10 Southern Rock Albums Every Music Fan Should Own
1. Lynyrd Skynyrd – (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) (1973)
Released in 1973, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut album is their finest work, featuring some of southern rock’s best loved songs. Formed in Jacksonville, Florida, the band, whose name was a jibe at their strict gym teacher, help to popularise the bluesy, countrified southern rock sound and the hirsute, hell-raisin’, down-home image that went along with it. Having cut their teeth playing dive bars, Skynyrd took their time selecting and perfecting the songs for their debut; allowing for no improvisation, and carefully orchestrating each extended guitar solo.
Kicking off with the lively “I Ain’t The One”, the album then detours to tender ballad “Tuesdays Gone”, featuring an elegant piano solo by Billy Powell, before once again jumping back into the rowdy rock of bar fight anthem “Gimme Three Steps”. While frontman Ronnie Van Zant displays his knack for storytelling, and his raw, bluesy vocals in the nostalgic “Simple Man”, he also shares his distaste for social inequality in the honky-tonk “Things Goin’ On”.
The album closes with Skynyrd’s masterpiece, the nine minute epic and live staple “Free Bird”. From Powell’s churchly organ intro, to Allen Collins’ blistering guitar solo, the powerful song is not only a southern rock staple, but a fitting legacy for a band struck by tragedy.