Jacksonville Southern Rock: The Next Generation

The Next Chapter Has Deep Roots

A city's musical legacy needs people who will keep adding to it. Jacksonville can celebrate the bands that started here while making room for musicians whose own records and performances deserve attention.

Our story Jacksonville Southern Rock: Where Five Legends Began traces Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers Band, Blackfoot, 38 Special, and Molly Hatchet. Those beginnings help explain why this city means so much to Southern rock fans. They also set up a useful question: who is carrying the work forward?

The answer has room for several sounds. An original song can draw from familiar roots and still say something new. A hard rock band can share a crowd with Southern rock musicians. Blues, country, and funk can meet in the same set without anybody needing to stop the show and sort out the labels.

That variety is part of the appeal. The Curt Towne Band, Duval County Line, and Big Engine offer different entry points into the region's continuing guitar-driven music. They deserve to be heard as bands with identities of their own.

The Curt Towne Band: Original Music From The Westside

The Curt Towne Band formed on Jacksonville's Westside in 2013. Its official band history puts original songwriting at the center of the group's purpose from the beginning. That commitment gives this chapter of the scene something essential: songs being added to the story.

The album At It Again is a good place to start exploring. Released in November 2023, its Bandcamp album page lists tracks including “Cyclone,” “Fighting Fire,” “West Side,” and “Ain't Done Yet.” The track list itself gives a listener several doors into the band's work, rather than leaving the introduction at a broad genre label.

There are direct connections to the older scene, too. The band credits Barry Lee Harwood, known for the Rossington Collins Band, among the guests on At It Again. It has also shared bills with established Southern rock acts. One hometown example is the Florida Theatre's January 6, 2024, show with 38 Special.

A shared stage puts generations in the same room. An audience arrives knowing one band's songs and has the chance to leave knowing another band's name. That is one way a local tradition keeps opening outward.

For a first listen, try a few tracks before making a comparison to a favorite classic band. Give the writing its own space. Notice how the players support a vocal, where the rhythm drives the song, and which musical phrase stays with you afterward. A Southern rock influence can be a starting point for discovery without becoming the only thing you hear.

Duval County Line: A Regional Sound With Community At Its Heart

Duval County Line, led by guitarist and singer Paul Wane, brings together Southern rock, classic rock, country, funk, and blues. Visit St. Augustine's musician profile describes that mix and the band's focus on the experience shared by the players and the audience.

Their place in this story reaches across the wider North Florida scene. A band name does not require every member to live inside one county boundary. The clubs, festivals, friendships, and audiences of the region make a larger musical neighborhood.

Original music belongs here, too. In a First Coast Life interview, Wane discussed Duval County Line's all-original album Hammer Stone. That gives someone who knows him from a live appearance another way to explore the band: follow the songs beyond the moment that first caught your attention.

Wane reached a much larger audience with his electric-guitar national anthem at the Jaguars-Titans game in January 2023. WJCT covered the performance and his local music work. It was a vivid introduction to a player already connected to the region's stages.

His work helping children get instruments makes the phrase “next generation” especially fitting. News4JAX reported on his Guitars 4 Kids and Rising Star efforts ahead of that game.

A child receiving a first instrument is at the beginning of a story nobody can predict. There may be years of practice ahead, a first band, and perhaps a first stage. Helping that happen gives a musical community a future as well as a past. Duval County Line's chapter brings that human connection into the conversation alongside the playing.

Big Engine: A Long-Running Jacksonville Rock Machine

Big Engine brings a long history to this continuing scene. In an interview with Devil's Gate Music, founder and frontman Tony Mikus traced the band back to the Motion in Jacksonville Beach during the late 1980s. He said the Big Engine name was introduced at the end of 1990, with performances under that name beginning in January 1991.

That makes Big Engine an experienced part of Jacksonville's later rock story. Calling this the next chapter leaves room for those decades of work. Continuing a tradition takes persistence as well as fresh starts.

Mikus also described a direct personnel link to Southern rock history: the original lineup included former Molly Hatchet bassist Banner Thomas and Steve Wheeler of the Danny Joe Brown Band. Those connections help explain the Southern rock label, while Big Engine's identity also reaches into hard rock and straight-ahead rock and roll.

The band's official press kit emphasizes its live following at clubs, motorcycle rallies, and racing events. It points listeners toward songs such as “Shake That Thing,” “Turn It On,” and “Party Like A Rock Star.” The emphasis is clear: music built to get a crowd involved.

A band that works in that setting has to make contact with people quickly. The opening riff, the vocal, and the chorus all have a part to play. When a crowd joins in, the distance between the stage and the audience gets smaller.

For listeners exploring Jacksonville beyond its most famous names, Big Engine offers a useful reminder that the local story has continued through many years and many rooms. There is room in Southern rock's orbit for a band whose central purpose is a loud, lively rock and roll show.

A Scene Is Bigger Than A Single Stage

These three bands are connected to Jacksonville in different ways. The Curt Towne Band's Westside beginnings make the hometown link explicit. Duval County Line brings a wider regional circuit and a community-minded frontman into the picture. Big Engine carries decades of Jacksonville Beach and Jacksonville rock history.

Their careers also show how a scene travels. A theatre bill can introduce one band's listeners to another. A festival can put local performers in front of people who came from other towns. A recording lets someone follow up on the name they heard at a show.

The important connections are practical ones: musicians making songs, places giving them a stage, and audiences choosing to listen. Every generation needs that exchange. A city's famous records can inspire it, but the exchange still has to happen in the present.

That is why it is worth looking beyond a list of legendary names. Jacksonville's musical story includes the people still putting their work in front of a crowd. These three bands give fans a reason to keep looking, keep listening, and keep showing up.

Three Ways To Start Listening

Start with The Curt Towne Band's At It Again if you want to explore a Jacksonville group whose stated focus is original Southern rock. Pick a track, let it finish, then try another. Hearing several songs gives you a better introduction than deciding everything from one guitar lick.

For Duval County Line, explore Hammer Stone and the band's performance clips. Keep Wane's anthem appearance in perspective as one moment in a larger musical life. A solo performance can introduce a player, while a band recording shows how that player works with others.

With Big Engine, try the songs highlighted in its press kit and then watch an official live video. Pay attention to the audience as well as the stage. For a band that puts so much emphasis on its shows, the way a room responds is part of the story.

These are three starting points, with plenty of room to follow your own ear. Nobody has to choose between loving the records they grew up with and giving another band a chance.

When you find something that connects, do something with it. Follow the artist, share a song with a friend, buy music or merchandise when you can, or attend a show. Check current event details with the band or venue before making plans. The small choices listeners make help keep a working music scene moving.

Keep The Jacksonville Story Moving With JAX

JAX Southern Rock Radio carries Jacksonville in its name because this city belongs in the music's story. Celebrating its roots also means paying attention to the musicians carrying the sound into another chapter.

The Curt Towne Band, Duval County Line, and Big Engine offer three reasons to keep exploring. They bring different histories, different paths, and their own ways of reaching a crowd. The common ground is music with guitars out front and people at its heart.

Listen Live To JAX Southern Rock Radio, explore the bands featured here, and revisit the beginnings that helped make Jacksonville a Southern rock landmark. The roots run deep. There is still more to hear.