dent and leader of the United States. The se- cret is in his character, his morality, and in his being truly human. I highly recommend this book. It’s easy to read and a bright and positive light in the world of politics, which. Let’s face it, is often a very dark place.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Capricorn Rising— Conversations in Southern Rock Michael Buffalo Smith (Mercer University Press)
Respect for Michael
Buffalo Smith runs high among all the
Southern rock musicians, from the icons to the great new brood, as well as the fans who live by their music. Smith’s devoted his life to several facets of pop culture, most of it intent on spreading the gospels of the down home but intense American rock bands that capti- vate him. He was in the thick of it, growing up in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and thus be- friended many of his heroes. He helmed the popular Gritz magazine and others before launching Kudzoo. Smith also writes, sings, and plays guitar in that wonderfully classy Southern rock style. A curious term, that Southern rock. A men-
tion of it likely calls to mind The Allman Brothers Band, because wunderkind guitarist Duane Allman and his fledgling six-piece were the first that Phil and Alan Walden, with partner Frank Fenter, signed to their Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records in 1969. Al- though Gregg Allman has at times dismissed Southern rock as an apt descriptor of their music, the Allman Brothers’ thickly-accented blues/rock barrage was no question the what,
when, with whom, and where it all began. But just as the Allmans encompassed a plethora of influences, the Southern rock family of bands ranges far and wide. Everyone from ZZ Top to Little Feat to Tom Petty and the Heart- breakers have been branded Southern rockers right alongside Grinderswitch, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band, and now Blackberry Smoke. Smith’s latest book revolves around the
core, comprising a series of one-on-one inter- views with the movers and shakers at, and on, Capricorn Records. Rightly, it begins with four of the Allman Brothers. In chapters de- voted to Dickey Betts, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, and Chuck Leavell, a multifaceted un- derstanding unfolds. As with any “family,” members disagree, lay blame, are dysfunc- tional and in denial, have opposing view- points, but ultimately love one another, and especially the music they made together. Dis- tinct personalities emerge by way of Smith’s relaxed, yet keen approach to a question. He knows what fans want answers to, and exactly how to elicit them. Gregg Allman, and Dickey Betts in particular, both add to their mys- tiques in these pages. Leavell, long now the keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, upholds his Southern gentleman charm. By laying out these 30 discussions, con-
ducted over some 14 years, in the non- chronological order that he has, Smith very creatively frames the story of a sound. In- sightful recollections by many of the lesser- known players, as well as the principals behind the scenes, add to the perspective given by the stars. For example, drummer Tom Wynn of Cowboy, a band unbeknown to many but often credited for devising the country/rock flair that made the Eagles megastars, vividly summons the landscape and the spectacle of a late night in downtown Macon after Smith asks him to describe the Capricorn Records studio. Numerous mo- ments such as that occur, giving the book a
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