Twelve songs that reshaped country music in 1973

THE ROCKERS

Nor were the bands from the south who liked electric guitar and rock & roll music. There was no real musical divide to cross here. Traditional R&B was in the DNA of rock and traditional R&B was not very far removed from the delta blues and even the bluegrass that had its home in the south. Rock and roll just electrified the sound and scuffed it up a bit. It wasn’t pretty. Then again, neither were Jimmie Rodgers or Hank Williams. The shift from country music to country or southern rock in the early ‘70s wasn’t so much a shift in music as it was in attitude. Fortunately, these bands had attitude to spare.

“La Grange” by ZZ Top

The unstoppable blues groove that kicks off “La Grange” landed ZZ Top in some legal hot water when a producer accused the Texas trio of ripping off John Lee Hooker. The case didn’t amount to anything in the long run, but the song put this odd collection of jam masters on the radio. It was about a brothel, though not many listeners really paid attention to Billy Gibbons’ grunted vocals. They were too busy focusing on his heavy blues riffs and the head-bopping, toe-tapping rhythm provided by his bandmates Dusty Hill and Frank Beard.

It wasn’t really country, but since the music came out of Texas and the vocals had a drawl, it got put in that same boat. The confusion helped open up what country rock could be. ZZ Top would go on to release a series of hit albums over the next decade, drifting further and further away from those borderline country roots, and what passed for country rock would drift right along with them.

“Wasted Words” by the Allman Brothers

By the time the Allman Brothers’ fourth studio album Brothers and Sisters came out in 1973, the band had suffered through multiple tragedies that shifted creative control. Duane Allman, one of the finest guitar players on the planet, had passed away a few weeks before his 25th birthday in 1971 and bass player Berry Oakley, depressed by the death of his friend, eerily died in a virtually identical motorcycle accident the following year, also at the age of 24.

The band continued with vocalist Gregg Allman ceding some of his keyboard duties to new member Chuck Leavell and guitar player Dickey Betts taking on a larger role in the absence of Duana. Oakley was around just long enough to play on the first two tracks from Brothers and Sisters. One of them, the Betts-penned “Ramblin’ Man” was pure country bliss which would become the Allman’s biggest hit.

The other, Gregg’s “Wasted Words,” sounded more like the rough and tumble rock and soul they had been playing for the past couple of years. Greg was one of the giants of ‘70s rock vocalists and he exudes a swampy prowess that had to come from the south. Whether it was country rock or southern rock didn’t really matter. The two genres were evolving into a new species.

“Gimme Three Steps” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

The Allmans had been around for a while by 1973, but Lynyrd Skynyrd was brand new – at least to the general public outside of Florida. There debut, Pronounced ‘Leh-‘nerd ‘Skin-‘nerd, produced one monster hit, “Free Bird,” which cemented country/southern rock as a staple on FM and AM radio alike. “Free Bird” is a fine yearning country ballad with guitar by the truckload.

The album balanced those more country-leaning ballads like “Tuesday’s Gone” and “Simple Man” with the funkier, blues-rock boogie of songs like “I Ain’t the One” and “Poison Whiskey.” They hit the perfect sweet spot on “Gimme Three Steps,” a barroom pick-up story gone bad with a southern shuffle that crackled with rock & roll energy.

“Take the Highway” by The Marshall Tucker Band

Another debut from a band that had free-roving guitars and a relaxed blues groove like the Allmans. But what was that different sound you could hear on the very first track from The Marshall Tucker Band? It couldn’t possibly be a flute, could it?

That’s exactly what Jerry Eubanks was playing, along with the occasional sax as well. Sometimes it was just embellishment, but at other times, Eubanks actually soloed. The middle of “Take the Highway” featured Eubanks soloing on flute before Toy Caldwell took off on a gallivanting guitar run. Eventually, it returned to the song proper with vocalist Doug Gray singing about traditional country wanderlust, as that flute, guitar, and even session player Paul Hornsby’s various keyboards all swirled to a climax.

“Dixie Chicken” by Little Feat

ZZ Top was from Texas, Marshall Tucker from South Carolina and both The Allmans and Lynyrd Skynyrd hailed from Florida. I know full well that Texas and Florida consider themselves unique entities, unmoored to any regional tradition. But come on – that’s still the south. Lowell George, who founded and led Little Feat until his death in 1979, came from – wait for it – Los Angeles, California. The same place Kris Kristofferson went when Nashville and Austin alike accused him of abandoning country music.

Not only that, George briefly passed through Frank Zappa’s avant-garde, progressive rock outfit, The Mothers of Invention, on his way to Little Feat. “Dixie Chicken,” the title track from the band’s third album, was country funk. It rolled multiple influences into its mix – a little calypso percussion, a New Orleans piano, backing vocals from the Bonnies – Raitt and Bramlett, along with George’s slide guitar to tell the bittersweet tale of love found and lost in the Commodore Hotel in Memphis. We didn’t make it all the way to Nashville, but at least we got back to Tennessee.