Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre, combining elements of
folk music and
rock music.
In the original and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the
United States and
Canada around the mid-1960s. The sound was epitomized by tight vocal harmonies and a relatively "clean" (effects- and distortion-free) approach to electric instruments epitomized by the jangly sound of the
Byrds'
guitarist
Roger McGuinn. The repertoire was drawn in part from folk sources, but even more from folk-influenced
singer-songwriters such as
Bob Dylan.
This original folk rock directly led to the distinct, eclectic style of
British folk rock (a.k.a.
electric folk) pioneered in the late 1960s by
Pentangle and
Fairport Convention. Starting from a North-American style folk rock, Pentangle, Fairport and other related bands deliberately incorporated elements of traditional
British folk music. At the same time, in Brittany,
Alan Stivell began to mix his Breton roots with Irish and Scottish roots and with rock music. Very shortly afterwards, Fairport bassist
Ashley Hutchings formed
Steeleye Span in collaboration with traditionalist British folk musicians who wished to incorporate electrical amplification, and later overt rock elements, into their music.
This, in turn, spawned several other variants: the self-consciously
English folk rock of the
Albion Band and some of
Ronnie Lane's solo work, and the more prolific current of
Celtic rock, incorporating traditional music of
Ireland,
Scotland,
Cornwall, and
Brittany. Through at least the first half of the
1970s, Celtic rock held close to folk roots, with its repertoire drawing heavily on traditional Celtic
fiddle and
harp tunes and even traditional vocal styles, but making use of rock-band levels of amplification and percussion.
In a broader sense, folk rock includes later similarly-inspired musical genres and movements in the
English-speaking world (and its
Celtic 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 the music of North American English-speaking whites, 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
blues-based or other
African American music (except as mediated through
folk revivalists), nor to rock music with
Cajun roots, nor to music (especially after about 1980) with non-European folk roots, which is more typically classified as
world music.
Folk rock arose mainly from the confluence of three elements: urban/collegiate folk vocal groups, singer-songwriters, and the revival of North American rock and roll after the
British Invasion. Of these, the first two owed direct debts to
Woody Guthrie,
Pete Seeger and the
Popular Front culture of the
1930s.
The first of the urban folk vocal groups was the
Almanac Singers, whose shifting membership during the late 1930s and early 1940s included Guthrie and Seeger and
Lee Hayes. In
1947 Seeger and Hayes joined
Ronnie Gilbert, and
Fred Hellerman to form
the Weavers, who popularized the genre and had a major hit with a cleaned-up cover of
Leadbelly's "Irene", but fell afoul of the U.S.
Red Scare of the early
1950s. Their sound, and their broad repertoire of traditional folk material and
topical songs inspired other groups such as
the Kingston Trio (founded
1957), the
Chad Mitchell Trio, and the (usually less political) "collegiate folk" groups such as
The Brothers Four,
The Four Freshmen,
The Four Preps, and
The Highwaymen. All featured tight vocal harmonies and a repertoire at least initially rooted in folk music and (in some cases) topical songs.
When the term
singer-songwriter was coined in the mid-
1960s, it was applied retroactively to
Bob Dylan and other (mainly
New York-based) folk-rooted songwriters.
Scottish songster
Donovan also fit this mold. 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.
None of this would likely ever have intersected with rock music, though, if it had not been for the impulse of the British Invasion.
The Beatles,
the Rolling Stones, and numerous other British bands reintroduced to America the broad potential of rock and roll as a creative medium. One of the first bands to craft a distinctly American sound in response was
the Beach Boys; 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", which they had learned from The Kingston Trio, who, in turn, had learned it from the Weavers.
However, there are a few antecedents to folk rock in pre-British Invasion American rock; one could citesome of the later recordings of
Buddy Holly, which highly influenced artists like Dylan and the Byrds, and to some extent some recordings by
country-influenced performers like
The Everly Brothers. This was not a recognized trend at the time, and probably would have not been noticed if not for subsequent events.
In the
United States the heyday of folk rock is likely between the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies, aligning itself approximately with the
hippie movement. Arising originally from the folk-influenced music of Bob Dylan and earlier musicians, the folk revivalist vocal combo, and the rock music of the
British Invasion, it later incorporated elements of
country music, drawing on
Hank Williams and others.
The
British style of folk rock (in its early years, often called
electric folk) was established by the band
Fairport Convention, who formed in North London in the late 1960s.
Steeleye Span, also prominent in this vein, was formed by folk musicians who wished to add electric instruments and experiment with song structures.
Nick Drake's music has had a large impact on modern folk rock.
Across the
English Channel in
Brittany or
France, a similar fusion of folk and rock elements can be found in the
Breton folk rock music of
Alan Stivell (1970s and later) and the French
Malicorne , founded by one of Alan Stivell's musicians.
British folk rock combined with experimental aspects, found for example in
The Incredible String Band, eventually developed into
prog rock.
In
Romania Transsylvania Phoenix (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 exiled during much of the
Ceauşescu era, but much of their music still retains a folk rock sound. The present-day bands
Spitalul de Urgenţă (Romanian) and
Zdob şi Zdub (
Moldova) also both merge folk and rock.
Other fusions of folk and rock include
New Flamenco (
Spain), the pop-oriented forms of North African
raï music, and in the music of
The Pogues and the
Dropkick Murphys, both of whom draw on
traditional Irish music and
punk rock.
Turkey, during the
1970s and
1980s, also sustained a vibrant folk rock scene, drawing inspirations from diverse ethnic elements of
Anatolia, the
Balkans, Eurasia and the
Black Sea region and thrived in a culture of intense political strife, with musicians in
nationalist and
Marxist camps.
See Music of Turkey.
Another folk rock band is
Gåte from
Norway who combines Norwegian folk songs(stev) and rock.
All of the performers listed here had or have both significant folk elements and significant rock elements in their music.
Singer-songwriters
A number of singer-songwriters are associated strongly with folk rock. Among those who started out strongly identified with folk music but later incorporated rock influences in their music are:
*
Leonard Cohen*
Donovan*
John Denver*
Bob Dylan*
Joni Mitchell*
Bruce Springsteen*
Phil Ochs (arguably a different phenomenon, since his rock music was relatively separate from his folk-influenced music)
*
Richard Thompson*
Alan Stivell*
James Taylor*
Shawn PhillipsIn addition, others (usually of at least a slightly younger generation) seem to have mixed both elements from the outset of their careers:
*
Jonatha Brooke*
Jim Croce*
Indigo Girls*
Neil Young*
Gillian Welch*
Joel Sprayberry*
Matt CostaSinger-songwriter
Paul Simon, as one half of
Simon & Garfunkel, was a transitional figure between a Dylanesque singer-songwriter and the folk rock vocal sound.
Canadian singer-songwriter
Nathan Bishop performs both folk and rock instrumentation and leans on both the lyrical and narrative traditions in his songs.
1960s North American folk rock vocal groups
These bands were associated with original North American "folk rock" sound, drawing to some extent on traditional folk music, but to a greater extent on the work of folk-influenced contemporary songwriters, such as Bob Dylan or the
Scottish singer-songwriter
Donovan.
*
The Band*
Buffalo Springfield*
The Byrds*
Crosby, Stills & Nash*
The Mamas & the Papas*
Simon & Garfunkel*
Peter, Paul & Mary, transitional between urban folk vocal groups and folk rock
*
The Turtles, whose first hits were in this genre, but who headed off in other musical directions
Other U.S. bands of this era
There were also significant folk influences in the music of several other North American bands of this period who were not generally identified with the folk rock label.
*
The Grateful Dead*
Jefferson Airplane*
Love*
Moby Grape*
Sonny and Cher*
Dion DiMucci (mid and late 1960s recordings)
*
Gene Vincent (mid and late 1960s recordings)
British and Irish folk rock
The British and Irish folk rock (or "electric folk") sound started out as an offshoot of the North American. Fairport Convention, almost certainly the seminal band of this movement, began with a sound very close to that of North American folk rock, but began deliberately incorporating elements from the folk music of the
British Isles. Several bands in
Brittany were also closely associated with this musical movement following the work of
Alan Stivell.
Unrelated to this movement would be a few British acts of the mid-1960s whose music was based on or paralleled US folk rock of the time, such as
Chad and Jeremy,
Peter and Gordon,
The Searchers or
Marianne Faithfull.
*
Capercaillie*
The Dream Academy*
Fairport Convention*
Alan Stivell (Breton)
*
Five Hand Reel*
Hedgehog Pie*
Horslips*
Jack The Lad*
Jethro Tull; not all of their music has folk elements, but
Songs from the Wood,
Heavy Horses and
Stormwatch are clearly of this genre.
*
Lindisfarne*
Malicorne (French)
*
Magna Carta*
Pentangle*
Planxty*
Renaissance*
Richard Thompson*
Steeleye Span*
The Strawbs*
Tricks Upon TravellersVan Morrison, although not associated with this sound in its heyday, has more recently done some music along these lines, especially in his collaborations with
The Chieftains.
The Incredible String Band began in this mode before heading off in other musical directions. Lead singer
Robin Williamson has often returned to this style of music.
All of the above were active in the early 1970s. A clearly related sound can be found in Irish music of a slightly later period.
*
The Corrs*
The WaterboysThe Canadian bands
Spirit of the West and
Great Big Sea are also more associated with this sound that with the earlier North American folk rock.
The Canadian band
Celtae are fusing two folk traditions, that of Cape Breton and Newfoundland with a broad definition of rock that includes elements of hard rock, funk, and jazz while retaining the original flavour of the traditional music.
A similar impulse (but a very different sound) can be found in bands who mix traditional Irish music with punk rock. The prototype of this approach might be
Thin Lizzy's
heavy-metal-inspired 1973 version of "
Whiskey in the Jar"
*
Dropkick Murphys*
The Pogues*
Flogging Molly*
$wingin' Utter$A recent book, "Electric Folk" by Britta Sweers (2005) concentrates on Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. Another recent book "Irish Folk, Trad and Blues: A Secret History" by Colin Harper (2005) covers Horslips, The Pogues, Planxty and others.
Present folk rock includes bands such as
Aaron Sprinkle,
The Tossers, The River Bends, One Star Hotel, Tegan & Sara,
Bill Mallonee,
The Lost Dogs,
Wilco,
Son Volt,
Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers,
The Jayhawks,
David Wolfenberger,
Over the Rhine,
The Greencards, Denison Witmer and many more.
Other
*
The Picts (Scottish)
*
The Duhks (Canada)
*
Energy Orchard*
Garmarna (Sweden)
*
Gordon Giltrap*
The Grapes of Wrath*
Great Big Sea (Canada)
*
Gordon Lightfoot*
Gundula Krause*
Sufjan Stevens*
Kazuki Tomokawa (Japan
*
The Levellers (Popular during the 1990's, English)
*
Roaring Jack (Australia)
*
Ruby Blue*
Runrig*
Spirit of the West*
Weddings Parties Anything (Australia)
*
Andy White*
World Party*
Spiral Dance (band) (Australia)
*
The Bedridden (Australia)
*
Los Jaivas (Chile)
*
The Coral (U.K.)
*
Andre Pannenbaecker (Germany)
*
Paddy Rock Radio, Celtic rock.
