Roots rock

Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the perceived excesses of dominant psychedelic and developing progressive rock. Because roots music is often used to mean folk and world musical forms, roots rock is sometimes used in a broad sense to describe any rock music that incorporates elements of this music. In the 1980s roots rock enjoyed a revival in response to trends in punk rock, new wave and heavy metal music.

History

In 1966, as many rock artists moved towards expansive and experimental psychedelia, Bob Dylan spearheaded the back-to-basics roots revival when he went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde, using notable local musicians like Charlie McCoy. Other acts that followed the back to basics trend in different ways were the Canadian group The Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival, both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt and Lowell George. The back to basics tendency would also be evident in the Rolling Stone's Beggar's Banquet (1968) and Exile on Main Street (1972), as well as the Beatles' The White Album (1968) and Let It Be (1970).

Country rock

Dylan's lead was also followed by The Byrds, who were joined by Gram Parsons in 1968. Earlier in the year Parsons had already recorded Safe at Home with the International Submarine Band, which made extensive use of pedal steel guitar and is seen by some as the first true country-rock album. A number of performers also enjoyed a renaissance by adopting country sounds, including: the Everly Brothers, whose Roots album (1968) is usually considered some of their finest work; former teen idol Rick Nelson who became the frontman for the Stone Canyon Band; Mike Nesmith who formed the First National Band after this departure from the Monkees; and Neil Young who moved in and out of the genre throughout his career. Country rock began to fade in the late 1970s in the face of punk and new wave trends.

Southern rock

Although the Southern states had been, as much as anywhere, the birthplace of rock and roll, after the decline of rockabilly in the late 1950s, despite some successful bands from the region, a major contribution to the evolution of soul music in the Stax-Volt records company and the existence of the Muscle Shoals and FAME Studios, it was not until the early 1970s that a distinctive regional style of rock music emerged. The founders of Southern rock are usually thought to be the Allman Brothers Band, who developed a distinctive sound, largely derived from blues rock, but incorporating elements of boogie, soul, and country; combining hard rock instrumentation and rhythms with accented vocals and Duane Allman's slide guitar. It has been seen as an American Midwest and Rust Belt counterpart to West Coast country rock and the Southern rock of the American South. Led by figures who had initially been identified with punk and new wave, it was most strongly influenced by acts such as Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Van Morrison, and the basic rock of 60s garage and the Rolling Stones. Exemplified by the commercial success of singer songwriters Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and Tom Petty, along with less widely known acts such as Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, it was partly a reaction to post-industrial urban decline in the East and Mid-West, often dwelling on issues of social disintegration and isolation, beside a form of good-time rock and roll revivalism. Kid Rock and The Killers. Heartland rock faded away as a recognized genre by the early 1990s, as rock music in general, and blue collar and white working class themes in particular, lost influence with younger audiences, and as heartland's artists turned to more personal works. among others, to describe a number of acts reacted to slick, highly produced, pop-oriented sounds of new wave and synth pop, by turning to the rock & roll values of the 1950s and 60s. A number of key bands were defined as cow punk, punk rockers who played country music, including Jason & The Scorchers from Tennessee, Dash Rip Rock from Louisiana and Drivin N Cryin from Georgia, but the centre of the cow punk movement became Los Angeles, thanks to bands including the Long Ryders, Tex & the Horseheads, The Rave-Ups, Lone Justice and Rank and File. Also part of this trend and enjoying some mainstream success were Gun Club, Chris Isaak, John Mellencamp, BoDeans, and Los Lobos. In addition the alternative country movement, producing such figures as Steve Earle and Uncle Tupelo, can be seen as part of the roots rock tendency. The movement began to decline in popularity again in the 1990s but produced some bands like Son Volt, Wilco and Bottle Rockets.

Notes

See also

List of Roots rock bands and musicians

Category:Alternative country Category:Contemporary folk subgenres Category:Crossover (music) Category:Rock music genres Category:Swamp rock