Folk Rock

English and American Folk music significantly influence this subgenre - "Folk Rock." It first appeared in the middle of the 1960s when Rock bands like The Animals began drawing inspiration from traditional Folk music, and Folk singers like Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn began playing electric guitars.

How Folk Rock Began

Folk and Rock music scenes did not frequently overlap in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Things began to change by the middle of that decade. Folk music gained popularity among mainstream American audiences thanks to performers like Pete Seeger and his group, the Weavers. The Hudson River Valley and Greenwich Village in New York City served as the epicenter of the folk revival. It also helped raise the profile of previously unknown performers. Some include Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, and groups like the Kingston Trio and Phil Ochs.

Rock performers who drew influence from artists such as Fats Domino, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Elvis Presley performed outside the folk groups. Many prominent rock stars, such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Dave Clark Five, were British. However, some, like Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, were American. One musical genre's audience did not always have a fondness for the other. As the 1960s progressed, several avant-garde bands started to blur the lines between rock and folk.

The San Francisco band Beau Brummels wrote original songs with an American folk feel. Later, they modeled their public persona in part after the Beatles. The frontman of The Byrds, Roger McGuinn, significantly modernized folk music's sound. He did so by switching to a Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar. He thus fused rock's raw energy with the jangle of traditional folk. With their energetic rendition of "Mr. Tambourine Man," The Byrds struck success. The song first surfaced on Bob Dylan's fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home.

Notable Releases

The Byrd version, released in 1965, peaked at number one on the UK Singles and Billboard Hot 100 lists. The genre was pioneered by American singer-songwriters such as Paul Simon, Stephen Stills, and David Crosby. Canadians residing in Los Angeles, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, also wrote their classic folk-rock tunes. A British folk rock culture had emerged in the UK. It centered on bands such as the Searchers, Pentangle (with Bert Jansch), and the Animals (with Eric Burdon).

The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun," which peaked at number one on the UK pop singles chart in 1964, was the most prominent British success of the time. Folk-rock fashion started in the 1960s and gained momentum swiftly. It is still going strong now. Many subgenres have emerged from it, such as punk-inspired folk-rock (the Replacements, Dinosaur Jr., Buffalo Tom), progressive folk music (Richard Thompson, O'Death), country (the Flying Burrito Brothers, John Prine), and even psychedelic folk rock (Jefferson Airplane).

Characteristics

Folk rock incorporates the genuine diatonic harmonies of conventional folk and country music with the power, tempos, and arrangement of rock music. A typical ensemble of this style often includes acoustic & electric guitar, drums, electric bass guitar, and other instruments such as the banjo, mandolin, piano, and violin. While most songs are brief and melodic, a few exceptions exhibit more length and ambition, such as Stills & Nash's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" or  "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" by Crosby by Gordon Lightfoot.

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