Term of Award
Summer 2024
Degree Name
Master of Arts in History (M.A.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (open access)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of History
Committee Chair
Alan Downs
Committee Member 1
James Todesca
Committee Member 2
Matthew Hill
Abstract
Music has always been a conduit in which its artists are able to voice their views, influences, desires, and heartbreaks to a wide audience. Southern Rock is no different. The emergence and popularity of the genre in the 1970s is not a coincidence, but rather a reflection of the South during this time. The South as a whole was changing due to the passage of the Civil Rights Act, ending Jim Crow Laws and denouncing racial oppression throughout the nation. For the South, This meant drastic changes to their society and the slow recognition of the racially oppressive ideals that were rooted in both southern culture and politics. Many southerners felt lost during the 1970s, trying to find a balance between being proud of their southern heritage while also coming to terms with the negative aspects of that same heritage. The music of Southern Rock is a reflection of this, at most showing a desire to balance southern pride and socially progressive views, and at minimum giving southerners something that was theirs and was not rooted in racist and oppressive ideals. Through its political ties with figures like Jimmy Carter, the racially integrated nature of notable southern rock bands such as the Allman Brothers Band, and the various activist efforts of the musicians throughout the decade, southern rock did much to promote progressive ideologies in the South. However, to say the genre was “all in” on progressive ideologies demotes the complex nature of the genre. Notable acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Charlie Daniels Band, muddied the waters of southern rock’s progressive legacy, tying the genre to conservative ideologies in the South that have persisted in the modern age.
OCLC Number
1450317889
Catalog Permalink
https://galileo-georgiasouthern.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01GALI_GASOUTH/1r4bu70/alma9916583649902950
Recommended Citation
Hartman, John H., "Hillbilly Bands: Southern Rock's Impact on Southern Identity in the 1970s" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2823.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/2823
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No
Included in
Cultural History Commons, Other Music Commons, Political History Commons, United States History Commons