Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of
folk musicFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and
rock musicRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s. The genre was pioneered by the Los Angeles
bandA musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
The ByrdsThe Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, who began playing
traditionalTraditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
folk music and
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
-penned material with rock instrumentation, in a style heavily influenced by
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and other British bands. The term "folk rock" was itself first coined by the U.S.
music pressMusic journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
to describe The Byrds' music in June 1965, the same month that the band's debut
albumAn album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
was issued. The release of The Byrds'
cover versionIn popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Dylan's "
Mr. Tambourine Man"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The Byrds also recorded a version of the song that was released as their first single on Columbia Records, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and...
" and its subsequent commercial success initiated the folk rock explosion of the mid-1960s. Dylan himself was also influential on the genre, particularly his recordings with an electric rock band on the
Bringing It All Back HomeBringing It All Back Home is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's fifth studio album, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. The album is divided into an electric and an acoustic side. On side one of the original LP, Dylan is backed by an electric rock and roll band - a move that further alienated...
,
Highway 61 RevisitedHighway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released in August 1965 by Columbia Records. On his previous album, Bringing It All Back Home, Dylan devoted Side One of the album to songs accompanied by an electric rock band, and Side Two to solo acoustic numbers...
, and
Blonde on BlondeBlonde on Blonde is American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released in May or June 1966 on Columbia Records and produced by Bob Johnston. Recording sessions commenced in New York in October 1965, with a plethora of backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing...
albums. Dylan's July 25, 1965 appearance at the
Newport Folk FestivalThe Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
with an electric backing band is also considered a pivotal moment in the development of folk rock.
The genre had its antecedents in the
American folk music revivalThe American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
, the
beat musicBeat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
of The Beatles and other
British InvasionThe British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
bands,
The AnimalsThe Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
'
hitA hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
recording of the folk song "
The House of the Rising Sun"The House of the Rising Sun" is a folk song from the United States. Also called "House of the Rising Sun" or occasionally "Rising Sun Blues", it tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans...
", and the folk-influenced songwriting of
The Beau BrummelsThe Beau Brummels were an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino , Ron Elliott , Ron Meagher , Declan Mulligan , and John Petersen...
. In particular, the folk-influence evident in such Beatles' songs as "
I'm a Loser"I'm a Loser" is a song by The Beatles, originally released on Beatles for Sale in the United Kingdom, later released on Beatles '65 in the United States...
" and "
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is a song by The Beatles. It was written and sung by John Lennon and released on the album Help! in August 1965.-Composition and recording:...
" was very influential on folk rock. The repertoire of most folk rock acts was drawn in part from folk sources but it was also derived from folk-influenced
singer-songwriterSinger-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
s such as Dylan. Musically, the genre was typified by clear
vocal harmoniesVocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
and a relatively "clean" (effects- and
distortionDistortion effects create "warm", "dirty" and "fuzzy" sounds by compressing the peaks of a musical instrument's sound wave and adding overtones. The three principal types of distortion effects are overdrive, distortion and fuzz. Distortion effects are sometimes called “gain” effects, as distorted...
-free) approach to electric instruments, as epitomized by the jangly 12-string
guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
sound of The Byrds. This jangly guitar sound was derived from the music of
The SearchersThe Searchers are an English beat group, who emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with The Beatles, The Fourmost, The Merseybeats, The Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry & The Pacemakers....
and from
George HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
's use of a
RickenbackerRickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
12-string on The Beatles' recordings during 1964 and 1965.
This original incarnation of folk rock led directly to the distinct, eclectic style of
electric folkElectric folk is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in England from the late 1960s, and most significant in the 1970s, which then was taken up and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man, to produce Celtic rock and its...
(aka British folk rock) pioneered in the late 1960s by
PentanglePentangle are a British folk rock band with some folk jazz influences. The original band were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and a later version has been active since the early 1980s...
,
Fairport ConventionFairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
and
Alan StivellAlan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...
. Inspired by British
psychedelic folkPsychedelic folk or psych folk is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s through the fusion of folk music and psychedelic rock...
and the North-American style of folk rock, Pentangle, Fairport, and other related bands began to incorporate elements of traditional British folk music into their repertoire. Shortly afterwards, Fairport
bassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
,
Ashley HutchingsAshley Stephen Hutchings is an English bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founder member of three of the most noteworthy English folk-rock bands in the history of the genre; Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band...
, formed
Steeleye SpanSteeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
with traditionalist folk musicians who wished to incorporate overt rock elements into their music and this, in turn, spawned a number of other variants, including the overtly English folk rock of The Albion Band (also featuring Hutchings) and the more prolific current of
Celtic rockCeltic rock is a genre of folk rock and a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context...
.
In a broader sense, folk rock includes later similarly-inspired musical genres and movements in the English-speaking world (and its
CelticA Celtic identity emerged in the "Celtic" nations of Western Europe, following the identification of the native peoples of the Atlantic fringe as "Celts" by Edward Lhuyd in the 18th century and during the course of the 19th-century Celtic Revival, taking the form of ethnic nationalism particularly...
and
FilipinoThe Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
fringes) and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Europe. As with any genre, the borders are difficult to define. Folk rock may lean more toward folk or toward rock in its instrumentation, its playing and vocal style, or its choice of material; while the original genre draws on music of Europe and North America, there is no clear delineation of which folk cultures music might be included as influences. Still, the term is not usually applied to rock music rooted in the
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-based or other
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
music (except as mediated through folk revivalists), nor to rock music with
CajunCajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
roots, nor to music (especially after about 1980) with non-European folk roots, which is more typically classified as
world musicWorld music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
.
The folk music revival
In the United States, folk rock arose mainly from the confluence of three elements: the urban vocal groups of the
folk revivalThe American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
; folk-
protestA protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
singer-songwriterSinger-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
s; and the revival of North American rock and roll after the
British InvasionThe British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
. Of these, the first two owed direct debts to protest folk singers such as
Woody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
and
Pete SeegerPeter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, along with the
leftistIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
Popular FrontA popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
culture of the 1930s. Among the earliest of the urban folk vocal groups was the
Almanac SingersThe Almanac Singers were a group of folk musicians who, as their name indicates, specialized in topical songs, especially songs connected with the labor movement...
, who were formed specifically for the purpose of popularizing protest music for political ends and whose shifting membership during the early 1940s included Guthrie, Seeger and Lee Hays. In 1948 Seeger and Hays joined
Ronnie GilbertRonnie Gilbert is an American folk-singer. She is one of the original members of the Weavers with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman.-Career:...
and
Fred HellermanFred Hellerman, born in Brooklyn, New York and educated at Brooklyn College, is an American folk singer, guitarist, producer and song writer, primarily known as one of the members of The Weavers, together with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Ronnie Gilbert...
to form
The WeaversThe Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
, who had a number of
hitsA hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
, including "
Kisses Sweeter than Wine"Kisses Sweeter than Wine" is a popular love song written by The Weavers in 1950, and a hit for Jimmie Rodgers in 1957 and Frankie Vaughan in 1958.-History:...
", "
Wimoweh"The Lion Sleeps Tonight", also known as "Wimoweh" and originally as "Mbube", is a song recorded by Solomon Linda and his group The Evening Birds for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939. It was covered internationally by many 1950s pop and folk revival artists, including The Weavers,...
", "
The Wreck of the John B"The John B. Sails" is a folk song that first appeared in a 1917 American novel, Pieces of Eight, written by Richard Le Gallienne. The "secret" narrator of the story describes it as "one of the quaint Nassau ditties," the first verse and chorus of which are:-1950 to 1963:Among others, the song has...
", and a cover of Lead Belly's "
Goodnight, Irene"Goodnight, Irene" or "Irene, Goodnight," is a 20th century American folk standard, written in 3/4 time, first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1932....
". The Weavers' mainstream popularity set the stage for the folk revival of the 1950s and early 1960s and also served to bridge the gap between folk, popular music, and
topical songA topical song is a song that comments on political and/or social events. These types of songs are usually written about current events, but some of these songs remain popular long after the events discussed in them have occurred...
. By 1951, however, the group had fallen foul of the U.S. Red Scare of the
McCarthyMcCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
era and as a result they disbanded in 1952. The group reformed in 1955, releasing the influential
The Weavers at Carnegie HallAt Carnegie Hall is the second album by The Weavers. The concert was recorded live at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Christmas Eve 1955. At the time the concert was a come-back for the group following the inclusion of the group on the entertainment industry blacklist...
album in 1957, before disbanding for a second time in 1964, although Seeger had left the group in 1958.
The Weavers' sound and repertoire of traditional folk material and topical songs directly inspired
The Kingston TrioThe Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
, a three-piece folk group who came to prominence in 1958 with their hit recording of "
Tom Dooley"Tom Dooley" is an old North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio. This version was a multi-format hit, reaching #1 in Billboard, the...
", which peaked at #1 on the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart. The Kingston Trio provided the template for the flood of "collegiate folk" groups that followed between 1958 and 1962, including the
Chad Mitchell TrioThe Chad Mitchell Trio were a North American vocal group who became known during the 1960s. They performed folk songs, some of which were traditionally passed down and some of their own compositions. Unlike many fellow folk music groups, none of the trio played instruments...
, The New Christy Minstrels,
The Brothers FourThe Brothers Four are an American folk singing group, founded in 1957 in Seattle, Washington, known for their 1960 hit song "Greenfields".-History:...
,
The LimelitersThe Limeliters are an American folk music group, formed in July 1959 by Lou Gottlieb , Alex Hassilev , and Glenn Yarbrough . The group was active from 1959 until 1965, when they disbanded. After a hiatus of sixteen years Yarbrough, Hassilev, and Gottlieb reunited and began performing as...
, and
The HighwaymenThe Highwaymen were a circa 1960 "collegiate folk" group, which originated at Wesleyan University and had a Billboard number-one hit in 1961 with "Michael" and another Top 20 hit in 1962 with "Cottonfields"...
. Like The Kingston Trio, these groups all featured tight
vocal harmoniesVocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
, mildly comedic stage routines, and a repertoire of professionally
arrangedThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
folk music and topical song, aimed at a mainstream, popular audience. The crystal clear harmony singing and
liberalLiberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
outlook that characterized American folk rock during the mid-1960s sprang directly from the music and philosophies of the "collegiate folk" movement. In addition, the presence of traditional folk songs in the repertoires of a number of folk rock acts can be attributed to the heightened level of exposure that the folk revival afforded such material. Many future folk rock artists, including members of The Byrds,
The Mamas & the PapasThe Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
, and
Buffalo SpringfieldBuffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renown both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined...
, along with solo singers like
Barry McGuireBarry McGuire is an American singer-songwriter best known for the hit song "Eve of Destruction", and later as a pioneering singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian Music.-Early life:...
and
Scott McKenzieScott McKenzie is an American singer. He is best known for his 1967 hit single and generational anthem, "San Francisco ".-Life and career:...
, began their professional music careers in folk revival groups.
At roughly the same time as these "collegiate folk" vocal groups came to national prominence, a second group of urban folk revivalists, influenced by the music and
guitar pickingGuitar picking is a collection of techniques for setting a string into motion to produce an audible note; that is, plucking or strumming the strings on a guitar. Picking can be done:-* With a plectrum held in the hand...
styles of folk and blues artist like Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly,
Brownie McGheeWalter Brown McGhee was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.-Life and career:...
, and
Josh WhiteJoshua Daniel White , better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names "Pinewood Tom" and "Tippy Barton" in the 1930s....
, also came to the fore. Many of these urban revivalists were influenced by the recordings of traditional American music from the 1920s and 1930s that
Folkways RecordsFolkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
had reissued, with
Harry SmithHarry Everett Smith was an American archivist, ethnomusicologist, student of anthropology, record collector, experimental filmmaker, artist, bohemian and mystic...
's
Anthology of American Folk MusicThe Anthology of American Folk Music is a six-album compilation released in 1952 by Folkways Records , comprising eighty-four American folk, blues and country music recordings that were originally issued from 1927 to 1932.Experimental filmmaker and notable eccentric Harry Smith compiled the music...
series of albums being particularly influential. While this urban folk revival flourished in many cities across the U.S.—particularly Chicago, Los Angeles, and Denver—New York City, with its burgeoning
Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
coffeehouseA coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...
scene and population of topical folk singers, was widely regarded as the centre of the movement. Out of this fertile environment came such folk-protest luminaries as
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
,
Tom PaxtonThomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...
,
Phil OchsPhilip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
, and
Peter, Paul and MaryPeter, Paul and Mary were an American folk-singing trio whose nearly 50-year career began with their rise to become a paradigm for 1960s folk music. The trio was composed of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers...
, many of whom would transition into folk rock performers as the 1960s progressed.
Like the 1950s
Beat GenerationThe Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
before them, the vast majority of the urban folk revivalists shared a disdain for the values of mainstream American mass culture. This rejection of traditional values and the attendant politicization it often bred, along with fervent support for the
civil rights movementThe civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
, led many folk singers to begin composing their own "protest" material. The most important and influential of this new wave of folk-protest songwriters was Bob Dylan, whose complex
lyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
not only provided a commentary on contemporary social issues but on his own life experiences too and thus, paralleled the work of earlier Beat Generation writers like
Allen GinsbergIrwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
and
Jack KerouacJean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
. After the term "singer-songwriter" was first coined in 1965, it was applied retroactively during the late 1960s to the likes of Dylan, Paxton, and other folk-rooted artists, whose repertoires had transitioned from traditional to self-penned material during the early 1960s. The influence of this folk-protest movement would later manifest itself in the sociopolitical lyrics and mildly
anti-establishmentAn anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine New Statesman to refer to its political and social agenda...
sentiments of many folk rock songs, including
hit singleA hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
s such as "Eve of Destruction", "
Like a Rolling Stone"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
", "For What It's Worth", and "
Let's Live for Today"Let's Live for Today" is a song written by David Shapiro, Ivan Mogull, and Michael Julian, and initially recorded by the English band the Rokes in 1966. The song was later popularized by the American rock band The Grass Roots, who released it as a single on May 13, 1967...
".
Across the Atlantic, a parallel folk revival was occurring in the UK during the 1950s and early 1960s. The leading protagonists of this revival, often referred to as the
second British folk revivalThe British folk revival incorporates a number of movements for the collection, preservation and performance of traditional music in the United Kingdom and related territories and countries, which had origins as early as the 18th century...
, were folk singers
Ewan MacCollEwan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
and
Bert LloydAlbert Lancaster Lloyd , usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, and as such was a key figure in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s....
, both of whom saw British folk music as a vehicle for
leftistIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
political concepts and an antidote to the American-dominated popular music of the time. However, it wasn't until 1956 and the advent of the
skiffleSkiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
craze that the British folk revival crossed over into the mainstream and connected with British youth culture. Skiffle was a blend of
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, folk, and
country bluesCountry blues is a general term that refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. It often incorporated elements of rural gospel, ragtime, hillbilly, and dixieland jazz...
, with roots in African-American folk music and the post-war
British jazzBritish jazz is a form of music derived from American jazz. It reached Britain through recordings and performers who visited the country while it was a relatively new genre, soon after the end of World War I. Jazz began to be played by British musicians from the 1930s and on a widespread basis in...
scene. During the late 1950s, thousands of teenage skiffle groups sprang up in the UK, each performing traditional material on inexpensive or make-shift instruments, such as
acoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
,
banjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
,
harmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, tea-chest bass, and
washboardA washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
. Many British
beatBeat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
, folk, and rock musicians who came to prominence in the 1960s first picked up a musical instrument in order to play skiffle and the folk influences inherent in the genre introduced a new generation of young musicians to traditional music. This renewed popularity of folk music forms in Britain led directly to the progressive folk movement and the attendant British folk club scene. Among the leading lights of the progressive folk movement were
Bert JanschHerbert "Bert" Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter...
and
John RenbournJohn Renbourn is an English guitarist and songwriter. He is possibly best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence .While most commonly labelled a...
, who would later form the folk rock band
PentanglePentangle are a British folk rock band with some folk jazz influences. The original band were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and a later version has been active since the early 1980s...
in the late 1960s. Many other notable folk rock artists such as
DonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
,
Al StewartAl Stewart is a Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician.Stewart came to stardom as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s, and developed his own unique style of combining folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of the great characters and events from history.He is...
, and
John MartynJohn Martyn, OBE , born Iain David McGeachy, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums, working with artists such as Eric Clapton and David Gilmour...
also had roots in the progressive folk scene, as did American singer-songwriter
Paul SimonPaul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
.
The Beatles and the British Invasion
Beginning in 1964 and lasting until roughly 1966, a wave of British
beatBeat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
groups, including
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
,
The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
,
The Dave Clark FiveThe Dave Clark Five were an English pop rock group. Their single "Glad All Over" knocked The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK singles charts in January 1964: it eventually peaked at No.6 in the United States in April 1964.They were the second group of the British Invasion,...
,
Gerry & the PacemakersGerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat music group prominent during the 1960s. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein and recorded by George Martin. They are most remembered for being the first act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with...
,
The KinksThe Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, and
Herman's HermitsHerman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...
amongst others, dominated the U.S. music charts. These groups were all heavily influenced by American
rock 'n' rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
,
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, and
R&BRhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
—musical genres they had been introduced to via homegrown British rock 'n' roll singers, imported American
recordsA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, and the music of the
skiffleSkiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
craze. While rock 'n' roll and, to a lesser extent, blues were still popular in the UK, for many young Americans these genres had either become somewhat démodé, as was the case with rock 'n' roll, or were largely unknown to white audiences, as was the case with the blues. These UK groups, known collectively as the
British InvasionThe British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
, reintroduced American youth culture to the broad potential of rock and
pop musicPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
as a creative medium and to the wealth of musical culture to be found within the United States. In addition, a number of the British Invasion bands also wrote their own pop and R&B flavored material, something that was rarely done at the time and something that would prove to be influential on many U.S. bands as the 1960s progressed.
Although there had been a few sporadic British successes in the U.S. charts prior to 1964, notably
The TornadoesThe Tornadoes were a surf band from Redlands, California, the first to receive national airplay with a surf instrumental. The song was "Bustin' Surfboards", released on Aertaun Records in 1962, and it has since become a classic and mainstay of the surf genre...
' hit
instrumentalAn instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
"
Telstar"Telstar" is a 1962 instrumental record performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was also a number one hit in the UK. The record was named after the AT&T communications satellite Telstar, which went into orbit in...
", the British Invasion began in earnest in January 1964 when The Beatles' "
I Want to Hold Your Hand"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment....
"
singleIn music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
reached #1 on the
Billboard Hot 100. This was followed by the American release of
Meet The Beatles!-External links:*Bruce Spizer's *Bruce Spizer's *...
, an
LPThe LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
that topped the
Billboard album chartsThe Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
in February 1964 and went on to influence many forms of
American popular musicAmerican popular music had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, swing, rock, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, heavy metal, punk, disco, house, techno,...
during the 1960s. February also saw The Beatles' embark on their first North American tour, during which they made three high profile television appearances on the popular
Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, with their first appearance drawing an estimated viewing audience of 73 million. By April 4, 1964, The Beatles held the top 5 positions on the
Billboard singles chart, the only time to date that any act has accomplished such a feat.
The Beatles' impact on America went far beyond commercial success, however, with the fact that the band wrote much of their own material being particularly influential on aspiring U.S. musicians. In addition, the youthful exuberance of the band's music, the inventive
melodiesA melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
and
harmoniesVocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
that they utilized, and their image as four equal personalities—rather than the more usual star being backed by a group of anonymous musicians—were all revolutionary in terms of creating a new standard for musical groups. Of particular importance to the development of folk rock were the subtle folk influences evident in such Beatles' compositions as "
I'll Be Back"I'll Be Back" is a John Lennon composition credited to Lennon–McCartney, and recorded by The Beatles for the soundtrack LP to their film "A Hard Day's Night"...
", "
Things We Said Today"Things We Said Today" is a song by The Beatles written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was composed for the film A Hard Day's Night and appears on the soundtrack album...
", and "
I'm a Loser"I'm a Loser" is a song by The Beatles, originally released on Beatles for Sale in the United Kingdom, later released on Beatles '65 in the United States...
", with the latter song being directly inspired by folk singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. These songs were all influential in providing a template for successfully assimilating folk-based
chord progressionA chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
s and melodies into pop music. This melding of folk and rock 'n' roll in The Beatles' music became even more explicit during 1965, with the release of "
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is a song by The Beatles. It was written and sung by John Lennon and released on the album Help! in August 1965.-Composition and recording:...
", a folk-derived song with introspective lyrics, again influenced by Dylan. Although The Beatles themselves utilized folk as just one of many styles evident in their music, the underlying folk influences in a number of their songs would prove to be extremely important to folk rock musicians attempting to blend their own folk influences with
beat musicBeat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
.
In the wake of The Beatles' first visit to America, a whole slew of other British beat groups followed, capitalizing on the prevailing American fascination for all things British and monopolizing the U.S. charts for the next two years. The effect that the music of these British bands, and The Beatles in particular, had on young Americans was immediate; almost overnight, folk—along with many other forms of homegrown music—became passé for a large proportion of America's youth, who instead turned their attention to the influx of British acts. The influence of these acts also impacted on the collegiate folk and urban folk communities, with many young musicians quickly losing interest in folk music and instead embracing the rock 'n' roll derived repertoire of the British Invasion. Future members of many folk rock acts, including The Byrds, the
Jefferson AirplaneJefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
,
The Lovin' SpoonfulThe Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...
, The Mamas & the Papas, and Buffalo Springfield, all turned their backs on traditional folk music during 1964 and 1965 as a direct result of the influence of The Beatles and the other British Invasion bands. Author and music historian
Richie UnterbergerRichie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
has noted that The Beatles' impact on American popular culture effectively sounded the death knell for the
American folk music revivalThe American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
.
In addition to The Beatles, the two British groups that were arguably the most influential on the development of folk rock were
The AnimalsThe Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
and
The SearchersThe Searchers are an English beat group, who emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with The Beatles, The Fourmost, The Merseybeats, The Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry & The Pacemakers....
. The former released a rock interpretation of the traditional folk song "
The House of the Rising Sun"The House of the Rising Sun" is a folk song from the United States. Also called "House of the Rising Sun" or occasionally "Rising Sun Blues", it tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans...
" in the U.S. in August 1964. The song reached #1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and stayed there for three weeks, selling over a million copies in just five weeks in the U.S. This sorrowful tale of a
whorehouseBrothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
in New Orleans had previously been recorded by a number of folk and blues performers, including Bob Dylan, whose adaptation was likely responsible for first introducing the song to The Animals. The band's
arrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
of "The House of the Rising Sun", which transmuted the song from an
acousticAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
folk lament to a full-bore
electricAn electric musical instrument is one in which the use of electric devices determines or affects the sound produced by an instrument. It is also known as an amplified musical instrument due to the common utilization of an electronic instrument amplifier to project the intended sound as determined...
rock song, would go on to influence many folk rock acts but none more so than Dylan himself, who cited it as a key factor in his decision to record and perform with an electric rock band during 1965. The Searchers, on the other hand, were influential in popularizing the jangly sound of the
electricAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
twelve-string guitar. Many of the musicians in the collegiate and urban folk movements were already familiar with acoustic twelve-string guitars via the music of folk and blues singer Lead Belly. However, The Searchers' use of amplified twelve-strings provided another example of how conventional folk elements could be incorporated into rock music to produce new and exciting sounds. The Beatles'
lead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
ist,
George HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
, also influenced this trend towards jangly guitars in folk rock with his use of a
RickenbackerRickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
twelve-string guitar on The Beatles' mid-1960s recordings. This relatively clean, jangly sound—without benefit of distortion or other
guitar effectsEffects units are electronic devices that alter how a musical instrument or other audio source sounds. Some effects subtly "color" a sound, while others transform it dramatically. Effects are used during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, keyboard and bass...
—would prove to be a cornerstone of folk rock instrumentation and would become
de rigueur for American folk rock
recordsA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
made during 1965 and 1966.
Proto-folk rock
Although folk rock mainly grew out of a mix of American folk revival and British Invasion influences, there were also a few examples of proto-folk rock that were important in the development of the genre. Of these secondary influences, arguably the most important was the self-penned, folk-influenced material of San Francisco's
The Beau BrummelsThe Beau Brummels were an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino , Ron Elliott , Ron Meagher , Declan Mulligan , and John Petersen...
. Despite their Beatlesque image, the band's use of
minor chordIn music theory, a minor chord is a chord having a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth.When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a minor triad....
s, haunting harmonies, and folky acoustic guitar playing—as heard on their debut single "
Laugh, Laugh"Laugh, Laugh" is a song by American rock group The Beau Brummels, written by guitarist Ron Elliott and produced by Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone. Released in December 1964 as the band's debut single, the song reached number 15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart the following February...
"—was stylistically very similar to the later folk rock of The Byrds. Released in December 1964, "Laugh, Laugh" peaked at #15 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in early 1965, while its similarly folk-flavored follow up, "
Just a Little"Just a Little" is a song by American rock group The Beau Brummels. The song is included on the band's debut album, Introducing the Beau Brummels, and was released as its second single, following "Laugh, Laugh". "Just a Little" became the band's highest-charting U.S. single, peaking at number eight...
", did even better, reaching #8 on the U.S. singles chart. Surprisingly, neither the band, nor their
guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and chief songwriter
Ron ElliottRon Elliott on October 21, 1943) is an American musician, composer and producer, best known as songwriter and lead guitarist of rock band The Beau Brummels. Elliott wrote or co-wrote the band's 1965 U.S...
, were overtly influenced by folk music. Elliot's own musical leanings were more towards
country and westernCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and
musical theatreMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, with any folk influence in the band's music appearing to have been entirely unintentional. Nonetheless, the high profile success of The Beau Brummels' music was important in demonstrating that a hybrid of folk and rock could potentially be translated into mainstream commercial success.
Pre-dating The Beau Brummels' commercial breakthrough by almost two years, singer-songwriter
Jackie DeShannonJackie DeShannon is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.- Life and early career :...
's April 1963 single "Needles and Pins" marked probably the earliest appearance of the ringing guitar sound that would become a mainstay of early folk rock. This use of cyclical, chiming guitar riffs was repeated on DeShannon's late 1963 recording of her own composition "
When You Walk in the Room"When You Walk in the Room" is a song written and recorded by Jackie DeShannon, first released by her in 1963 but covered by many artists. The lyrics of the song attempt to detail the singer's emotions when in the presence of the person he or she loves...
". The following year, both songs would become hits for the Liverpudlian band The Searchers, who chose to place even greater emphasis on the jangly guitar playing in the songs (see above). In addition, a number of DeShannon's songs from the period, including "When You Walk in the Room", displayed a greater degree of lyrical maturity and sensuality than was usual for pop songs of the time. This heightened degree of emotional introspection was inspired by her love of Bob Dylan's folk songwriting and as such, DeShannon can be seen as one of the first American artists to attempt to absorb folk sensibilities into rock music.
In the UK, the folk group
The SpringfieldsThe Springfields were a British pop-folk vocal trio who had success in the early 1960s in the UK, US and Ireland and included singer Dusty Springfield and her brother, record producer Tom Springfield, along with Tim Feild, later a noted Sufi writer, who was latterly replaced by Mike Hurst, who...
(featuring
Dusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
) had been releasing folk-oriented material featuring full band arrangements since the early 1960s, including renditions of "
Lonesome TravelerLonesome Traveller is a song by the Norwegian Hip-Hop group Paperboys. It was featured on the album The Oslo Agreement and is easy recognizable by its banjo-rap and choir in the chorus....
", "
Allentown Jail"Allentown Jail" is a folk song. Written by Irving Gordon, it tells the story of a man who is caught stealing a diamond for his girlfriend and ends up in the Allentown jail....
", and "
Silver Threads and Golden Needles"Silver Threads and Golden Needles", a song written by Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds, was first recorded by Wanda Jackson in 1956. The original lyrics, as performed by Jackson, contain a verse not usually included in later versions, which also often differed in other minor details.-Other versions:*...
". Although these records owed more to orchestral pop than rock, they were nonetheless influential on up-and-coming folk rock musicians on both sides of the Atlantic. In mid-1965, folk singer-songwriter
DonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
was also experimenting with adding electrified instrumentation to some of his folk and blues-styled material, as evidenced by songs such as "
You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your BondScottish singer-songwriter Donovan recorded "You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond" in early 1965 for inclusion on his debut album What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid...
" and "Sunny Goodge Street". Perhaps more importantly, in spite of his folky persona and repertoire, Donovan had always considered himself a pop star, rather than a folk singer. As a result, he had been thinking of a way in which to introduce folk styled acoustic guitars and socially conscious lyrics into pop music for several years prior to his 1965 breakthrough as a recording artist. It is of little surprise, therefore, that by January 1966, he had recorded the self-penned hit "
Sunshine Superman"Sunshine Superman" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. The "Sunshine Superman" single was released in the United States through Epic Records in July 1966, but due to a contractual dispute the United Kingdom release was delayed until December 1966, where it...
" with a full electric backing band.
Other notable bands and solo artists who were blurring the boundaries between folk and rock in the early 1960s, include
Judy HenskeJudy Henske is an American singer and songwriter, once known as "the Queen of the Beatniks".-Life and recording career:...
,
Richard andRichard George Fariña was an American writer and folksinger.-Early years and education:Richard Fariña was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Cuban and Irish descent. He grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and attended Brooklyn Technical High School...
Mimi FariñaMimi Baez Fariña was a singer-songwriter and activist, the youngest of three daughters to a Scottish mother and Mexican-American physicist Albert Baez .- Early years:Fariña's father, a physicist affiliated with Stanford University and MIT, moved his family...
, and
The MugwumpsThe Mugwumps were a 1960s rock band. The Mugwumps made some recordings in the mid-60s, but the short-lived New York group, formed in 1964, is principally remembered for what its members did after they split up....
, the latter of which were a New York band featuring future members of The Lovin' Spoonful and The Mamas & the Papas. Also of note are the Australian band
The SeekersThe Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...
, who had relocated to England in 1964 and reached #1 on the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
with "
I'll Never Find Another YouI'll Never Find Another You is a UK #1 single by The Seekers. It was The Seekers' first UK-released single, and was the best selling single of 1965 in the UK...
" in February 1965. Although it was not strictly a folk song, "I'll Never Find Another You" was heavily influenced by
Peter, Paul and MaryPeter, Paul and Mary were an American folk-singing trio whose nearly 50-year career began with their rise to become a paradigm for 1960s folk music. The trio was composed of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers...
and featured a cyclical, 12-string guitar part that sounded remarkably similar to the guitar style that
Jim McGuinnJames Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
of The Byrds would popularize later that same year.
There are also a few antecedents to folk rock present in pre-British Invasion American rock 'n' roll, including
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's 1954 cover of the
Bill MonroeWilliam Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
bluegrassBluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
standardIn music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
"
Blue Moon of Kentucky"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1946 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and recorded by his band, The Blue Grass Boys. The song has since been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley....
";
Buddy HollyCharles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
's self-penned material, which strongly influenced both Dylan and The Byrds;
Ritchie ValensRitchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....
' recording of the Mexican folk song "
La Bamba"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll's best-known songs...
";
Lloyd PriceLloyd Price is an American R&B vocalist. Known as "Mr. Personality", after the name of one of his biggest million-selling hits...
's rock 'n' roll adaptation of the African-American folk song "
Stagger Lee"Stagger Lee", also known as "Stagolee", "Stackerlee", "Stack O'Lee", "Stack-a-Lee" and several other variants, is a popular folk song based on the murder of William "Billy" Lyons by Stagger Lee Shelton...
" (which had originally been recorded by
Mississippi John HurtJohn Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...
in 1928);
Jimmie RodgersJames Frederick "Jimmie" Rodgers is an American singer. He is not related to the country singer of the same name.-Career:...
' rock 'n' roll flavored renditions of traditional folk songs; and the folk and
countryCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
-influenced recordings featured on
The Everly BrothersThe Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
' 1959 album,
Songs Our Daddy Taught UsSongs Our Daddy Taught Us is the second album by close harmony rock and roll duo The Everly Brothers, released in 1958. Originally released on Cadence Records, the album has been re-released on LP and CD many times, primarily by Rhino and EMI...
. However, this early rock 'n' roll influence on folk rock was not recognized at the time and has only become discernable with the benefit of hindsight.
The Byrds
The moment when all of the separate influences that served to make up folk rock finally coalesced into an identifiable whole was with the release of
The ByrdsThe Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
' recording of
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "
Mr. Tambourine Man"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The Byrds also recorded a version of the song that was released as their first single on Columbia Records, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and...
". Written by Dylan in early 1964, The Byrds' recording of the song was issued by
Columbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
on April 12, 1965. Within three months it had become the first folk rock smash hit, reaching #1 on both the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. The single's success initiated the folk rock boom of 1965 and 1966, during which a profusion of Byrds-influenced acts flooded the American and British charts. The term "folk rock" was itself first coined by the U.S.
music pressMusic journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
to describe the band's sound in June 1965, at roughly the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man" peaked at #1 on the
Billboard chart. The song was also included as the title track of The Byrds' debut album,
Mr. Tambourine ManMr. Tambourine Man is the debut album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in June 1965 on Columbia Records . The album, along with the single of the same name, established the band as an internationally successful rock act and was also influential in originating the musical...
, which—along with its follow-up
Turn! Turn! Turn!Turn! Turn! Turn! is the second album by the folk rock band The Byrds and was released in December 1965 on Columbia Records . Like its predecessor, Mr. Tambourine Man, the album epitomized the folk rock genre and continued the band's successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string...
—also became influential in establishing folk rock as a popular musical genre. Dylan's material would provide much of the original grist for the folk rock mill, not only in the U.S. but in the UK as well, with many pop and rock acts covering his material in a style reminiscent of The Byrds. In particular, The Byrds' influence can be discerned in mid-1960s recordings by acts such as
The TurtlesThe Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
, Simon & Garfunkel,
The Lovin' SpoonfulThe Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...
,
Barry McGuireBarry McGuire is an American singer-songwriter best known for the hit song "Eve of Destruction", and later as a pioneering singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian Music.-Early life:...
,
The Mamas & the PapasThe Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
,
Jefferson AirplaneJefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
,
We FiveWe Five was a 1960s folk rock musical group based in San Francisco, California. Their best-known hit was their 1965 remake of Ian and Sylvia's "You Were on My Mind", which reached #1 on the Cashbox chart, #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart...
,
LoveLove was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
, and
Sonny & CherSonny & Cher were an American pop music duo, actors, singers and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife team Sonny and Cher Bono in the 1960s and 1970s. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector....
.
The nucleus of The Byrds had formed in early 1964, when
Jim McGuinnJames Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
,
Gene ClarkGene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
, and
David CrosbyDavid Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
—united by a shared love of The Beatles' music—came together under the moniker of The Jet Set at The Troubadour folk club in Los Angeles. The trio all had a background in folk music, with each member having worked as a folk singer on the acoustic coffeehouse circuit during the early 1960s. In addition, they had also spent time, independently of each other, in various folk groups, including The New Christy Minstrels,
The LimelitersThe Limeliters are an American folk music group, formed in July 1959 by Lou Gottlieb , Alex Hassilev , and Glenn Yarbrough . The group was active from 1959 until 1965, when they disbanded. After a hiatus of sixteen years Yarbrough, Hassilev, and Gottlieb reunited and began performing as...
,
The Chad Mitchell TrioThe Chad Mitchell Trio were a North American vocal group who became known during the 1960s. They performed folk songs, some of which were traditionally passed down and some of their own compositions. Unlike many fellow folk music groups, none of the trio played instruments...
, and
Les Baxter's BalladeersLes Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...
. Soon after forming The Jet Set, Crosby introduced McGuinn and Clark to his associate Jim Dickson, who became the group's
managerA talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...
. Dickson had access to
World Pacific StudiosPacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record label best known for releasing cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded by Richard Bock and drummer Roy Harte in 1952....
in Los Angeles, which he began to utilize as a rehearsal space for the band. During the course of 1964, the trio expanded their ranks to include
drummerA drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Michael ClarkeMichael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...
and
bassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Chris HillmanChristopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
, with the band eventually changing their name to The Byrds in November.
It was during the rehearsals at World Pacific that the band began to develop the blend of
folk musicFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and Beatles-style
popPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
that would characterize their sound. However, this hybrid was not deliberately created; instead, it evolved organically out of the band's own folk music roots and their desire to emulate The Beatles. The band's folk influences, lack of experience with rock music forms, and Beatleseque instrumentation, all combined to color both their self-penned material and their folk derived repertoire. Soon the band themselves realized that there was something unique about their music and, with Dickson's encouragement, they began to actively attempt to bridge the gap between folk and rock. As rehearsals continued, Dickson managed to acquire an
acetate discAn acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...
of the then-unreleased "Mr. Tambourine Man" from Dylan's music publisher. Although the band were initially unimpressed with the song, they began rehearsing it with a full, electric
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
arrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
, changing the
time signatureThe time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
from 2/4 to 4/4 in the process. Dickson invited Dylan to hear the band's rendition at World Pacific and the singer-songwriter was apparently impressed by what he heard, enthusiastically commenting "Wow, You can dance to that!" Dylan would later join The Byrds on stage at
Ciro'sCiro's was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip, opened in January 1940, by entrepreneur William Wilkerson. Herman Hover took over management of Ciro's in 1942 until it closed its doors in 1957...
nightclubA nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
in Hollywood on March 26, 1965, further cementing the symbiotic relationship between the artists. The Byrds' reworking of "Mr. Tambourine Man", along with
The AnimalsThe Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
' rock interpretation of "
The House of the Rising Sun"The House of the Rising Sun" is a folk song from the United States. Also called "House of the Rising Sun" or occasionally "Rising Sun Blues", it tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans...
" (itself based on Dylan's earlier cover), helped to provide Dylan himself with the impetus to start recording with an electric backing band.
The Byrds signed to
Columbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in November 1964 and on January 20, 1965, they entered Columbia Studios in Hollywood to record "Mr. Tambourine Man". The single's blend of abstract lyrics, folk-influenced melody, complex
harmoniesVocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
, jangly 12-string
RickenbackerRickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
guitar playing, and Beatles-influenced beat, resulted in a synthesis that effectively created the subgenre of folk rock. The song's lyrics alone took rock and pop songwriting to new heights; never before had such intellectual and literary lyrics been combined with rock instrumentation by a popular music group. As the 1970s dawned, folk rock evolved away from the jangly template pioneered by The Byrds, but their influence could still be heard in the music of bands like
Fairport ConventionFairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
and
PentanglePentangle are a British folk rock band with some folk jazz influences. The original band were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and a later version has been active since the early 1980s...
. The Byrds themselves continued to enjoy commercial success with their brand of folk rock throughout 1965, most notably with their #1 charting single "Turn! Turn! Turn!". By the start of 1966, however, the group had begun to move away from folk rock and into the new musical frontier of
psychedelic rockPsychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
. The folk rock sound of The Byrds has continued to influence many bands over the years, including
Big StarBig Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel. The group broke up in 1974, but reorganized with a new line-up nearly 20 years later...
,
Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersTom Petty And The Heartbreakers are an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty , Mike Campbell , Benmont Tench , , Ron Blair and Stan Lynch...
,
R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
,
The Long RydersThe Long Ryders are an American alternative country and Paisley Underground band, principally active between 1983 and 1987, and which reformed in 2004 to do a reunion tour...
,
The SmithsThe Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
,
The BanglesThe Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...
,
The Stone RosesThe Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
,
Teenage FanclubTeenage Fanclub are an alternative rock band from Bellshill, Scotland. The band is composed of Norman Blake , Raymond McGinley , Gerard Love and Francis MacDonald , with songwriting duties shared equally among Blake, McGinley and Love...
, and
DelaysDelays are an English indie band formed in Southampton, consisting of brothers Greg and Aaron Gilbert, Colin Fox and Rowly. The band's sound combines guitar and synths and features Greg Gilbert's distinctive falsetto lead vocals...
among others.
Bob Dylan
Five days before The Byrds entered Columbia Studios in Hollywood to record his song "Mr. Tambourine Man", Bob Dylan completed the recording sessions for his fifth album,
Bringing It All Back HomeBringing It All Back Home is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's fifth studio album, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. The album is divided into an electric and an acoustic side. On side one of the original LP, Dylan is backed by an electric rock and roll band - a move that further alienated...
. Of the eleven tracks included on the album, seven featured Dylan backed by a full electric rock band, in stark contrast to his earlier acoustic folk albums. As previously mentioned, Dylan's decision to record with an electric backing band had been influenced by a number of factors, including The Beatles' coupling of folk derived chord progressions and beat music, The Byrds' rock adaptation of "Mr. Tambourine Man", and The Animal's hit cover of "The House of the Rising Sun". In addition, Dylan's producer Tom Wilson, whose own musical leanings were oriented more towards jazz and soul than folk music, had been encouraging Dylan to experiment with an electric band since 1964. In fact, the
Bringing It All Back Home sessions did not represent Dylan's first experiments with a backing band; during the sessions for
The Freewheelin' Bob DylanThe Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in May 1963 by Columbia Records. Whereas his debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, Freewheelin initiated the process of writing contemporary words to traditional melodies....
album in October 1962, Dylan had recorded the non-album single "
Mixed-Up ConfusionMixed-Up Confusion is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan.It was recorded with an electric band on November 14th 1962 during the sessions for The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, but was not used on that album, which was entirely acoustic. Instead the song, backed with "Corrina, Corrina", a...
" with a
skiffleSkiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
sque backing band. However, the single had been a commercial failure and had consequently remained unheard by the public at large.
Bringing It All Back Home was released on March 22, 1965, peaking at #6 on the
Billboard Top LPsThe Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart and #1 on the UK Album Chart. The album's blend of
rhythm and bluesRhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
-derived rock and abstract, poetic lyrics was immediately influential in demonstrating that intelligent lyrical content could be wedded with rock 'n' roll. The songs on the album saw Dylan leaving folk music far behind—and not just on the rock-derived material that made up side 1 of the original
LPThe LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, but also on the acoustic songs that comprised side 2. Even with this folkier, acoustic material, Dylan's biting, apocalyptical, and often humorous lyrics went far beyond those of contemporary folk music, particularly the folk-protest music with which he had been previously associated. The song "
Subterranean Homesick Blues"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, originally released in 1965 as a single on Columbia Records, catalogue 43242. It appeared 19 days later as the lead track to the album Bringing It All Back Home. It was Dylan's first Top 40 hit, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also...
" was taken from the album and issued as a single in April 1965 (the same month as The Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" was released) and it became a sizable hit internationally, reaching #39 in the U.S. and #9 in the UK. Performed with a full backing band, the song's musical structure was loosely based on
Chuck BerryCharles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
's "
Too Much Monkey Business"Too Much Monkey Business" is a song written and performed by rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry. It was released as Chuck's fifth single in September 1956 for Chess Records, and appeared as the third track on Chuck's first solo LP, After School Session in May 1957, as well as the EP of the same name...
", while the lyrics were a dizzying array of free association rhymes, hip street-speak, and cautionary advice for the singer's own generation.
On July 20, 1965, Dylan released the groundbreaking "
Like a Rolling Stone"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
", a six-minute-long scathing put-down, directed at a down-and-out society girl, which again featured Dylan backed by an electric rock band. Released just as The Byrds' cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man" topped the charts in the United States, the song was instrumental in defining the burgeoning folk rock scene and in establishing Dylan as a bona fide rock star, rather than a folksinger. The song's blend of self-righteous eloquence and guitar and organ-dominated musical backing (which was much heavier sounding than the laid-back, jangly ambiance of The Byrds), was hugely influential on rock music and has remained so up to the present day. The length of "Like a Rolling Stone" alone was pioneering, although Columbia Records did issue two versions of the single: one featuring the full length version of the song and the other with it chopped in half to facilitate radio play. In spite of its unconventional length, "Like a Rolling Stone" managed to reach the Top 5 on both sides of the Atlantic. Five days after the release of "Like a Rolling Stone", on July 25, 1965, Dylan made a controversial appearance at the
Newport Folk FestivalThe Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
, performing three songs with a full band. He was met with derisive booing and jeering from the festival's purist folk music crowd, but in the years since the incident, Dylan's 1965 Newport Folk Festival appearance has become widely regarded as a pivotal moment in the synthesis of folk and rock.
Dylan followed "Like a Rolling Stone" with the wholly electric album
Highway 61 RevisitedHighway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released in August 1965 by Columbia Records. On his previous album, Bringing It All Back Home, Dylan devoted Side One of the album to songs accompanied by an electric rock band, and Side Two to solo acoustic numbers...
and the non-album single "
Positively 4th Street"Positively 4th Street" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, first recorded by Dylan in New York City on July 29, 1965. It was released as a single by Columbia Records on September 7, 1965, reaching #1 on Canada's RPM chart, #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and #8 on the UK Singles Chart...
", which itself has been widely interpreted as a rebuke to the folk purists who had rejected his new electric music. Throughout 1965 and 1966, hit singles like "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Like a Rolling Stone", "Positively 4th Street", and "
I Want You"I Want You" is a 1966 song recorded by Bob Dylan. It was issued as a single in June 1966, shortly before the release of its accompanying album, Blonde on Blonde. A live version of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" was included as a B-side...
" among others, along with the
Bringing It All Back Home,
Highway 61 Revisited and
Blonde on BlondeBlonde on Blonde is American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released in May or June 1966 on Columbia Records and produced by Bob Johnston. Recording sessions commenced in New York in October 1965, with a plethora of backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing...
albums, proved to be hugely influential on the development and popularity of folk rock. Although Dylan's move away from acoustic folk music served to outrage and alienate much of his original fanbase, his new folk rock sound gained him legions of new fans during the mid-1960s. The popularity and commercial success of The Byrds and Bob Dylan's blend of folk and rock music influenced a wave of imitators and emulators that retroactively became known as the folk rock boom.
Other 1960s folk rock
One of the first bands to craft a distinctly American sound in response to the British Invasion was
The Beach BoysThe Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
; while not a folk rock band themselves, they directly influenced the genre, and at the height of the folk rock boom in 1966 had a hit with a cover of the 1920s West Indian folk song "
Sloop John B"Sloop John B" is the seventh track on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album and was also a single which was released in 1966 on Capitol Records. It was originally a traditional West Indies folk song, "The John B. Sails," taken from a collection by Carl Sandburg . Alan Lomax made a field recording of...
", which they had learned from
The Kingston TrioThe Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
, who, in turn, had learned it from
The WeaversThe Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
.
Much of the early folk-rock music emerged during a time of general global upheaval, the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, and new concerns for the world by young people. In the United States the heyday of folk rock was arguably between the mid-sixties and the mid-seventies, when it aligned itself with the
hippieThe hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
movement and became an important medium for expressing radical ideas. Cities such as San Francisco, Denver,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and
PhoenixPhoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
became centers for the folk rock culture, playing on their central locations among the original folk circuits. The "unplugged" and simplified sound of the music reflected the genre's connection to a critical view of a technological and consumerist society. Unlike pop music's escapist lyrics, arguably a fantasy distraction from the problems in life, folk artists attempted to communicate concerns for peace, global awareness, and other touchstones of the era.
In the mid-1960s, singer-songwriter
Gordon LightfootGordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
began moving his folk songs into a folk-rock direction with recordings such as the percussion-driven Black Day In July, about the 1967 Detroit riots. He would go on to top the charts in the 1970s with a number of his folk-rock recordings and would come to be known as a folk-rock legend.
Some artists, originally produced with a harder edged rock sound, found the ability to communicate more easily and felt more genuine in this method of delivery. In this category was
Cat StevensYusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
, in London, who began, much like the Byrds in the United States, but toned down the sound more frequently, with acoustic instruments, performing songs that contained concern for the environment, war, and the future of the world in general.
Country folk
A subgenre originally arising from the early 1960s folk and country-influenced music of singer-songwriter artists such as Bob Dylan and
Bobby BareRobert Joseph Bare is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is the father of Bobby Bare, Jr., also a musician.-Early career:...
, as well as from folk revivalist vocal groups like The Kingston Trio. During the late 1960s, many folk rock artists including Dylan,
Ian and SylviaIan & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker. They began performing together in 1959, married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975.-Early lives:...
, and The Byrds began to incorporate a strong
countryCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
influence into their music, drawing heavily on Hank Williams,
Merle HaggardMerle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
, and
Buck OwensAlvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...
amongst others, resulting in the concurrent offshoot of
country rockCountry rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
. This successful blending of country, folk and rock styles led to pioneering country folk records by folk-influenced singer-songwriters such as
John DenverHenry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
and
Neil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
during the 1970s. Country folk music usually displays a softer, more laid-back feel than the majority of country music and is often complemented by introspective lyrics, thus preserving its folk singer-songwriter roots. Since the 1970s, the country folk subgenre has been perpetuated by artists including
John PrineJohn Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...
,
Nanci GriffithNanci Griffith, is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
,
Kathy MatteaKathleen Alice "Kathy" Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass performer who often brings folk, Celtic and traditional country sounds to her music. Active since 1983 as a recording artist, she has recorded seventeen albums and has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot...
,
Mary Chapin CarpenterMary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...
, and
Iris DeMentIris DeMent is an American singer and songwriter. DeMent's musical style encompasses the genres country and folk music.-Early life:...
.
Electric folk
Electric folk (aka British folk rock) is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in Britain during the late 1960s by the bands
Sweeney's MenSweeney's Men was an Irish traditional band. They emerged from the late 1960s Irish roots revival, along with groups such as The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. The founding line-up in May 1966 was 'Galway Joe' Dolan, Johnny Moynihan and Andy Irvine....
,
Fairport ConventionFairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
, and
PentanglePentangle are a British folk rock band with some folk jazz influences. The original band were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and a later version has been active since the early 1980s...
. It uses traditional British music and self-penned compositions in a traditional style, and is played on a combination of traditional and rock instruments. This incorporation of traditional British folk music influences gives electric folk its distinctly British character and flavour. It evolved out of the
psychedeliaPsychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
-influenced folk rock of British acts such as Donovan, The Incredible String Band, and
Tyrannosaurus RexT. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...
, but was also heavily influenced by such American folk rock bands as The Byrds,
LoveLove was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
, and Buffalo Springfield. Electric folk was at its most significant and popular during the late 1960s and 1970s, when, in addition to Fairport and Pentangle, it was also taken up by groups such as
Steeleye SpanSteeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
and The Albion Band.
Steeleye Span was founded by Fairport Convention
bass playerA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
,
Ashley HutchingsAshley Stephen Hutchings is an English bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founder member of three of the most noteworthy English folk-rock bands in the history of the genre; Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band...
, and was made up of traditionalist folk musicians who wished to incorporate electrical amplification, and later overt rock elements, into their music. This, in turn, spawned the conspicuously English folk rock music of The Albion Band, a group that also included Hutchings as a member. In Brittany electric folk was pioneered by
Alan StivellAlan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...
(who began to mix his Breton, Irish, and Scottish roots with rock music) and later by French bands like
Malicorne- The traditional years :Gabriel Yacoub and Marie Yacoub formed Malicorne in 1974, naming it after the French town, Malicorne, famous for its porcelain and faience. Since several of their albums are called simply Malicorne it had become the custom to refer to them by number, even though no number...
. During this same period, electric folk was adopted and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and Cornwall, to produce
Celtic rockCeltic rock is a genre of folk rock and a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context...
and its derivates. Electric folk also gave rise to the subgenre of
Medieval folk rockMedieval folk rock, medieval rock or medieval folk is a musical sub-genre that emerged in the early 1970s in England and Germany which combined elements of early music with rock music. It grew out of the electric folk and progressive folk movements of the later 1960s...
and the fusion genres of
folk punkFolk punk , is a fusion of folk music and punk rock. It was pioneered in the late 1970s and early 1980s by The Pogues in Britain and Violent Femmes in America. Folk punk achieved some mainstream success in that decade...
and
folk metalFolk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
. By the 1980s the popularity of the electric folk was in steep decline but it has survived into the 21st century and has been revived as part of a more general folk resurgence since the 1990s. Electric folk has also been influential in those parts of the world with close cultural connections to Britain, such as the U.S. and Canada.
Celtic rock
A subgenre of folk rock that combines traditional Celtic instrumentation with rock rhythms, often influenced by a wide varitety of
popPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock music styles. It emerged from the electric folk music of the late 1960s and was pioneered by bands such as
HorslipsHorslips are an Irish Celtic rock band that compose, arrange and perform songs based on traditional Irish jigs and reels. The group are regarded as 'founding fathers of Celtic rock' for their fusion of traditional Irish music with rock music and went on to inspire many local and international acts....
, who blended
Gaelic mythologyThe mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
,
traditional Irish musicThe folk music of Ireland is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres in Ireland.-History:...
and rock. The British singer-songwriter Donovan was also influential in developing Celtic rock during the late 1960s, with his albums
The Hurdy Gurdy ManThe Hurdy Gurdy Man is the sixth studio album and seventh album overall from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the United States in October 1968 , but was not released in the UK because of a continuing contractual dispute that also prevented Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow...
,
Barabajagal"Barabajagal" is a song by Donovan released by Donovan in 1969. It was later used as title track to the album Barabajagal. The instrumentation is provided by the Jeff Beck Group....
, and
Open Road, the latter of which actually featured a song entitled "Celtic Rock". The subgenre was further popularised in 1973 by
Thin LizzyThin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
, who had a
hitA hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
with "
Whiskey in the Jar"Whiskey in the Jar" is a famous Irish traditional song, set in the southern mountains of Ireland, with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry, as well as Fenit, a village in county Kerry. It is about a Rapparee , who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed...
", a traditional Irish song performed entirely in the rock idiom. Throughout the 1970s, Celtic rock held close to its folk roots, drawing heavily on traditional
CelticThe Celtic nations are territories in North-West Europe in which that area's own Celtic languages and some cultural traits have survived.The term "nation" is used in its original sense to mean a people who share a common traditional identity and culture and are identified with a traditional...
fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
,
pipePipe describes a number of musical instruments, historically referring to perforated wind instruments. The word is an onomatopoeia, and comes from the tone which can resemble that of a bird chirping.-Folk pipe:...
, and
harpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
tunes, as well as traditional vocal styles, but making use of rock band levels of amplification and percussion. In the 1980s and beyond, Celtic rock was perpetuated by bands such as
The PoguesThe Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
,
The WaterboysThe Waterboys are a band formed in 1983 by Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland and England. Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Spiddal, New York, and Findhorn have all served as homes for the group. The band has played in a...
,
RunrigRunrig are a Scottish Celtic rock group formed in Skye, in 1973 under the name 'The Run Rig Dance Band'. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included songwriters Rory Macdonald and Calum Macdonald. The current line-up also includes longtime members Malcolm Jones, Iain Bayne, and more...
,
Black 47Black 47 are a New York City based celtic rock band with Irish Republican sympathies, whose music also shows influence from reggae, hip hop, folk and jazz...
, and The Prodigals.
Medieval folk rock
Medieval folk rock developed as a sub-genre of electric folk from about 1970 as performers, particularly in England, Germany and Brittany, adopted
medievalMedieval music is Western music written during the Middle Ages. This era begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and ends sometime in the early fifteenth century...
and
renaissance music Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
as a basis for their music, in contrast to the early modern and nineteenth century ballads that dominated the output of Fairport Convention. This followed the trend explored by Steeleye Span, and exemplified by their 1972 album
Below the SaltBelow the Salt is a 1972 album by Steeleye Span, and considered by many fans to be one of their best. The album has a slightly medieval theme, most notably in the artwork and title...
. Acts in this area included
GryphonGryphon were a British progressive rock band of the 1970s, best known for their unusual Medieval sound and instrumentation.-Career:Multi-instrumentalist Richard Harvey and his fellow Royal College of Music graduate Brian Gulland, a woodwind player, began the group as an all-acoustic ensemble that...
,
Gentle GiantGentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...
and
Third Ear BandThird Ear Band evolved within the London alternative and free-music scene of the mid 1960s.-History:Members came from The Giant Sun Trolley and The People Band to create an improvised music drawing on Eastern raga forms, European folk, experimental and medieval influences...
. In Germany
OugenweideOugenweide is a progressive rock band from Germany. They are notable for being pioneers of the medieval folk rock subgenre. The name comes from Middle High German ougenweide .- The beginning :...
, originally formed in 1970 as an acoustic folk group, opted to draw exclusively on High German medieval music when they electrified, setting the agenda for future German electric folk. In Brittany, as part of the
Celtic rockCeltic rock is a genre of folk rock and a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context...
movement, medieval music was focused on by bands like Ripaille from 1977 and Saga de Ragnar Lodbrock from 1979. However, by the end of the 1970s almost all of these performers had either disbanded or moved, like Gentle Giant and Gryphon, into the developing area of
progressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
. In the 1990s, as part of the wider resurgence of folk music in general, new medieval folk rock acts began to appear, including the Richie Blackmore project
Blackmore's NightBlackmore's Night is an English-American traditional folk rock duo led by Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night .-Early:...
, German bands such as
In ExtremoIn Extremo is a German medieval metal band originating from Berlin. The band's musical style combines metal with medieval traditional songs, blending the sound of the standard rock/metal instruments with historical instruments...
,
Subway to SallySubway to Sally was founded in Potsdam, Germany, in the early 1990s. It is a rock band with clear folk and medieval influences, later also with gothic and metal elements added to the mix...
or
SchandmaulSchandmaul is a German medieval folk rock band from the vicinity of Munich.As well as using modern instruments like the bass or electric guitar, the band utilizes instruments typically used in Medieval folk songs, such as the bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy or shawm, to produce their trademark folk rock...
and English bands like
CirculusCirculus are a psychedelic folk/progressive rock band from South London, England, founded by vocalist Michael Tyack.The band uses a mix of modern and medieval instruments, such as the lute, cittern, crumhorn and rauschpfeife, along with the moog synthesizer, bass and electric guitars...
.
British progressive folk rock
In Britain the tendency to electrify brought several progressive folk acts into rock, including acoustic duo Tyrannosaurus Rex which became the electric combo
T. RexT. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...
. Others, probably influenced by the electric folk pioneered by Fairport Convention from 1969, moved towards more traditional material, a category including
Dando ShaftDando Shaft is the name of a short-lived psych/progressive folk and folk jazz band that was primarily active in the early 1970s. The band has attracted a measure of attention from recent compilation releases and Dando Shaft is today known primarily as one of the major influences on the progressive...
,
Amazing BlondelAmazing Blondel are an English acoustic progressive folk band, consisting of Eddie Baird, John Gladwin, and Terry Wincott. They released a number of LPs for Island Records in the early 1970s...
, and
Jack the LadJack the Lad was a folk rock or electric folk group from North East England formed in 1973 by three former members of the most successful band of the period from the region Lindisfarne. They moved from the progressive folk rock of Lindisfarne into much more traditional territory and were in the...
, an offshoot of northern progressive folk group
LindisfarneLindisfarne were a British folk/rock group from Newcastle upon Tyne established in 1970 and fronted by singer/songwriter Alan Hull. Their music combined a strong sense of yearning with an even stronger sense of fun...
, who were one of the most successful UK bands of the early 1970s. Examples of bands that remained firmly on the border between progressive folk and progressive rock were the short lived (but later reunited)
ComusComus is a British progressive rock / folk band which had a brief career in the early 1970s; their first album, First Utterance, gave them a cult following which persists. They have revived in the late 2000s and played several festivals.-History:...
and, more successfully,
RenaissanceRenaissance are an English progressive rock band, most notable for their 1978 UK top 10 hit "Northern Lights" and progressive rock classics like "Carpet of the Sun", "Mother Russia" and "Ashes Are Burning".-Original incarnation :...
, who combined folk and rock with elements of classical music.
South-Eastern Europe
Hungary
In Hungary the fusion of rock and folk music began in 1965, when the band Illés introduced Hungarian folk music elements into their beat-influenced music, winning everything which could be won in that time at festivals, TV contests, etc. Their rock-musical
István, a király (
Stephen I of Hungary), released in 1980 contains strong folk-influences and traditional folk songs as well. The film made based on the rock-opera was one of the biggest box-office hits in 1980. Later on bands like
Barbaro, Gépfolklór, Kormorán and Drums have developed a distinctive sound using odd rhythms, progressive rock, Hungarian and Greek/Bulgarian/etc. folk traditions.
Romania
In
RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
Transsylvania PhoenixTranssylvania Phoenix is a Romanian rock band formed in 1962 in Timişoara by guitarists Nicu Covaci and Kamocsa Béla. Guitarist Claudiu Rotaru, vocalist Florin "Moni" Bordeianu and drummer Ioan "Pilu" Ştefanovici completed the early lineup...
(known in Romania simply as
Phoenix), founded in 1962, introduced significant folk elements into their rock music around 1972 in an unsuccessful attempt to compromise with government repression of rock music. The attempt failed, and they ended up in exile during much of the
CeauşescuNicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
era, but much of their music still retains a folk rock sound. The present-day bands
Spitalul de UrgenţăSpitalul de Urgenţă, literally "Emergency Hospital", is a Romanian pop band, integrating elements of traditional Romanian music into a sometimes hard-edged rock sound, although also incorporating influences as diverse as Balkan folk music, European classical music, and cartoon soundtrack music.The...
(Romanian) and
Zdob şi ZdubZdob şi Zdub is a Moldovan band, based in Chişinău, whose work for the last several years has combined elements of hip-hop , hardcore punk and comical lyrics with traditional Romanian folk music. The name is onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat...
(
MoldovaMoldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
) also both merge folk and rock.
Yugoslavia and its successor states
In SFR Yugoslavia a great number of (mostly 1970s progressive rock) bands incorporated folk music elements into their sound.
Korni GrupaKorni Grupa was a former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. Korni Grupa was one of the first former Yugoslav rock bands to achieve major mainstream popularity. The band's first releases were commercial pop-oriented songs. Korni Grupa later turned towards progressive rock, continuing, however, to...
,
YU grupaYU grupa is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. One of the pioneers in combining rock music with the elements of the traditional music of the Balkans, YU grupa is considered the longest-lasting rock band to come from Serbia....
and
S Vremena Na VremeS Vremena Na Vreme was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade...
were pioneers in incorporating Balkan folk music elements into rock on the Yugoslav scene, and were followed by
SmakSmak is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. The group reached the peak of popularity in the 1970s when it was one of the top acts of the former Yugoslav rock scene...
,
Leb i SolLeb i sol is a Macedonian rock group founded in the 1970s by Vlatko Stefanovski , Bodan Arsovski , Nikola Kokan Dimuševski and Garabet Tavitjan . Tavitjan ceded the drumwork to Dragoljub Đuričić for some of the albums, while Kiril Džajkovski replaced Kokan on Kao Kakao and Putujemo...
and
DahDah was a former Yugoslav/Belgian progressive rock band. Originally formed in Yugoslavia in 1972, the band, in 1975, moved to Belgium and changed the name to Land...
.
In the mid 1970s emerged the band
Bijelo DugmeBijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
, who had huge success with their fusion of hard rock and folk music; however at the beginning of 1980s Bijelo Dugme switched to
New WaveNew Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, and in the late 1980s to
pop rockPop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
, but their last few releases also featured folk music elements. Late Bijelo Dugme albums influenced a number of pop rock/folk rock bands, mostly from
SarajevoSarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
:
Crvena JabukaCrvena jabuka is a Sarajevo-based pop band that originated in 1985, and since then has remained very popular. They were also a part of the so called New Primitives movement that occurred in the 1980s in the Former Yugoslavia territory....
,
Plavi OrkestarPlavi orkestar is one of the most popular bands from former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983.The band has remained popular to the present day with 8 albums and more than 3500 concerts worldwide...
,
MerlinEdin Dervišhalidović , stage name Dino Merlin, , is a prominent Bosnian singer-songwriter and musician. He is a popular singer/songwriter in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is also popular in the other countries of the former Yugoslavia such as Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia and...
, Valentino and
Hari Mata HariHari Mata Hari is a popular music band from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hari Mata Hari is the stage name for the singer Hajrudin "Hari" Varešanović. The group originated from the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The group has performed over 1,000 concerts and sold 5,000,000...
.
The
singer-songwriterSinger-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Đorđe Balašević incorporated elements of folk music of
VojvodinaVojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
into a number of his songs, while some of his albums, like
Na posletku...Na posletku... is the ninth studio album released by Serbian and former Yugoslav singer-songwriter Đorđe Balašević. Featuring only acoustic instruments, Na posletku... is Balašević's first completely folk rock-oriented album...
and
Rani mrazRani mraz is the twelfth studio album released by Serbian and former Yugoslav singer-songwriter Đorđe Balašević. The title refers to Balašević's former band Rani Mraz....
, were completely folk rock-oriented. Another notable act whose music featured a combination of rock and Vojvodina folk music were the band
Garavi SokakGaravi Sokak is a Serbian folk rock/pop band, formed in Novi Sad in 1982.-Late 1980s and 1990s:...
. Some hard rock/heavy metal bands, like Vatreni Poljubac,
Divlje JagodeDivlje Jagode is a Yugoslav and Bosnian hard rock and heavy metal band.-1970s:Divlje Jagode were formed in 1977 in Bihać by guitarist Zele Lipovača...
and
GrivaGriva was a Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band from Novi Sad.-1982—1992:The band was formed in 1982 by former Ibn Tup members, Zlatko Karavla and Josip Sabo . The first lineup also featured Zoran Gogić , Laslo Novak , and Đorđe Jovanović...
incorporated folk music elements into some of their songs, Divlje Jagode during their 1970s hard rock era, and Griva after their third album
GrivaGriva, also known as Vojvodino, Vojvodino, što si tako ravna after its biggest hit, is the third studio album released by Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band Griva, released in 1987....
. The band
GalijaGalija is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Niš. The central figures of the band are brothers Nenad Milosavljević and Predrag Milosavljević...
incorporated some folk music elements into their music during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and in 1999 released the album
Južnjačka utehaJužnjača uteha is the twelfth studio album from Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band Galija, released in 1999. The album features covers of Serbian traditional songs...
with covers of
SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n traditional songs. The band
AzraAzra was a rock band from Zagreb that was popular across Yugoslavia in the 1980s. Azra was formed in 1977 by its frontman Branimir "Johnny" Štulić. The other two members of the original line-up were Mišo Hrnjak and Boris Leiner . The band is named after a verse from "Der Asra" by Heinrich Heine...
started their career as a
New WaveNew Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band, but in their late period started to incorporate folk music elements into their music. After the band disbanded, the bands former leader,
Branimir ŠtulićBranimir "Johnny" Štulić is a Yugoslav singer, songwriter, poet and a leader of the popular former Yugoslav rock group Azra...
continued to use folk music elements on his solo albums, often recording covers of traditional songs.
During the 1990s Serbian band
Orthodox CeltsOrthodox Celts is a Serbian band which plays Irish folk music combined with rock elements. Despite their unusual sound the band is one of the top acts of the Serbian rock scene and has influenced several younger bands, most notably Tir na n'Og and Irish Stew of Sindidun.The band started their...
emerged. They saw major success with their Irish folk/
Celtic rockCeltic rock is a genre of folk rock and a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context...
sound, influencing a number of younger bands, most notably
Tir na n'OgAlfapop is is a Serbian power pop band from Belgrade.The band was formed in 2000 under the name Tir na n'Og . Initially, the band performed Irish folk and Celtic rock, and released one Celtic rock-oriented album...
and
Irish Stew of SindidunIrish Stew of Sindidun is a Celtic rock band from Belgrade, Serbia. While initially playing Irish folk music, the band later made a shift towards light punk rock, inspired by Irish folk music and other genres...
.
The Soviet Union and its successor states
Russia and the Soviet Union produced a large amount of folk music, which was often mixed with modern music styles. Bands like Pesneri (
BelarussianBelarus is an Eastern European country with a rich tradition of folk and religious music. The country's folk music traditions can be traced back to the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the 20th century, the Soviet control of the country somewhat limited musical development because...
),
MelnitsaMelnitsa - is a Russian folk rock band. It was founded in 1999 by Natalia "Hellawes" O'Shea and Alexey "Chus" Sapkov around the remnants of a local folk band 'Till Eulenspiegel'.-Style:...
(Russian),
YallaYalla is a folk rock band from Uzbekistan. They appeared in 1970 and in the 1970s-1980s, were popular all over the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries. The most prominent song of Yalla was Uchquduq - tri kolodtsa, and it was once the most popular hit in USSR in 1980s...
(
UzbekCentral Asian classical music is called shashmaqam, which arose in Bukhara in the late 16th century when that city was a regional capital. Shashmaqam is closely related to Azeri mugam and Uyghur muqam. The name, which translates as six maqams refers to the structure of the music, which contains...
),
UlytauUlytau , literally meaning "the holy mountain", is a popular instrumental folk metal trio from Kazakhstan. Their music combines the sound of the violin and electric guitar with the dombra, a traditional two stringed instrument from their country.-Biography:...
(
KazakhThe modern state of Kazakhstan is home to the Kazakh State Kurmangazy Orchestra of Folk Instruments, the Kazakh State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kazakh National Opera and the Kazakh State Chamber Orchestra. The folk instrument orchestra was named after Kurmangazy Sagyrbayuly, a famous composer and...
) and others combined rock, pop and traditional music.
Turkey
See also Anatolian rockAnatolian rock is a fusion of Turkish folk and rock music. It emerged during the mid-1960s, soon after rock groups such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Status Quo and Omega became popular in Turkey...
and Music of TurkeyThe music of Turkey includes diverse elements ranging from Central Asian folk music and has many copies and references of Byzantine music, Greek music, Ottoman music, Persian music, Balkan music, as well as more modern European and American popular music influences...
Turkey, during the 1970s and 1980s, also sustained a vibrant folk rock scene, drawing inspirations from diverse ethnic elements of
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, the
BalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, Eurasia and the
Black SeaThe Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
region and thriving in a culture of intense political strife, with musicians in nationalist and Marxist camps.
Italy and Spain
Italy
It is difficult to define the boundaries between
folkFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and ethnic music in Italy, because of its geographic position and its history. The folk side was founded by the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare at the end of 1960s. The Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano was characterized by musical search and a strong political commitment. In Italy many songwriters imported American models, such as
Folk beat n. 1 by
Francesco GucciniFrancesco Guccini is an Italian singer-songwriter, considered one of the most important Cantautori. During the five decades of his music career he has recorded 16 studio albums and collections, and 6 live albums. He is also a writer, having published autobiographic and noir novels, and a comics...
or to
Edoardo BennatoEdoardo Bennato is an Italian singer-songwriter. He is the brother of the singer-songwriter Eugenio Bennato.-Biography:...
, who mixes
countryCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
,
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and
tarantellaThe term tarantella groups a number of different southern Italian couple folk dances characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in 6/8 time , accompanied by tambourines. It is among the most recognized of traditional Italian music. The specific dance name varies with every region, for instance...
.
Folk rock roots can be found in two Italian songwriters:
Fabrizio De AndréFabrizio De André was an Italian singer-songwriter.Known for his sympathies towards anarchism, libertarianism, and pacifism, he also was a convicted atheist , and his songs often featured marginalized and rebellious people, prostitutes and knaves, and attacked the Catholic Church...
and
Angelo BranduardiAngelo Branduardi , is an Italian folk singer and composer who scored relevant success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.- Biography :...
. In 1984, Fabrizio De André published the LP
Creuza de ma, in
GenoeseGenoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
dialect (an ancient dialect, with ancient and obsolete words, imported from Arabian, with linguistic difficulties among the same Genoese). De Andrè used musical instruments from
BosporusThe Bosphorus or Bosporus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with the Dardanelles...
to
GibraltarGibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
:
oudThe oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
, andalusian guitar, Macedonian bag pipe,
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, Turkish shannaj,
luteLute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
,
Greek bouzukiThe bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
and
neapolitan mandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
. Branduardi is a classical musician whose first LP
Branduardi '74 is near to progressive sound, later he approaches to medieval and rinascimental and Celtic music. In 1985 he sang William Butler Yeats poetry. The violin, the
harpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, the
sitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
, the
banjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
and the
luteLute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
are accompanied by
electric bassThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and drums. Later he substituted violin with electric violin.
In 1982
Lou DalfinLou Dalfin is an Italian folk and folk-rock/folk-punk group focused on preserving and modernizing the traditions of Occitania. Founded in 1982 by hurdy-gurdy master Sergio Berardo, the band combines traditional Occitan sounds with modern rock instrumentation....
formed an
occitaniaOccitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...
n group which performed traditional music with traditional instruments: ghironda,
accordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and
organettoOrganetto refers to two distinct instruments. The medieval organetto was a portable pipe instrument, while the modern organetto is a popular Italian folk instrument allied to the accordion....
,
violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
,
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, boha and bag pipe and singing in occitanian language. A new line-up of the band in 1990 played folk, jazz and rock using
electric bassThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, drums,
electric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
,
keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
and
saxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
. In 1988 Gigi Camedda, Gino Marielli and Andrea Parodi founded Tazenda, an Italian ethno-folk-rock group which uses a
launeddasThe launeddas is a typical Sardinian woodwind instrument, consisting of three pipes. It is polyphonic and played using circular breathing. An ancient instrument, dating back to at least the 8th century BC, launeddas are still played during religious ceremonies and dances...
(the oldest reed instruments of the Mediterranean), the sampled
"canti a tenore", the diatonic accordions are mixed with electric guitars and drums and harmonicas.
The Gang were formed in 1984 as a
punkPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
group, inspired by
The ClashThe Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, but in 1990 they began to sing about Italian political and social situation and they moved away from punk-style electric guitar and used acoustic twelve string guitar, violin, accordion,
harmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, and
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s. In 2004, after two rock discs, Gang recorded
Nel tempo e oltre cantando insieme with La Macina, band of musical search from
MarcheThe population density in the region is below the national average. In 2008, it was 161.5 inhabitants per km2, compared to the national figure of 198.8. It is highest in the province of Ancona , and lowest in the province of Macerata...
led by Gastone Pietrucci. Traditional songs and Gang's songs were revised rearranged: an example of fusion between rock and popular tradition.
In 1991 some performers from Emilia-Romagna founded
Modena City RamblersModena City Ramblers is an Italian folk band founded in 1991. Their music is heavily influenced by Celtic themes, and can be compared to folk rock music. The band has sold over 500,000 albums...
, which blends the
Combat RockThe album received positive reviews from critics, and reached the number two on the UK Albums Chart, the number seven on the Billboard Pop albums, and the top ten on many charts in other countries...
musical style (
The ClashThe Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
) with folk, traditional Irish music, political songs (
Contessa) and partisans' songs (
Fischia il vento and
Bella Ciao). Later M.C.R. used a world music sound, and blended in rock, punk,
tape loopIn music, tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound. Contemporary composers such as Steve Reich and Karlheinz Stockhausen used tape loops to create phase patterns and rhythms...
s and samples, creating a new genre called
Celtic patchankaPatchanka is the debut album of the multiracial band Mano Negra, released in 1988.-Track listing:#"Mano Negra" – 1:44#"Ronde De Nuit" – 2:55#"Baby You're Mine" – 2:55#"Indios De Barcelona" – 2:34#"Rock Island Line" – 3:03...
. Many groups were influenced by M.C.R.:
Casa del VentoCasa Del Vento is a left wing Italian folk rock band.- History :Casa del Vento is an "extremely controversial, Italo-Celtic, Euro-socialist" folk rock band founded in Italy since 1991. Its current members are Luca Lanzi, Sauro Lanzi, Massimiliano Gregorio, Fabrizio Morganti, Andreas Petermann and...
,
Fiamma FumanaFiamma Fumana is an Italian world music ensemble. Formed in 1999 in Northern Italy, their name translates from Italian as "flame fog" or "fire mist". Their music mixes traditional Italian folk music with electronica. Starting out as a three-piece , they added two members for their second album,...
led by Alberto Cottica (electronic folk); Caravane de Ville of Giovanni Rubbiani; Ductia of Massimo Giuntini; Paulem and La strana famiglia led by Luciano Gaetani; and Cisco (former singer of M.C.R.) now a guitarist and drummer.
Spain
Other fusions of folk and rock include
New FlamencoNuevo Flamenco is synonymous with contemporary flamenco and is a modern derivative of traditional flamenco ....
(Spain), the pop-oriented forms of North African
raïRaï is a form of folk music that originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms, which dates back to the 1930s....
music. Spain has produced two folk-rock-bagpipers,
Susana SeivaneSusana Seivane Hoyo is a Galician gaita player. She was born in Barcelona, Spain, into a family of well-known Galician luthiers and musicians, the Seivane family, whose workshop is the Obradoiro de Gaitas Seivane. She started her musical career at the age of three...
from Galicia and
HeviaJosé Ángel Hevia Velasco, known professionally as Hevia , is a Spaniard bagpiper – specifically, an Asturian gaita player. He commonly performs with his sister, Maria José, on drums...
, who mix traditional with modern dance tunes. Triquel is another Spanish
Celtic rockCeltic rock is a genre of folk rock and a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context...
band that combines
rock musicRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
with Celtic folk roots.
Outside Europe
Canada
Canadian folk rock is particularly, although not exclusively, associated with Celtic folk traditions. Bands such as
Figgy DuffFiggy Duff was a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland. They played a major role in the Newfoundland cultural renaissance of the 1970s and 80s. Formed in 1976 by Noel Dinn, who named the band after a kind of traditional white pudding, Figgy Duff travelled across Newfoundland, learning...
,
Wonderful Grand BandThe Wonderful Grand Band was a music and comedy group from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.The group had a short-lived eponymous television musical variety show on CBC, producing over 40 half-hour episodes between 1980 and 1983...
and
Spirit of the WestSpirit of the West are a Canadian folk rock band, who were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which made them one of Canada's most successful alternative rock acts in the 1990s.-Early years:The band began...
were early pioneers in the Canadian tradition of Celtic-influenced rock, and were later followed by acts such as
Crash Test DummiesThe Crash Test Dummies is a Canadian folk rock/alternative rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, widely known for their 1993 single "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm".The band is most identifiable through Brad Roberts and his distinctive bass-baritone voice...
,
Great Big SeaGreat Big Sea is a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage...
,
The Mahones-Biography:The Mahones are an Irish-born, Canadian Celtic punk band, influenced by the Celtic Rock revival of the late 1980's, pioneered by such bands as the Pogues and the Waterboys....
, The Dukhs,
Jimmy GeorgeJimmy George is a Canadian folk rock band, who blended Celtic folk with rock influences in a manner similar to Spirit of the West and Great Big Sea....
,
Rawlins CrossRawlins Cross is a Canadian Celtic band. With members from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ontario, the band took its name from an intersection in St. John's, Newfoundland.-Formation and early history:Rawlins Cross was formed in St...
,
Captain TractorCaptain Tractor is a Canadian folk rock band, based in Edmonton, Alberta. They play a punk-influenced variant of Celtic folk music, similar to such bands as Great Big Sea, The Pogues or Spirit of the West...
,
MudmenMudmen are a Canadian rock band that formed in Toronto, Ontario in 2000. Initially comprising vocalist Zoy Nicoles, guitarist Lonny Knapp, bassist Tommy Skilton, drummer Ryan McCaffrey and bagpipe-playing brothers Robby and Sandy Campbell...
, and
MichouMichou is a folk rock band from Windsor, Ontario.Michou's first release is 2007's EP, MedeaMichou's first studio album is titled Myshkin, released 2008 in Canada,...
. In recent years, a variety of Canadian indie music has reached the scene with varying styles of folk rock such as
Attack In BlackAttack in Black was a Canadian indie rock band from Welland, Ontario. They first signed to Skate Ahead Records for their self-titled album debut in 2005. In spring 2006, they signed with Dine Alone Records...
,
Great Lake SwimmersGreat Lake Swimmers is a Canadian band built around the melodic folk rock songs of singer-songwriter Tony Dekker. Originally from Wainfleet, Ontario, the band is currently based in Toronto....
,
City and ColourCity and Colour is the recording alias for Juno Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Dallas Green, who was also the guitarist and vocalist of the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. He plays melodic acoustic and folk music and is often accompanied by a rotating number of Canadian indie rock...
,
The Wooden SkyThe Wooden Sky are a Canadian indie rock band based in Toronto, Ontario. They formed in 2003 as Friday Morning's Regret, but changed their name in 2007. They are currently signed to Black Box Recordings who has released their last two records....
,
Joel PlaskettJoel Plaskett is a Canadian rock musician originally from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. He grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia and now resides across the harbour in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia...
and
Two Hours TrafficTwo Hours Traffic is a Canadian indie rock band, based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. They are named after a line in the prologue to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Although often described as the band that Halifax guitarist Joel Plaskett took "under his wing", they have increasingly...
Australia
Australia has a unique tradition of folk music, with origins in both the indigenous music traditions of the original Australian inhabitants, as well as the introduced folk music (including
sea shantiesSea Shanties is the debut album of Progressive Rock band High Tide. The cover artwork was drawn by Paul Whitehead.-Production:Denny Gerrard produced Sea Shanties in return for High Tide acting as the backing band on his solo album Sinister Morning...
) of 18th and 19th century Europe. Celtic, English, German and Scandinavian folk traditions predominated in this first wave of European immigrant music. The Australian tradition is, in this sense, related to the traditions of other countries with similar ethnic, historical and political origins, such as New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. The Australian indigenous tradition brought to this mix novel elements, including new instruments, some of which are now internationally familiar, such as the digeridoo of Northern Australia.
Notable Australian exponents of the folk revival movement included both European immigrants such as
Eric BogleEric Bogle is a folk singer-songwriter. He emigrated to Australia in 1969 and currently resides near Adelaide, South Australia.-Career:...
, and indigenous Australians like
Archie RoachArchie Roach is an Australian musician. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, he survived a turbulent upbringing to develop into a powerful voice for Indigenous Australians, a storyteller in the tradition of his ancestors, and a nationally popular and respected artist.- Biography :In his own words,...
, and many others. In the 1970s, Australian folk rock brought both familiar and less familiar traditional songs, as well as new compositions, to live venues and the airwaves. Notable artists include
The Bushwacker BandThe Bushwackers Band, often simply The Bushwackers, is an Australian folk and country music band or Bush band founded at La Trobe University in Melbourne in 1971....
and
RedgumRedgum were an Australian folk and political music group formed in Adelaide in 1975 by singer-songwriter John Schumann, Michael Atkinson on guitars/vocals and Verity Truman on flute/vocals; they were soon joined by Chris Timms on violin. All four had been students at Flinders University and...
. The 1990s brought Australian Indigenous Folk Rock to the world, led by bands including
Yothu YindiYothu Yindi are an Australian band with Aboriginal and balanda members formed in 1986. Aboriginal members come from Yolngu homelands near Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula in Northern Territory's Arnhem Land...
. Australia's long and continuous folk tradition continues strongly to this day, with elements of folk music still present in many contemporary artists including those generally thought of as
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
,
heavy metalHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and
alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
.
East Asia
Manila SoundManila Sound is a musical genre in the Philippines that begun in the early 1970s in Manila, flourished and peaked in the mid to late 1970s, and waned in popularity by the early 1980s...
is a sub-genre popular in the
PhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
(notably in
ManilaManila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
during the 1970s which combined elements of
Filipino folk musicTraditional Music in the Philippines, like the traditional music of other countries, reflects the life of common folk, mainly living in rural areas rather than urban ones. Like its counterparts in Asia, a lot of traditional songs from the Philippines have a strong connection with nature...
and
Rock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
using
TaglishTaglish is a portmanteau of the words "Tagalog" and "English" which refers to the Philippine language Tagalog infused with American English terms. It is an example of code-switching....
(mixed English and
TagalogTagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
). Notable musicians using this music include
Freddie AguilarFerdinand Pascual Aguilar , better known as Freddie Aguilar, is a folk musician from the Philippines. He is best known for his rendition of "Bayan Ko", which became the anthem for the opposition to the Marcos regime during the 1986 People Power Revolution, and for his song "Anak", the best-selling...
,
Sharon CunetaSharon Cuneta-Pangilinan, better known as Sharon Cuneta, is a popular and multi-awarded Filipino singer, actress and TV host dubbed as Megastar of Philippine Entertainment, fondly called Mega by fans and people from the entertainment industry....
, the
Apo Hiking SocietyThe Apolinario Mabini Hiking Society, later popularly known as Apo Hiking Society or, simply, Apo, was a Filipino musical group. The group had its fledgling beginnings in 1969 at the Ateneo de Manila high school, with thirteen members: Lito de Joya, Sonny Santiago, Gus Cosio, Renato Garcia, Chito...
,
VST & Co.VST & Company was a Filipino disco group prominent during the late 1970s in the Philippines. Considered to be the pioneer and icon of what is known as the Manila Sound, VST & Co. released disco singles such as Swing It, Baby, Magsayawan, Ipagpatawad Mo, Awitin Mo, Isasayaw Ko and Disco Fever...
,
FloranteFlorante de Leon, popularly known simply as Florante, is a Filipino singer-songwriter. He was a pioneer and leading exponent of Pinoy folk rock during the DZRJ-AM radio boom in Manila during the 1970s...
,
Rey ValeraReynaldo Valera Guardiano is a singer, songwriter, music director, film scorer and television host from the Philippines. He wrote and produced songs that were recorded by various singers, most notably Sharon Cuneta. He currently hosts the variety noontime show Pilipinas Win na Win alongside Rico J...
,
Rico J. PunoEnrico de Jesus Puno , better known as Rico J. Puno, is a popular Filipino pop singing artist and television host who is credited as a pioneer-promoter of original Filipino music. He started the trend of incorporating Tagalog lyrics in his rendition of the American song The Way We Were and other...
, and
Ryan CayabyabRyan Cayabyab is a Filipino musician and was the Executive and Artistic Director of the defunct San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts...
.
Further reading
- Laing, Dave, et al. (1975) The Electric Muse: the story of folk into rock. London: Eyre Methuen
- Pohle, Horst (1987) The Folk Record Source Book: England / Ireland / Scotland / Wales; 2nd ed. Berlin: Horst Pohle (1st ed.: 1984) (discography of ca. 10,000 LP & EP records by ca. 2500 groups / musicians 1950s to 1987; a few audiotapes where no vinyl discs available)