Jacksonville and the Roots of Southern Rock

De: Michael Ray FitzGerald

Narrado por: Michael Butler Murray

The enduring achievement and legacy of a rock movement

The Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd helped usher in a new kind of southern music from Jacksonville, Florida. Together, they and fellow bands like Blackfoot, 38 Special, and Molly Hatchet would reset the course of '70s rock. Yet Jacksonville seemed an unlikely hotbed for a new musical movement.

Michael FitzGerald blends eyewitness detail with in-depth history to tell the story of how the River City bred this generation of legendary musicians. As he profiles essential bands alongside forerunners like Gram Parsons and Cowboy, FitzGerald reveals how the powerful local AM radio station worked with newspapers and television stations to nurture talent. Media attention in turn created a public hungry for live performances by area bands. What became the southern rock elite welded relentless determination to a ferocious work ethic, honing their gifts on a testing ground that brooked no weakness and took no prisoners.

FitzGerald looks at the music as the diverse soundtrack to a neo-southern lifestyle that reconciled different segments of society in Jacksonville, and across the nation, in the late sixties and early '70s.

©2020 Michael Ray FitzGerald (P)2021 Tantor

Required Reading for Jacksonville Music History

As a Jacksonville Native, a kid who grew up on the Westside, listening to stories that seemed larger than life. This book puts it all in perspective and paints a picture of not only life growing up in Jacksonville, and a vast music scene that gave birth to entirely new musical genres. You would be surprised to learn just how wide Jacksonville's musical influence spread worldwide.

Best Book on Southern Rock!!

This book was so informative and accurate on the formation of southern rock it should be on everyone's shelf! You needn't any other book on the very subject other than this title here..
Narrator's voice was perfect for this read and the author gave an amazing lesson on Florida's role in the creation and preservation of southern rock.
One thing that truly won me over and I absolutely loved is that the author gave the credit due to Gram Parsons for his hand in turning young people onto country music and how he mixed it with rock music creating "cosmic country." Gram is a personal favorite of mine and I always believed his music should have been just as renowned as any other southern rock artist and band.
The author leaves no stone unturned with any southern rock band and this truly is the go to book for learning about how Florida was to the southern rock scene as was Detroit to the Motown scene. READ THIS BOOK!! It's easy to follow and highly informative!

yes

proper editor would've caught all the material being repeated. interesting until the last chapter when author decided he had to prove to his mother that the tuition money wasn't wasted.