3 Southern Rock Groups From the 1960s You’d Never Skip on the Radio
This article from American Songwriter highlights three southern rock acts from the 1960s that shaped the genre before it fully took hold in the following decade. It explores how the "southern rock" label can apply even to bands not formed in the American South, focusing on sound and feel rather than geography alone, before tracing how some of these acts evolved into much bigger names later on.
The piece profiles Creedence Clearwater Revival, formed in the Bay Area but sonically steeped in swampy southern imagery through John Fogerty's vocals and songwriting; Hour Glass, a Los Angeles-based group featuring Gregg and Duane Allman before they went on to found the Allman Brothers Band; and Knowbody Else, a band formed by high school friends in 1963 that relocated to Memphis in 1969 and later rebranded as Black Oak Arkansas, which found fame in the 1970s.
– Creedence Clearwater Revival: formed near San Francisco, released four albums by the late 1960s, three in 1969 alone.
– Hour Glass: Los Angeles group featuring Gregg and Duane Allman before the Allman Brothers Band; released two late-1960s albums.
– Knowbody Else: formed in 1963, moved to Memphis in 1969, later renamed Black Oak Arkansas and found fame in the 1970s.
- Article profiles three 1960s bands seen as pioneers of southern rock.
- CCR and Hour Glass formed on the West Coast, not the South.
- Knowbody Else later became famous 1970s act Black Oak Arkansas.