What is "folk rock"

n. A subgenre of rock music combining elements of folk music.

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the United Kingdom around the mid-1960s. The genre was pioneered by the Los Angeles band the Byrds, who began playing traditional folk music and songs by Bob Dylan with rock instrumentation, in a style heavily influenced by the Beatles and other British bands. The term "folk rock" was coined by the U.S. music press to describe the Byrds' music in June 1965, the month in which the band's debut album was issued. The release of the Byrds' cover version of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man" and its subsequent commercial success initiated the folk rock explosion of the mid-1960s. Dylan also contributed to the genre, particularly with his recordings with rock instrumentation on the albums Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde. Dylan's appearance at the Newport Folk Festival on 25 July 1965, with an electric band backing him, was a pivotal moment in the development of folk rock.

Antecedents of folk rock can be found in the American folk music revival, the beat music of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands, the Animals' hit recording of the folk song " The House of the Rising Sun", and the folk-influenced songwriting of the Beau Brummels. In particular, the folk influence evident in such Beatles' songs as " I'm a Loser" and " You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" was influential on folk rock. The repertoire of most folk rock acts was drawn from folk sources and also from folk-influenced singer-songwriters such as Dylan. Musically, the genre was typified by clear vocal harmonies and a relatively "clean" ( effects- and distortion-free) approach to electric instruments, as epitomized by the jangly 12-string guitar sound of the Byrds. This jangly guitar sound was derived from the music of the Searchers and from George Harrison's use of a Rickenbacker 12-string on the Beatles' recordings in 1964 and 1965.

A distinct, eclectic style of electric folk was created in Britain and Europe in the late 1960s by Pentangle, Fairport Convention and Alan Stivell. Inspired by British psychedelic folk and the North American style of folk rock, Pentangle, Fairport, and other related bands began to incorporate elements of traditional British folk music into their repertoire. Fairport bassist Ashley Hutchings formed Steeleye Span with traditionalist folk musicians who wished to incorporate overt rock elements into their music, and this led to other variants, including the overtly English folk rock of the Albion Band (also featuring Hutchings) and the more prolific current of Celtic rock.

In a broader sense, folk rock includes later similarly inspired musical genres and movements in the English-speaking world (and its Celtic and Filipino 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 more toward rock in instrumentation, playing and vocal style, and choice of material; while the original genre draws on music of Europe and North America, 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.