About
Also known as: Blacfeet, Blacfoot, Black Foot, Blackfeet, Blakfeet, Blakfoot, Rickey Medlock, Rickey Medlocke, Ricky Medlock, Ricky Medlocke, Riky Medlocke
Jacksonville's Blackfoot built their reputation as one of Southern rock's harder hitting acts, a band that could get gritty and raw without losing the groove. The classic lineup of Rickey Medlocke on guitar and vocals, Charlie Hargrett on guitar, Greg T. Walker on bass, and Jakson Spires on drums spent most of the 1970s grinding through lineup shifts and label deals before everything clicked. Their 1975 debut No Reservations and the 1976 follow up Flyin' High laid the groundwork, but it was Strikes in 1979 that became their commercial breakthrough, recorded in a basement studio in Ann Arbor of all places. The run that followed, Tomcattin' in 1980 and Marauder in 1981, cemented them as a genuine force in hard rock. The band's name itself has roots in the Native American heritage of its members, with Medlocke, Walker, and Spires all carrying Indigenous ancestry. Before Blackfoot fully took shape, Medlocke and Walker even had a stint with Lynyrd Skynyrd, which gives you a sense of just how deep into Southern rock history these guys go.
