Country Rock / Americana / Roots Rock
familyStarted 1968Peak 1969-1979Last big hit still active
Rock built on country and folk bones: acoustic and electric guitars braided with pedal steel, fiddle, mandolin and banjo, tight close harmonies, and a backbeat that swings rather than slams. Warm, dusty, plainspoken songwriting about roads, work, faith and heartbreak, ranging from polished radio gloss to raw barroom grit.
History
Born when late-1960s rock musicians turned back toward Bakersfield twang and Nashville craft, crystallized by the Byrds' 1968 Sweetheart of the Rodeo and Gram Parsons. Through the 1970s it ruled FM radio via the Eagles and Poco, then splintered into rootsier Americana and alt-country strains in the 1980s-90s that still thrive across festival and streaming culture today.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_rock
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americana_(music)
- https://www.allmusic.com/style/country-rock-ma0000002817
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_Parsons