The Webb Wilder character was created for a short film about a backwoods private detective who fell out of the 50s and happened to also be a musician As a group Webb Wilder combined the surf guitar of the Ventures with the rock roots of Duane Eddy dr…

Danny Shirley (b. Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA; lead vocals/guitar), Mark DuFresne (drums), Michael Lamb (guitar/vocals), Chris McDaniel (keyboards/vocals), Gates Nichols (steel guitar/vocals) and Wayne Secrest (bass). Drenched in the southern country…

Though they started out in the '80s in Athens, GA, Widespread Panic are as far as can be from what was known then as the "Athens scene" (R.E.M, Let's Active, Pylon, etc.). Instead, they were among the first of a new wave of jam bands picking up the b…

b. 12 December 1943, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA. Formerly with Tommy Roe's Romans, this exceptional guitarist was also a member of the Second Coming, a Jacksonville group that featured bass player Berry Oakley. Both musicians joined the Allman Bro…

Despite tongue-in-cheek album titles like SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA and GANGSTABILLY, Athens, Georgia's Drive-by Truckers take their Lynyrd Skynyrd very seriously, as well as their Neil Young and their Replacements. Redneck rock for the 2000s liberal indie…

Formed in 1971 in South Carolina, USA, this "southern-rock" style group enjoyed national popularity from the early to late 70s. The band consisted of Toy Caldwell (b. 1948, Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA, d. 25 February 1993, Moore, South Carolina,…

Unusual among Southern boogie band of the 70s, Wet Willie included a strong R&B element in its music. The group was founded as Fox in 1970 in Mobile, Alabama by Jimmy Hall (vocals, saxophone, harmonica) and his brother Jack (bass). Other members were…

A sextet formed in the late 60s, Black Oak Arkansas took its name from the US town and state where singer Jim "Dandy" Mangrum (b. 30 March 1948) was born. The other members of the band came from nearby towns: Ricky Reynolds (b. 28 October 1948, Manil…

b. Howard Duane Allman, 20 November 1946, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, d. 29 October 1971, Macon, Georgia, USA. One of rock's most inventive and respected guitarists, Allman initially garnered attention as a member of the Allman Joys. This promising gr…

Formed in 1969, the New Riders was initially envisaged as a part-time spin-off from the Grateful Dead. Group members Jerry Garcia (b. Jerome John Garcia, 1 August 1942, San Francisco, California, USA, d. 9 August 1995, Forest Knolls, California, USA;…

Fusion combo Sea Level was formed in 1976 by keyboardist Chuck Leavell bassist Lamar Williams and drummer Jai Johanny Jaimoe Johanson following their exit from the Allman Brothers Band guitarist Jimmy Nalls completed the original lineup which in 1977…

Kentucky combo My Morning Jacket stands halfway between indie-rock and alt-country, combining twangy, rural sounds with a thick guitar-and-drums onslaught occasionally leavened by soaring neo-shoegazer textures. Singer Jim James's Neil Young-like voi…

Little Feat was a perfect balance of a soulful singer and songwriter, a funky rhythm section, and innovatively emotive soloists. The balance didn't last, but their finest works remain compelling and timeless.

Southern US rock practitioners Blackfoot initially comprised Rick Medlocke (guitar, vocals), Charlie Hargrett (guitar), Greg Walker (bass) and Jakson Spires (drums, vocals). The quartet shared common origins with Lynyrd Skynyrd (Medlocke co-writing f…

Delaney Bramlett was a successful studio musician and Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell was the only white member of Ike Turner's Ikettes when they met in Los Angeles in 1967. The couple married that week, and formed a soulful, rootsy band that hosted a rotating…

As Little Feat was disbanding in late 1978 their lead guitaristsongwriter Lowell George recorded a solo album Thanks Ill Eat It Here that sounded as loose and funky as the band in their prime After its release the following year he set out on tour to…

The Allman Brothers Band offshoot Gov't Mule combines the improvisatory aesthetic of jam bands with the heavy-duty blues-rock sensibility of classic power trios like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woo…

One of country rock's more inventive exponents, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils was formed in 1971 by the songwriting team of John Dillon (b. 6 February 1947, Stuttgart, Arkansas, USA; guitar/fiddle/vocals) and Steve Cash (b. 5 May 1946, Springfield, M…

Texan blues guitarist Johnny Winter, surely the first albino blues guitar hero, was already a convincing artist in the '60s when still in his teens. At the dawn of the '70s, he embraced the sound of the time, adopting a louder, more frenetic blues-ro…