Psychedelic Blues Rock
tagStarted mid-1960sPeak 1967–1970Last big hit early 1970s
Psychedelic blues rock keeps blues riffs and solo vocabulary but expands them with feedback, wah, studio effects, drone, and more open-ended song structures. The result is blues that looks upward and outward—trippy, saturated, and less tied to strict chorus discipline.
History
As the late-1960s psychedelic boom hit rock, blues-based players stretched electric blues into new sonic territory. Hendrix, Cream, Canned Heat, Blue Cheer, Ten Years After, and early Fleetwood Mac all represent different shades of the form, from cosmic improvisation to amplified boogie haze.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- The Blues Foundation on rock-blues
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on blues as a root of rock and on Clapton
- Britannica on Stevie Ray Vaughan.