Rebel Yell: An Oral History of Southern Rock

Rebel yell: An Oral History of Southern Rock

Michael Buffalo Smith brings together musician, crewmen, and producers of an original American art form; the fusion of country music and hard rock. Those of you that love Lynnrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, and the Allman Brothers will have a field day with this book. Some of the interviews I recognized from Smith’s earlier articles, which you can see on swampland.com, including the ones with The Charlie Daniels Band’s Artimus Pyle. He discusses the (unusual) previous jobs of the band members, the gigs in New Orleans, and the various stories behind their early days. It’s a wild rambling tale, like only a southerner could tell it.

The chapter Filmore East was a bit surprising, in that it doesn’t say much about the city at the time. I expected to hear stories about New York City’s wild days of the 70’s, but there wasn’t much observation on their part. As Dickey Betts describes, if you remember anything of the time, you weren’t having fun. According to members of the Allman Brothers, the 70’s were a decade of free flowing alcohol and wild habits, which would’ve fit right into the city.

Perhaps those wild habits were tolerated more in the pre-MTV days?