When you get down to it, there’s a way in which all rock is Southern rock: a mix of Black blues, white country, and church music repurposed for less-than-godly means. And if you’ve ever spent time in the American South, you know that Tom Petty’s Florida and ZZ Top’s Texas might as well be in different countries. Still, there’s a thread that runs through the tracks here, a legacy connecting the swagger of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Drive-By Truckers, the rustic expansiveness of the Allman Brothers and My Morning Jacket—not to mention a sense of directness that speaks to the lives of regular folks in ways the broader culture sometimes overlooks.
