A Second Helping of Southern Rock, Part 1 of 2

Lynyrd Skynyrd (l-r: Allen Collins, Leon Wilkeson, Gary Rossington, Artimus Pyle, Ronnie Van Zant, Billy Powell ca. 1975

The rise of Southern Rock in the 1970s was supported by a perfect storm of occurrences that peaked with Georgia-born Jimmy Carter’s election to the Presidency in 1976. Still, the nation seemed fascinated with the South for most of the decade. Movies such as Walking Tall, White Lightning (both 1973), Gator (1976), and Smokey and the Bandit (1977) - many of which starred Burt Rey...