(VIDEO) Thou shalt not call the Allman Brothers Band Southern rock

I don’t usually post these videos here. I figure y’all prefer words on screen to me talking. But as I was editing this video violating one of the commandments, I thought I’d try something new and send it your way. Thou shalt not call the Allman Brothers Band Southern rock.There are a zillion reasons people get mad about this, most of them boiling down to a version of one of three arguments. * “How can you POSSIBLY compare the ABB’s superior music to [insert Southern rock band here]?!” (Often Skynyrd)MY TAKE: True, the ABB were musician’s musicians. But it’s the general audience that defines a genre, not hardcore fans.* “The ABB weren’t Southern rock, they hated the term” along with some version of this quote from Gregg that I included in Play All Night! “All rock ’n’ roll came from the South, it is southern by definition. You might as well call it Rock rock.” Gregg AllmanMY TAKE: Gregg’s right, but nearly every musician disavows genre, the ABB included. And like point 1 above, as much as they want to, musicians don’t define genre—particularly one created as a marketing term.* A disavowal of the racist undertones of Southern rock’s embrace of Confederate imagery: “How could they be racist, they were an integrated band?! And they never used the rebel flag!”MY TAKE: The ABB did use Confederate imagery in the Brothers and Sisters era.9 Second, touring with two Black musicians, Jaimoe and Lamar Williams, and playing Black-influenced music did not make the ABB immune to the forces of racism that permeated Southern culture throughout the 1970s.It’s a complex topic, and something I talked about a bit in Play All Night and here: “Lessons from Duane Allman’s Journey to Fillmore East.”10Conversation from the Crossroads of Southern music, history, & culture. All of this is true.There’s so more involved, including that the term didn’t really pertain to either the ABB nor Skynyrd when Al Kooper first used it in advertisements in 1973 for his Sounds of the South label. See: Yes, the Allman Brothers Band are Southern rock No matter which way you look at it, the ABB are a Southern rock band. Of course they are, because that's how the VAST MAJORITY of people view them, most having very little idea the pejorative the term became in the 80s. Are they better than the vast majority of their Southern rock peers? I ABBsolutely think so. It's also true the Allman Brothers were much bigger than Southern rock and bristled against the categorization. That's something most artists do. Lagniappes🍄Book TalkThe video I’m sharing is part of a book talk on Zoom hosted by a former student of mine, Allison Willey of Arapahoe Libraries. Allison asked me very thoughtful and engaging questions, which gave me a lot of room to do my thing. You’d probably enjoy the full talk: 🍄Speaking of quality rock & roll content… Y’all really need to check Rock Talk Studio Rock 'n' Roll Book and Doc Reviews. Rick reviewed Play All Night here and gave it his 2023 Best Book about a Band Member award. But it ain’t all me. Big Rick has an appreciation of the music and stories of the widerscope of the Allman Brothers Band universe. He’s covered Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Learning to Live Together: The Return of Mad Dogs and Englishmen; interviewed my good friend Alan Paul; and reviewed bios of Duane’s buddy King Curtis, Soul Serenade and Leon Russell, Master of Space and Time's JourneyDig it: rocktalkstudio.buzzsprout.com/Thanks for being here. Let me know if you’d like more of these quick videos. Easy enough for me to post them here. Though many of them to end up on Notes too.MERCH!Don’t forget to Give the Gift of Rock this year. The Long Live the ABB merch store is open for unique gifts for the music lover in your life. Here’s a sample of the goodies I’ve got curated for you, commissioned artwork and photographs from my personal stash. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe