they were rednecks, but that they brought it all together - the blues, country, garage rock, Southern poetry - in a way that sounded more like the South than even the Allmans. And a large portion of that derives from their hard, lean edge, which was nowhere more apparent than on their debut album, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd. Produced by Al Kooper, there are few records that sound this raw and uncompromising, especially records by debut bands…

Building on the bandmembers' own personal accomplishments that came from the Rockin' Into the Night album, .38 Special released an even stronger bunch of songs a year later with Wild-Eyed Southern Boys. Focusing on the same Southern-based rock & roll formula, the efforts from Southern Boys contain a little more guitar zing while complementing the band's ability to produce marketable radio music. "Hold on Loosely," with its smooth vocal stride, managed to peak at number 27 in April of 1981, giving .38 Special its first Top 40 single, and the title track, "Honky Tonk Dancer," and "Back Alley Sally" keep a homespun flavor alive and well, indicating that the band's Southern roots haven't been dismissed completely.