Although it’s more than 50 years later, Doug Gray still recalls the day that his Marshall Tucker Band bandmate guitarist Toy Caldwell, introduced the group to a new composition called Can’t You See during a rehearsal in their home town of Spartanburg, South Carolina.

“Toy walked in and said: ‘I want you to hear this song I’ve been working on. I’ve got a great first verse,’” the singer relates nostalgically. “I had to write down the second verse on a piece of brown paper because Toy couldn’t remember it. I’ve still got that piece of paper, as a matter of fact.”

Caldwell’s first arrangement of it was fairly primitive, and after the band decided that what it really required was a flute intro they turned to their gifted multi-instrumentalist Jerry Eubanks. The flute isn’t used much in southern rock, but Eubanks’s swooping, summery solo, evocative of a summer skylark, became a signature element of the song.

“We knew that we did not want a run-of-the-mill guitar or a piano part, so to make it unique we called up our buddy Jerry and he came up with something that fitted,” Gray explains.

Although he could have got territorial, when the quintet arrived at Capricorn Sound Studios in Macon, Georgia to work with producer Paul Hornsby, Gray proposed the song’s composer, Caldwell, should sing the song instead of himself.

“It was better suited for a rougher voice than mine,” he reasons. “I knew right away that that song did not belong to me [as the singer], it was America’s song. It belonged to the universe.”

However, Caldwell disagreed. Although Gray was adamant about passing over the song, Caldwell demanded to hear it in the hands of the group’s lead vocalist.

“I ran through it a couple of times and purposely sang like crap,” Gray laughs. “So we gave it back to Toy and he laid it down in ten minutes, far better than I could. He sang like he was testifying. Now that it’s become a universal song, I always ask the audience – which is comprised of folks from ten years of age to people older than me – to sing the first verse. Now all of those folks testify too.

“Even yesterday I was singing that song up in North Carolina, and in Nevada the day before that, but we had no idea that the song would become so popular,” he continues. “Can’t You See has been heard in pubs and clubs and on stages right across the world.”

Coloured by lyrical references to riding a freight train, Can’t You See paints an evocative picture of the American South, although with its subject aiming to ‘find me a hole in the wall’ and ‘crawl inside and die’ there’s also darkness present. It’s certainly a song of contradictions.

“It truly is,” Gray agrees. “And we didn’t realise this until five years ago, that the titles of all our albums from the second one onwards have references that all correspond to each other [and escapism in general], from A New Life [’74] and Searching For A Rainbow [’75] right through to the most recent one we did [2007’s The Next Adventure]. That wasn’t intentional, it just happened that way.”

The Marshall Tucker Band’s self-titled debut album was a US Top 30 success, but when Can’t You See was released as a single it peaked at No.108. Later on, Capricorn gave it another try, but it barely grazed the Top 75. Although the song was never a massive hit when it came to sales, it has enjoyed longevity and renown.

“That’s true, and I don’t know why,” Gray says. It certainly helped that the band enjoyed a couple of bigger hits during the same decade, notably Fire On The Mountain and Heard It In A Love Song, which allowed them to grow.

“I could play you a version of Waylon Jennings singing Can’t You See [in 1976],” Gray enthuses. “The Zak Brown Band cut it with Kid Rock [2010]. It’s made us a considerable amount of friends, and that’s before we get into contestants covering it on TV singing shows like The Voice. It’s in five Netflix movies right now.”

The song was also covered by Black Stone Cherry and, er… Poison. Is Gray familiar with those? “Yuh,” he affirms. “I’ve got about forty versions of Can’t You See by other artists.”

With this year marking the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Tucker Band, Gray intends to continue gigging until the moment he drops.

“The original band was only together for eight years and I’m the last of those guys, but what makes me proudest is that we are still going strong,” he beams.

“Most of the current guys have been with me for twenty-five years and it’s a solid band. It’s going to be that way until I wave goodbye from my gurney after I die on stage. I won’t be retiring. There’s still too much fun left in me.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd are on their final lap, and the MTB’s friend and collaborator Charlie Daniels died in 2020. When Gray is asked if he fears for the future of southern rock, he sidesteps our question.

“The new way is the old way – that’s the way it should be,” he insists. “Blackberry Smoke are doing it right. They’re not hard rockers, they have meaningful songs and they’re creating new memories from what’s gone before.”

But when compared to the goliaths of the genre, why are the Marshall Tucker Band not better known?

“We never took advantage of a death,” he replies, leaving that remark to hang in the air for a moment. “So many other bands did it. People tried to make us do the same [Toy Caldwell died in 1993, a decade after leaving; his bass-playing brother Tom died in a traffic accident in 1980], but we just wouldn’t.”

Marshall Tucker visited the UK only once, with labelmates Grinderswitch and Bonnie Bramlett as part of a 1976 Capricorn Records package called Straight Southern Rock, but Gray has no regrets.

“I wouldn’t have done anything any differently,” he concludes, eyes twinkling. “I did my share of every drug you could find and any experience you could have wanted. When the southern bands went out together, I protected them.

“I had the ability to act straight to explain away a TV set exploding after a beer had been poured into it: ‘I don’t know what happened, sir… that thing just blew up!’ I knew that my brother Ronnie [Van Zant, of Skynyrd] had done it, but I lied like a motherfucker. Somebody had to!”

Originally published in Classic Rock issue 304 (July 2022)

Southern rock is all things to all people. It’s a joyous celebration of being alive, a gritty reflection on the human condition and the perfect soundtrack for beer drinkin’ and hell-raisin’. It’s also inextricably tied to the land and character of the American South, something outsiders have used as a stick to beat it with (the past and current use of the Confederate flag remains a hot button topic) but ultimately gives it a sound and identity that’s unmistakably its own.

Southern rock’s golden age was the period spanning the early 70s to the early 80s, with acts such as The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet blazing a dusty trail. But it continues to thrive via bands like Drive-By Truckers, Blackberry Smoke and Whiskey Myers, all of whom put a distinctly modern spin on it.

If you’re new to the genre, or want to go deeper than Free Bird, here’s our beginner’s guide to Southern Rock in five albums.

The Allman Brothers Band - Eat A Peach (1972)

‘Bearing sorrow, having fun.’ That phrase from Melissa captures the essence of this masterpiece album. After Duane Allman died in a motorbike crash, the band rallied and made a studio-meets-live double album (including choice leftovers from their landmark 1971 live album At Fillmore East) that was part benediction, part bridge to the future.

Every song here is a classic, from the southern soul stirrer Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More to the epic Mountain Jam to Dickey Betts’s uplifting Blue Sky to the delicate acoustic jewel Little Martha. Drummer Butch Trucks called it “the apex of who we were,” and Gregg Allman said it “has the roots of our whole thing as a band”.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – '(Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd)' (1973)

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic debut, is the quintessential southern rock album and includes the most sacred of all southern rock songs. Gary Rossington said of Free Bird: “It wasn’t anything heavy, just a love song about leavin’ town.” But this nine-minute epic is Skynyrd’s Stairway To Heaven, a legendary rock anthem.

The album also features two beautiful blues-based songs: Simple Man and Tuesday’s Gone. And on the swinging Gimme Three Steps, Ronnie Van Zant recalled having a gun pulled on him by the jealous boyfriend of a girl named Linda Lou – the archetypal southern tale.

ZZ Top – Tres Hombres (1973)

Are ZZ Top really a Southern band? The argument has raged down the years, but the truth is that while ‘The Li’l Ol’ Band From Texas’ may be slightly removed from the genre’s main highway, their shared musical legacy is undeniable.

There are some who’d regard 1983’s Eliminator as the trio’s most important record, but Tres Hombres is the one that saw their unique vision of blues, Cajun music, funk and hard rock – not to forget that humorous sense of the absurd – take root on a grand scale. It was songs such as Jesus Just Left Chicago, Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers and, inevitably, La Grange that made the band a significant force.

Molly Hatchet – Flirtin’ With Disaster (1979)

The second album from the Jacksonville band who seem to have been doomed to live out their career in the shadow of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Nevertheless, the group’s altogether more metal approach, allied to such monumental songs as Whiskey Man and Boogie No More, helped to make this their biggest seller in America.

The late Danny Joe Brown’s mountainous voice and their trademark triple-guitar frenzy gave Hatchet a real edge, both live and in the studio. And the unmistakable Frank Frazetta artwork also helped to get the band attention. They came close to matching the record on 1983’s No Guts… No Glory, but this is still their standout.

Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day (2003)

Few bands embody the complexity of southern rock in the 21st century like Georgia’s Drive-By Truckers. Founders and chief songwriters Patterson Hood (son of Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section bassist David Hood) and Mike Cooley earned their spurs on the local punk rock scene, balancing punk’s iconoclasm with an unironic respect for such forebears as Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allmans.

2001’s Southern Rock Opera was a sprawling dialogue that addressed the good and bad sides of that amorphous yet distinct geographical and spiritual entity that is ‘The South’, but it’s this follow-up that stands as the Truckers’ finest hour, whirling through tales of rebellion, religion and redemption. As laidback and intimate as a Sunday afternoon on the porch, as ragged and electrifying as any punk rock band, it’s the spirit and soul of southern rock reinvented for today.

Forget Freebird – there’s way more to Southern Rock than Lynyrd Skynyrd’s triple-guitar masterpiece. Which is why we’ve asked Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant – a man who gets to holler out that song onstage every night – to pick the best Southern Rock songs you don’t hear on the radio.

So heeeeere’s Johnny…

1. Black Oak Arkansas – Jim Dandy (1973)

This was an old rhythm and blues number about a hero who saves women – “Jim Dandy to the rescue!” – but Black Oak Arkansas made it into a Southern rock song. These guys played heavy, yet they still had that roosty, bluesy thing too. And of course their singer was also named Jim Dandy. He was a real character and I betcha David Lee Roth was a fan.

2. Wet Willie – Keep On Smilin’ (1973)

Wet Willie had a sound that’s kind of hard to describe. It had a Southern rock feel to it, but there was also a lot of jazz and blues in there, and Jimmy Hall was a really underrated singer. Keep On Smilin’ was one of their big hits, although these days, not a whole lot of people even remember it. I’d recommend the live version – it’s got a little more soul to it.

3. Marshall Tucker Band – Fire On The Mountain (1975)

The first time I saw these guys play live, I thought, ‘Wow, this is really unique.’ They were like a freakin’ jazz blues country thing. There was even some flute playing going on. Fire On The Mountain is an awesome song and Doug Gray just sings the crap out of it. Marshall Tucker Band were always very cool – and they still are.

4. The Amazing Rhythm Aces – Third Rate Romance (1975)

I don’t know a whole lot about the band, but I always loved the chorus in this song: ‘Third rate romance/Low rent rendezvous.’ It had a really cool kind of country feel. A lot of the old Southern rock bands, if they came out today, would be considered country. Likewise, you’ve got country stars now like Jason Aldean, who’s basically just a Southern rock guy.

5. Ram Jam – Black Betty (1977)

Black Betty was based on an old American folk song. The band wasn’t from the South, but to me they sounded Southern, and I just dug everything about this song – the riff and the beat and the whole vibe of it. I had this on a seven-inch single back in the day and I played the shit out of it.

6. Atlanta Rhythm Section – Champagne Jam (1978)

They were from Doraville, Georgia, a real happening place, and back in the 70s, they really had it going on. Champagne Jam is one of the coolest songs from that era. Their singer, Ronnie Hammond, was a good Southern man and had such a unique voice. It’s such a shame he’s gone now.

7. Henry Paul Band – Grey Ghost (1979)

Henry Paul is a truly unique singer. Grey Ghost is a beautiful song and was dedicated to my brother Ronnie. Everybody always looked to Ronnie as being like a Confederate general – the Grey Ghost. I thought it was a great tribute, and when my band toured with Henry’s, hearing this song always brought back some good memories.

8. Gregg Allman – I’m No Angel (1986)

Gregg Allman also put out some awesome solo albums in his career. I’m No Angel was a great record and the title track is the best song on it. I remember as a young guy going to this place in Jacksonville, a bring-your-own-bottle club. And the Allman band would play there. Gregg Allman just thrilled me with that voice. 

9. Georgia Satellites – Keep Your Hands To Yourself (1986)

When I saw the video for this song on MTV, I said, ‘Wow, that’s cool – they’re playing a Southern band.’ The Georgia Satellites just had this attitude. The singer, Dan Baird, and the guitar player, Rick Richards, were so cool. And when I listen to this song, it kind of reminds me of Down South Jukin’ by Skynyrd.

10. Gov’t Mule – Bad Little Doggie (2000)

Gov’t Mule is like the Allman Brothers meets… God, I don’t know what! But their song Bad Little Doggie has a really cool Southern rock feel. Warren Haynes is a great guitar player. He can play anything. Skynyrd did some shows with the Allmans in 2012, and watching Warren play every night was such a pleasure. I just love what he does.

Blackberry Smoke have released Let Me Down Easy, another song from their upcoming album Find A Light. The songs follows in the footsteps of Best Seat In The House, which was released last month, and Flesh And Bone, which came out in January.

On Let Me Down Easy Blackberry Smoke mainman Charlie Starr shares the mic with Texan singer Amanda Shires, who has played with Texas Playboys, Thrift Store Cowboys and Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, and is currently working on a new album with Rival Sons producer Dave Cobb.

“I wrote Let Me Down Easy with my old buddy, Keith Nelson [former Buckcherry guitarist, who’s co-written four tracks on the new album],” says Blackberry Smoke mainman Charlie Starr. “We really wanted a cool female voice on it. I thought it would be really cool to have a female harmony on this song, sort of a Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris kind of thing, and Amanda came to mind. Amanda Shire most definitely has a cool voice. She sings beautifully on it.”

Blackberry Smoke are currently on tour in North America, and will play at this year’s Ramblin’ Man Fair in the UK before returning to the US to join Lynyrd Skynyrd’s farewell tour, which climaxes in the band’s hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, on September 1.

Find a list of their tour dates below, along with the Find A Light tracklist. Find A Light is released on April 6.

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Tour Dates

Blackberry Smoke return with new single and album

Atlanta-based rockers Blackberry Smoke have announced 12 UK and Ireland dates for November. The band, whose Find A Light album is released in April, will kick off their tour with a show at the O2 Academy in Newcastle before finishing up the tour in Manchester two week later. Tickets go on sale this Friday (full dates below).

Blackberry Smoke mainman Charlie Starr says, “We can’t wait to get back to the UK and share our new album Find A Light with all or our brothers and sisters, friends and family there.”

Blackberry Smoke are currently on tour in North America, and will play at this year’s Ramblin’ Man Fair in the UK before returning to the US to join Lynyrd Skynyrd’s farewell tour, which climaxes in the band’s hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, on September 1.

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Earlier this month Blackberry Smoke Best Seat In The House from Find A Light, following hard in the footsteps of Flesh And Bone, which was released last month.

“The new album is a melting pot of Blackberry Smoke music, with a wide range of sound and emotion,” says Starr. “I think it’s our most inspired work yet.” Pre-orders for Find A Light are now open. The album is released on April 6.

Blackberry Smoke 2018 UK Tour

What happened when Biters and Blackberry Smoke stormed London's Roundhouse

Blackberry Smoke have released another track from their upcoming album, Find A Light, the follow-up to 2016’s Like An Arrow. The new song is Best Seat In The House, and follows hard in the footsteps of Flesh And Bone, which was released last month.

“The new album is a melting pot of Blackberry Smoke music, with a wide range of sound and emotion,” says Smoke mainman Charlie Starr. “I think it’s our most inspired work yet.” Pre-orders for Find A Light are now open.

Blackberry Smoke are currently on tour in North America, and will play at this year’s Ramblin’ Man Fair in the UK before returning to the US to join Lynyrd Skynyrd’s farewell tour, which climaxes in the band’s hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, on September 1.

Find a list of their tour dates below, along with the Find A Light cover art and tracklist. Find A Light is released on April 6.

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Blackberry Smoke Find A Light tracklist

1. Flesh And Bone
2. Run Away From It All
3. The Crooked Kind
4. Medicate My Mind
5. I’ve Got This Song
6. Best Seat In The House
7. I’ll Keep Ramblin’ (feat. Robert Randolph)
8. Seems So Far
9. Lord Strike Me Dead
10. Let Me Down Easy (feat. Amanda Shires)
11. Nobody Gives A Damn
12. Till The Wheels Fall Off
13. Mother Mountain (feat. The Wood Bros)

Tour Dates

10 songs I wish I'd written, by Blackberry Smoke's Charlie Starr

Dubbed the ‘Florida guitar army’ by their fans – and for very good reason – The Outlaws are among the legends of southern rock, based mainly on the mid-70s trio of their eponymous debut, Lady In Waiting and Hurry Sundown. Unsurprisingly, Legacy Live leans heavily on this output from 1975 to ’77, bulked out with a solid fistful of tracks from 2012’s It’s About Pride.

It’s all about the scintillating triple-guitar interplay between Henry Paul, Steve Grisham and Chris Anderson, and soaring vocal harmonies that call to mind the Eagles, not least on cornerstone tunes There Goes Another Love Song, Green Grass & High Tides and closer (Ghost) Riders In The Sky. A southern rock masterclass, no question.

This article first appeared in Issue 1 of The Blues, June 2012

In New Orleans, gumbo isn’t just an entrée; it’s a philosophy for life. Just like the legendary Louisiana stew, disparate elements blend together effortlessly on the streets of ‘New Awlins’. Tourists, prostitutes, students and lunatics crowd the sidewalks of the city’s French Quarter. The air is thick with the smell of Cajun, Creole, BBQ and Mexican cuisine. Blues, funk, soul, country and ska music spills out of the countless local bars and dives. It’s a melting pot; a smorgasbord if you will.

It’s in the French Quarter, at The House Of Blues, that we meet a new Southern supergroup that defines the term ‘musical gumbo’. In a real gumbo the Cajun Holy Trinity is chopped onions, celery and bell peppers. In the Royal Southern Brotherhood, it’s blues, soul and rock. RSB is blues guitarist Mike Zito, Neville Brother and ex-Meters percussionist Cyril Neville, guitarist Devon Allman (son of Allman Brother Gregg), ex-Derek Trucks Band drummer Yonrico Scott and bassist Charlie Wooten.

The thinking behind the Royal part of the band’s name is clear when you take into account the legacy of the Neville and Allman surnames. Two great Southern brands have been joined at last. Like any good gumbo, the success of Royal Southern Brotherhood is down to choosing ingredients that complement each other, then letting them simmer until the magic happens.

It was all Rueben Williams’ doing. “What would it be like to have an Allman Brother and a Neville Brother in the same band?” the mover and shaker on the Louisiana music scene, and RSB’s manager, pondered with Mike Zito one day. “How come no one’s ever tried to put them together?”

“We should try that,” replied Zito, and the blue touch paper began to smoulder. Until then the five cats that now make up the Royal Southern Brotherhood were happily going about their business. No one was looking for a new gig; none of these guys were out of work.

As it happens, Zito had already scored a 2009 Blues Music award with Pearl River, a song co-written with Cyril Neville. The two men had never met before. “That was the first time I’d written a song with anybody,” says Mike. “He sent me some lyrics and said, ‘Check these out. See what you think.’ That’s what started our friendship; winning an award.”

Mike and Devon Allman go way back. “We knew each other in St. Louis,” he comments. “We worked in a music store together. After that we stayed in touch over the years. We’d be touring and see each other on the road.”

The three men started talking, and soon Rueben’s dream of a Neville and Allman in the same line-up became a reality. All that was missing was a great rhythm section. When Zito, Neville and Allman found out that Yonrico Scott was available they jumped at the chance to lure him into the line-up. As it turned out, the drummer was just as excited by the prospect of playing in a band with a Neville and Allman as Zito was. Yonrico was in. Respected bassist Charlie Wooten – who was absent during our interview – completed the group. “From the original idea to the conception it was almost a year and a half,” says Mike.

“We’d been doing telephone calls, emails, texts; putting song ideas together,” says Cyril. “We were getting to know each other.”

The shit got real when the guys finally met, as a band, in a room in Louisiana. “It was a match made in heaven from the first note,” recalls Yonrico. “The first time we played together in the studio we just knew. It just came together. It felt right. The vibe was right.”

Royal Southern Brotherhood recorded their self-titled debut at Dockside Studio in Maurice, Louisiana. “BB King, Gatemouth Brown… everybody that’s somebody has recorded there,” says Yonrico of the studio that’s located on a 12-acre estate. Dr. John, Junior Wells, Johnny Sansone and Derek Trucks have also recorded there.

Yonrico is right about the chemistry. The record came together so fast the band barely had time to unpack their suitcases. “Five days,” he states proudly. “The whole thing.”

“Yeah, 12 tracks in two days and the record was finished in five,” adds Cyril who realised something special was happening from the moment he set foot inside the studio. “I got to the session at about 10 o’clock the morning after these guys got there,” he says. “The drummer and the guitar player were there. When I walked in they had already recorded two tracks.”

“And they were good…” Yonrico says.

They must have been. Cyril is not so easily impressed: “Coming from New Orleans you know, if the most critical person in the room tastes your gumbo and you see them smile then it was done the way it was supposed to be done to make that gumbo be what you wanted it to be.”

Not everyone in the band was initially happy with the speed that gumbo was taking shape…

“Everybody had their own ideas even coming in cos we’ve all done records different ways,” tiptoes a diplomatic Zito. “The way the music business is today it’s not as easy to spend as much time and money and things like that. I always like to do it live and it’s quick and you’re trying to capture something. Everybody had their own thing but we had to make it happen.”

“He’s talking about me!” laughs Devon. “I freaked out. I wanted 30 days; I wanted to go over every note. I had it in my head. Then I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna trust this. I completely changed the way I looked at making records after that. I’m never making another record for more than five days for the rest of my life.”

“I wanted it to be like it was when I grew up watching the sessions that went on in New Orleans,” adds Cyril. “What wound up on those records was performances. That’s what happened with this record.”

The album was produced by Jim Gaines, the man the band wanted in their corner from the start, or ‘Jump Street’ as Devon puts it. “When we as musicians know that this cat has produced Santana and Stevie Ray Vaughan [“he did Fly Like An Eagle too remember,” adds Mike], you bring your A-game, you self-edit instantly. You don’t want to let him down. Just his presence made us get it together real quick.”

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Royal Southern Brotherhood, the album, sounds spontaneous, not rushed. It’s essentially the sound of a great band getting their rocks off playing together in a room. The band stir blues, soul, R&B, country and Southern rock flavours into an irresistible gumbo. Cyril Neville’s Sweet Jelly Donut is a prime example of just how well the groove of the Neville Brothers and the electric Southern blues of the Allman Brothers can work together. It’s a combination you just won’t hear anywhere else. “It’s exciting,” says Zito. “I think it sounds exactly like the Allman Brothers and the Neville Brothers.”

“I think the audiences are shocked when they hear us,” says Yonrico. “Yeah, shocked in a good way!” laughs Cyril before recalling his first ever encounter with the Allman Brothers.

“I was in Macon, Georgia, recording my first record with The Meters, produced by Leo Nocentelli and Allen Toussaint. Someone said, ‘There’s a band playing out in the park; they’re giving (Sweet Soul Music singer) Arthur Conley the key to the city. You gotta hear this band.’ That’s all he said.

“So, we started walking to the park and I’m in Macon, Georgia where I knew James Brown was from. So, in my mind, I’m about to go to school. I’m about to see the real deal. When we turned the corner, I heard this straight hard blues, and the first thing I see is long blond hair flying and a B3 organ being beat completely up. Then the second thing I noticed was they got two drummers. The intensity of what was coming from them musically wasn’t the picture I had in my head when I turned the corner. I was just sold on that forever. I even got an earring in my ear because they had an earring in theirs!”

“They were a groundbreaking band at the time,” says Devon. “They got a lot of shit for coming into truck stops and having half white and half black members. So, kudos for them for making it about the music… there’s no colour in music. This is souls and spirits and creativity.”

Ironically, given RSB’s make-up, the Brotherhood part of their name has caused them some problems. “It’s funny when we put this band together, says Devon, “and put the name of the band on social media, people were like, ‘You better change that name. It’s pretty racist.’ I’m like, half the band’s black and half the band’s white! How do you figure?”

Speaking of prejudice, blues purists, snobs, musical Luddites, whatever, are unlikely to accept Royal Southern Brotherhood as a blues band. For those with such a tightly defined perspective, Cyril offers a cautionary tale…

“I remember I once changed the channel on my Dad’s car radio because some country and western music was playing,” he remembers. “I could hear James Brown playing on the radio in someone else’s car. ‘Put my radio back where I had it,’ my Dad said.

‘Why do you want to listen to that?’

‘You like the blues don’t you? You like BB King and all that?’

‘Yeah…’

‘Well, that’s the white man’s blues. Put it back.’”

The song on the radio was Your Cheating Heart by country music deity Hank Williams, a tortured soul who always regarded himself as a blues singer.

“That was my lesson that music is music,” continues Cyril. “All the other stuff is about someone trying to sell magazines; stuff that had nothing to do with that feeling that I was getting from the music.”

“This is an American band,” says Mike. “There is no way you’re gonna be an American band and not have blues in you. It’s just the way it is. But Royal Southern Brotherhood isn’t a blues band.”

Somewhere a needle just scraped across an old LP. This is an interview for a blues magazine with a band that isn’t a blues band. Damn it. Digging deeper it turns out that Mike, like Cyril and the rest of the guys, doesn’t really go for pigeonholing musicians in a big way. That’s just not how it goes down in Louisiana. “It’s our foundation,” says Devon of the blues strands you’ll find embedded in the band’s DNA but he, like the others, refuses to allow Royal Southern Brotherhood to be defined by a single genre.

“The only person I’ve met who was like a real blues purist was a white man that wanted to sound exactly like the 1950s,” says Mike. “I mean, who’s going to play Muddy Waters better than Muddy Waters? I haven’t met a black man in my life that told me ‘that’s not blues’. I grew up in St. Louis and played with all these blues cats. The only people that told me ‘that’s not blues’ were white doctors and lawyers.”

“Some people think if you don’t sound like Muddy Waters – and you’re not playing I, IV, V chords – that’s not blues,” adds Devon. “That’s not true at all. The blues is all about taking the ball and running with it. If you just do the same thing everyone else is playing you’re not doing anything for the blues. It’s got to flower.”

“Blues music has to evolve,” agrees Mike. “The same way it did in the 60s when it was all over and done and Muddy Waters couldn’t sell a record. Then all these English guys learned the music, came to the United States and made Muddy Waters famous by playing his music.”

“Luther Allison once said something along the lines of, ‘You can’t jive anybody with the blues. They’ll know if you’re bullshitting,’” offers Mike. “You’ve got to do it your own way so you’re not bullshitting.”

The membership of the Brotherhood frequently refer to the band as a project but all agree it’ll be a long time before the ladle hits the bottom of this pot of gumbo. Mike, Cyril, Devon, Yonrico and Charlie are so fired up about RSB that they’ve essentially put their regular bands on hold for the foreseeable future. Still, they seem surprised that it’s all worked out so well considering that, according to Devon, the band “was a side project like, ‘when we have time, let’s play with Royal.’”

“This has become project one for me,” claims Cyril. “There was no doubt then; there’s no doubt now. This record is going to stand the test of time.”

The rest of the guys nod their heads in agreement. “None of this was on purpose – I’ll tell you that,” says Mike. “There was no masterplan. It wasn’t to do something that was marketable, or to make money. It was in steps. Can we write? Can we play together and like each other? You had five guys that were doing their own thing. They have careers and are doing well. So, it was like, can we put that aside? Is this really going to work?”

It obviously has, but if things hadn’t worked out so well, and the chemistry wasn’t there, none of these guys would have hesitated in calling it a day.

“It isn’t like we need to do this,” says Devon. “We want to do this. It feels right.” Like the rest of the band, Devon takes the sentiment behind the Brotherhood part of the band’s name very seriously: “We keep the same hours. We’ve been down the same highways. This is home.”

To celebrate US Independence Day – the anniversary of the signing of the document that saw the US chuck those pesky tax-demanding Brits out for good – Classic Rock Editor Sian Llewellyn has compiled this extensive playlist of all-American rock music.

Made up of 51 songs – because the USA is made up of 50 states and one district (Washington D.C. is a federal district under the authority of Congress, established by the founding fathers to sit outside of all of the country’s states so that one state would not be more powerful than all the others) – The United States of Rock is a tour of America, state by state, in alphabetical order, that takes in many of of the nation’s great musical artists (Bruce Springsteen, Muddy Waters, Frank Zappa, Johnny Cash), bands who owe a lot to the US (the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Heart) and a whole load of new, cult and surprising names, from RHCP to Big Wreck, Nerf Herder and Wolfmother.

“As a bit of a America-nerd I just compiled this for a laugh,” says Sian. “A few years ago there was a Radio 2 programme where Tim Rice ‘visited’ each state of the US and talked through its musical history and included a load of cool songs, whether it was an artist from the state or a song that simply referenced it. So I just got it in my head to do a 51-song playlist. My criteria was that the song title had to mention the state.

“Some states I was spoiled for choice to pick a song, others (hello Rhode Island, South Dakota) not so much. To that end, I’m not all that keen on Senseless Beauty’s Fear And Loathing In Iowa City, but hey, it’s better than having to listen to Slipknot…”

It’s like a road trip for your ears – enjoy.

The Allman Brothers Band were among the pioneers of what would become the southern rock genre. What they did was combine blues, hard rock, consummate songwriting, and some astonishingly creative virtuoso musicianship. They never allowed themselves to be reined in by genre constraints, in doing so fashioned timeless, influential songs.

10) In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed

A jazz oriented instrumental written by Betts for the Idlewild South album. He named it after a headstone he saw in a graveyard in Macon, Georgia. While the studio version is confident and intricate, it was the live rendition on At Fillmore East when the composition came into its own.

9) Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More

Written by Gregg Allman and featured on the Eat A Peach album, this was specifically written for his late brother, although Gregg had begun to compose it while Duane was still alive, dealing with returning Vietnam vets. It has a lean, mournful refrain that benefits enormously from being just three minutes long.

8) Good Clean Fun

The band’s only chart topping single in America, it was written by Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts and Johnny Neal. Also featured on the album Seven Turns, this was a welcome return to the type of harmonic guitar sound which had been such a crucial part of their sound in the early years.

7) Blue Sky

Written by Betts for Eat A Peach, this was also the first song where he handled the lead vocals. Inspired by his girlfriend, the track is also the last one on which Duane Allman played. His performance is a remarkable mix of sadness and gentility, giving this an extra frisson.

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6) Melissa

This was first recorded by Duane and Gregg Allman as a demo in 1967. When Duane died in 71, Gregg played it at the funeral as his brother loved the song. It was then decided to record this for Eat A Peach. Dickey Betts’ guitar solo here gave the ballad an extra dimension.

5) Statesboro Blues

A song written by Blind Willie McTell in 1928, this has been recorded by a lot of artists. However, the version done by the Allmans for At Fillmore East is regarded as the best. Duane Allman’s stunning slide guitar work lifted this rendition into a thrilling class of its own.

4) Midnight Rider

Featuring an acoustic guitar, congas and swelling organ, this was written by Gregg Allman with help from roadie Kim Payne. Once the song was completed, Allman broke into the studio during the night to record it for Idlewild South. The lyrics have the desperation of traditional blues, but it has an overall stylish power.

3) Whipping Post

An early Gregg Allman composition, this was lyrically highly emotive, talking about the struggles to make an impact as a musician. This was written quickly to fill in a hole on the band’s debut album. But it was live when it came into its own, allowing for a breathtaking panorama.

2) Jessica

This instrumental was written by Betts and named after his daughter. Musically, it’s a tribute to gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. There’s a bouncy, vibrant attitude created to reflect the upbeat mood. While the version on the Brothers And Sisters album is nearly eight minutes’ long, an edited single edition was also done.

1) Ramblin’ Man

Perhaps the band’s most popular song, it was originally thought to be too country oriented for the band. However, they persisted with it, eventually recording the song for Brothers And Sisters. Betts’ vocals were a little more mainstream than Gregg Allman’s, while there was an iconic guitar jam at the conclusion.

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