Southern Americana
Located in 1 route
Southern Americana foregrounds the humid overlap of folk, country, Southern rock, blues, gospel, and soul. Electric guitar is usually grittier, rhythm sections hit deeper in the pocket, organs and backing vocals matter more, and the songs often carry small-town detail, heat, dust, church, river, and road imagery.
History
Descended from the Band, swampy roots rock, Muscle Shoals soul memory, and post–No Depression songwriting, it flowered in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, and surrounding circuits. Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell, Lucinda Williams, North Mississippi Allstars, J.J. Grey & Mofro, and the Wood Brothers each emphasized different parts of the Southern inheritance, but all helped keep regional texture at the center of modern Americana.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Americana Music Association, "About"
- GRAMMY, "Americana's Global Reach"
- Rolling Stone, "How Americana Went Mainstream in the 2010s"
- MasterClass, "Americana Music Guide." citeturn6search4turn6search1turn6search2turn6search3