The Difference Between Country Rock and Southern Rock?

I've noticed in threads discussing these we've started to blend the two and consider them one in the same. They are two separate entities. Where do you draw the line between Southern Rock and Country Rock and what bands or singers would you put in each category?

 

When I think of "country rock", I think of the (mostly west-coast) axis of Flying Burrito Brothers, late Byrds, Poco, the Eagles, and the like. These bands were really playing a kind of rockified Bakersfield-style country music. Southern rock was usually heavier, and drew much more from soul, blues, gospel, hillbilly mountain music, outlaw country, and honkytonk.

 

Acoustics guitars. For country rock, these are essential for everything. For southern rock, they are an occasional change of pace from electric guitars.

Sort of joking, but I think it is also mostly true.

Lynryd Skynryd is clearly southern rock, but has a couple tunes with prominent acoustics (ballad of curtis leow, a little bit of freebird).

Poco is clearly country rock, and has prominent acoustics on almost everything.

Philo

 

Southern:
Allman Brothers Band
Marshall Tucker Band
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Molly Hatchett
Black Oak Arkansas
Drive By Truckers
Charlie Daniels Band

Country rock:
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
New Riders of the Purple Sage
Byrds (latter period)
Poco
Michael Nesmith and the First National Band
Pure Prairie League
Gram Parsons
Gene Clark

Run out of steam!

 

They are two entirely different styles and genres and never the twain shall meet but I've also noticed some people lump them all together. One instrument that will never (well extremely rarely) be heard in Southern Rock is Pedal Steel Guitar I don't mean Dobro or Slide.. I mean Pedal Steel.. big difference. Country Rock has that instrument in spades.

 

Based on these explanations it seems that it's all in the name of the genres. Southern Rock is Rock with a little good-ol-boy mixed in. Country Rock is Rocked-up Country.

 

So where do The Outlaws fit into all this? Seems to me they go pretty neatly astride the two genres equally (but leaning over towards the country side, if pushed).

 

Nailed it.

 

Banjos.

 

Ooooh I love this thread. I like Avery Keen-Garde's Question and I'm also curious what Southern Rock aficionados think of my little group. I pull from both sides of the coin myself and then push the envelop on the heavy side of things here an example

 

Where do you put CCR? Is clearly not Country-rock (although in Argentina and latinoamerican countries where they sound to us very northamerican, people tend to identify them with country). Is CCR proto-Southern Rock ot it's just Roots-rock?

 

I consider CCR Roots rock.

Little Feat doesn't really fit into the straight Country or Southern rock category either.

 

2 guitars vs 3.

 

Overall I wouldn't put them under country rock, though I think a number of songs could be picked out to fall under that category.
I don't, personally, think I'd put them under "americana" (though wouldn't blink if I saw them there).
Roots? Maybe.

 

3 lead guitarists
So the Outlaws fit into Southern rock? (Paul, Jones, Thomasson)


Just kidding before the flaming starts.

 

Southern rock has a healthy dose of chicago blues infuence mixed in

 

Sorry, you couldn't be more wrong. Toy Caldwell's band, The Marshall Tucker Band, used plenty of pedal steel, as Toy was self taught. He also sat in with the Charlie Daniels Band, whose studio albums, and live shows featured Toy often, as all of them were good friends.

For those of us that were actually there, the labels that are thrown around today are comical at best.


.

 

Country rock is fake, commercialized, recorded to a formula southern rock.

 

Country music itself has different genres. It may -or may not- use pedal steel guitar. Unfortunately its seems to have devolved (to the casual indifferent observer) as a generic Nashville something or other sound. Country rock is likewise pretty diverse.

Southern rock draws on a number of broad genres: country, blues, bluegrass, appalachian folk....even blues rock by way of the UK.

 

Country Rock stays closer to the basics with pentatonic based melodies and simpler diatonic chord progressions. Southern Rock has the broader vocabulary with jazz, blues, country and rock. For example using a major hexatonic to harmonize the major pentatonic is a Southern Rock trademark. Can someone think of a "Country Rock" song that incorporates that? I may be wrong.

 

I would put CCR more in the Buck Owens genre but certainly a blend.
Weren't they described by someone as Swamp Music?
I thought that was a pretty good descriptor for a number of John's songs.
He certainly pulled from a lot of styles.

What about Doug Sahm? Tex-Mex?
Is Tex-Mex it's own genre or would it fall under Western?

I would not describe Nitty Gritty Dirt Band as Country unless you're talking about Carter Family "Country"
which to me is more Blue Grass, Mountain\Hillbilly.

I guess the differences are hard to describe but you know it when you hear it.

 

I thought the difference was how many cousins you were married to.

 

You wish.

 

You're confusing this with Mormon-Rock.

 

Ah. Thanks for the clarification.