Southern Rock - 2000 To Present: The Resurgence

2000 To Present: The Resurgence

In 2001, Kid Rock went from a hard metal rapper to a southern rocker/country singer using 2001's album Cocky as the transformation album. His next two studio releases 2003's Kid Rock and 2007's Rock N Roll Jesus were mainly straight southern rock jams and country-tinged ballads. His 2008 single "All Summer Long" (which samples "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Werewolves of London") became one of his biggest hits to date without it being available on iTunes. The Allman Brother's Dickey Betts joined Kid Rock as part of his Rock N Roll Revival Tour in 2008 and Lynyrd Skynyrd opened for him. In 2009, they will relaunch the tour under the same name. In 2010 he released "Born Free" a straight southern rock album without any rap or metal on it.

In 2005, Southern rock received new exposure from an unlikely source: singer Bo Bice took an explicitly Southern rock sensibility and appearance to a runner-up finish on the massively watched and normally pop-oriented American Idol television program. Fueled by a key early performance of the Allmans' "Whipping Post" and later performing Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and, with Skynyrd on stage with him, "Sweet Home Alabama", Bice demonstrated that Southern rock still had a place in the American music pantheon. In late 2007, Bo Bice joined veteran Southern rock legends Jimmy Hall - vocals / sax / harmonica (Wet Willie Band), Henry Paul - vocals / guitar / mandolin (Outlaws, BlackHawk), Steve Gorman - drums (Black Crowes, Jimmy Page), "Dangerous" Dan Toler - guitar (The Gregg Allman Band, The Allman Brothers, Dickey Betts & Great Southern), Reese Wynans - keyboards (Stevie Ray Vaughan), Mike Brignardello - bass (Giant, renowned session player), Jay Boy Adams - guitar (Texas blues solo artist) to record Brothers of the Southland celebrating Southern rock with a renewed spirit and maturity.

Southern rock currently plays on the radio, but only on oldies stations and classic rock stations. Although this class of music gets minor radio play, a group of loyal fans keeps this style of music alive by having older bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers play in venues with decent size crowds.

Post-grunge bands such as Shinedown, Saving Abel, Pre)Thing, Nickelback, Saliva, 3 Doors Down, 12 Stones, Default, Black Stone Cherry and Theory of a Deadman have included a Southern rock feel to their songs and have gone as far as to cover Southern rock classics like "Simple Man" and "Tuesday's Gone". Metallica has also covered "Tuesday's Gone" on their Garage Inc. album.

Additionally, alternative rock groups such as Drive-By Truckers, Bottle Rockets, Black Crowes, Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket, State Line Mob, The Steepwater Band, Zach Williams & The Reformation, Hester and Kings of Leon combine Southern rock with rawer genres, such as garage rock, alt-country, and blues rock.

Much of the old style Southern rock (as well as other classic rock) has made its transition into the country music genre, establishing itself along the lines of outlaw country in recent years. Bands such as Skynyrd and Daniels frequently play country music venues, and the influence of Southern rock can be heard in many of today's country artists, particularly male vocalists. Examples include solo artists Toby Keith and Jimmy Aldridge and the duo of Big & Rich.

Southern rock influence can also be seen in the metal and hardcore punk genres. This is showcased by such bands as Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, The Showdown, Every Time I Die, Cancer Bats, Once Nothing, Memphis May Fire, Acid Bath and Down.

Several of the original early 1970s hard rock Southern rock groups are still performing in 2011. This list includes Atlanta Rhythm Section (ARS), Marshall Tucker, Molly Hatchet, Outlaws, Gregg Allman, Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Canned Heat, Black Oak Arkansas, Blackfoot, .38 Special and Dickey Betts. New groups such as Dixie Witch, Blackberry Smoke, Gator Country, Widespread Panic, The Black Crowes, Gov't Mule, Southern Rock Allstars and The Derek Trucks Band are continuing the Southern rock art form.

A number of books in the 2000s have chronicled Southern rock's rich history, including Randy Poe's Skydog - The Duane Allman Story, Gene Odom's Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock and Rolling Stone writer Mark Kemp's Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race & New Beginnings in a New South. More recently the release of Turn It Up by Ron Eckerman, Lynyrd Skynyrd's former manager and plane crash survivor.

Furthermore, the resurgence of Southern rock has seen newer bands like The Deadstring Brothers, Fifth on the Floor and Whitey Morgan and the 78's combining the Southern rock sound with country, bluegrass and blues. This has been propelled by record labels like Bloodshot Records and Lost Highway Records.

Metal supergroup Hellyeah have shown an influence of outlaw southern-style within their appearance and their music. Songs such as "Alcohaulin' Ass" have a southern country-style acoustic opening and ending, while other songs such as "Cowboy Way" showcase the band's traditional metal sound while having outlaw southern references in the song.