3 Artists Who Are Redefining Southern Rock

Southern rock, like any genre, often surpasses the artists most associated with the label.

Videos by American Songwriter

Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band may define the classic sound, but should we also consider R.E.M. to exist in the same category? They are, after all, a rock band from the South.

Neil Young’s massive catalog is full of songs combining rock and roll, blues, and country music. But he’s from Canada. Bob Dylan and The Band shared similar influences and you can probably blame all this twangy mess of rock and roll on The Flying Burrito Brothers and their fellow country rockers in Southern California.

The Black Crowes borrowed from The Rolling Stones, but they, too, rocked, sounded Southern, and were indeed Southern. Drive-By Truckers connect Southern rock to alt-country, which is now mostly called Americana. Jason Isbell used to be in Drive-By Truckers and he’s continued a more progressive vision for roots music.

But music, like the humans that make it, doesn’t always fit neatly in a box. So here’s a look at three artists who are redefining Southern rock. You can call them Americana, too, but this list homes in on a more specific part of their geography and how they are part of Southern rock’s sprawling evolution.

MJ Lenderman

Born in Asheville, North Carolina, MJ Lenderman became known to most with the rock band Wednesday. What began as a solo project for Karly Hartzman evolved into a band blending shoegaze and country rock. Alongside Hartzman’s powerful songwriting, people noticed the group’s brilliant guitarist.

Lenderman has released solo albums since 2019 and his latest, Manning Fireworks, is critically acclaimed and made several “Year-End” lists. Inspired by Southern lit novelist Larry Brown, Lenderman’s songs are occupied by dubious characters. He places the listener inside the room when his narrators hit rock bottom. With equal parts wit and grunge, Lenderman gives Southern rock an indie makeover.

Waxahatchee

Katie Crutchfield received her first Grammy nomination for her latest album Tigers Blood. It features “Right Back to It,” a stirring song about the changing tides of a long-lasting relationship. The track also features MJ Lenderman, whose guitar playing and harmonies support the restiveness Crutchfield describes.

She formed P.S. Eliot in Birmingham, Alabama, with her twin sister, Allison. When the band ended, she called her new project Waxahatchee, named after a creek in Alabama near where she grew up. On her 2012 debut American Weekend, critics praised her lo-fi indie folk. The early albums were defined by a D.I.Y. approach, with her vivid songwriting saturated by fuzzy guitars and the hiss and hum of home recordings. Though Tigers Blood sounds pristine compared with the early recordings, Crutchfield still has plenty of rock in her Southern roots on a song like “Bored.”

Billy Strings

If you are bold enough to call yourself Billy Strings, you better be able to pick. Strings can certainly play. He attacks his instrument with such ferocity it’s like the wood and strings have caused him some harm. Perhaps it’s too much to call him the “Hendrix of Bluegrass,” but he’s kind of like that. His incredible story is also one of survival.

William Lee Apostol was born in Lansing, Michigan, but moved around to Kentucky and eventually to Tennessee. A family friend—who just so happened to be a hitman—drove his mother to the hospital the day he was born. His aunt gave him the nickname, impressed by the boy’s shredding. Strings left home at a young age, lived hard, then got clean. He outlasted drugs and poverty en route to introducing bluegrass music to the mainstream. You can hear the connecting threads between The Allman Brothers Band and Grateful Dead on “Gild the Lily.”

Strings’ virtuosity is akin to Derek Trucks’ playing. Like Trucks, he was a prodigy, and his music cannot be contained by one genre. That’s essentially what Southern rock is. It’s a blending of things, like music soup. All of which makes it uniquely American.

Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for Concert For Carolina