Overview
This lesson addresses two separate but related genres of rock. Country rock is a hybrid of country music and rock music, while Southern rock incorporates themes from the American South into music that is otherwise relatively standard rock in its sound and instrumentation. There are many different sounds and artists that have been classified as country rock, and many of these sound very different from each other.
Objectives
- Identify the defining stylistic characteristics of country rock
- Identify the defining stylistic characteristics of Southern rock
- Recall the instrumentation, musical influences and backgrounds, and lyric themes of several country rock and Southern rock artists
Country Rock
As a genre, country rockfusion of rock music with country; some rock musicians added instruments from country music, such as the pedal steel guitar and the dobro; Other rock musicians began integrating lyric themes (regional pride or conservative values) or vocal styles (yodeling or twangy delivery) of country music into their recordings is difficult to define. Most broadly, it refers to a fusion of rock music with country, but the resulting sounds, instrumentations, and themes vary widely. Some rock musicians added instruments from country music, such as the pedal steel guitar and the dobro. The pedal steel guitara guitar that has no frets, is played while the player is seated, and the player changes pitch by changing the position of a metal bar (called a steel). has no frets; instead, the player changes pitch by changing the position of a metal bar (called a steel). Unlike other guitars, a pedal steel guitar is played while the player is seated. A dobroa resonator guitar, that is, an acoustic guitar that has metal resonators instead of a wooden sound board is a resonator guitar, that is, an acoustic guitar that has metal resonators instead of a wooden sound board.
Other rock musicians began integrating lyric themes (regional pride or nostalgia) or vocal styles (yodeling or twangy delivery) of country music into their recordings.
During the late 1960s, Bob Dylan recorded three albums in Nashville with the support of many musicians who were prominent in the Nashville scene, such as Charlie McCoy, Johnny Cash, and Charlie Daniels. With Blonde on Blonde in 1966, John Wesley Harding in 1967, and Nashville Skyline in 1969, Dylan established yet another new approach to folk music—country folk. Nashville Skyline in particular had the standard instrumentation of country music: acoustic guitar, electric lead guitar, electric bass, piano played in a honky-tonk style, and drums. Dylan also occasionally added a pedal steel guitar to the mix, which can be heard in songs such as "Lay Lady Lay ♫." In the eyes of listeners who might have been skeptical of the merits of country music as a genre, Dylan's excursions into country music lent the genre a new sense of respectability. As artists with progressive political views, such as Dylan and the Byrds, began recording country music, the associations between country music and nostalgic values weakened.
Another key figure in the early country rock scene is the guitarist and singer-songwriter Gram Parsons. Parsons was a member of the International Submarine Band until 1968, when he left that group and joined the Byrds. Recall that the Byrds began their career by recording rock covers of folk music, such as Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man ♫," and then they turned toward psychedelic music with new songs such as "Eight Miles High ♫." When Parsons joined the Byrds, the group recorded a country album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968). The album contained original songs that Parsons had written, as well as covers of folk and country songs by artists such as Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard, and Woody Guthrie. In general, Sweetheart of the Rodeo is not a true fusion of country and rock; instead, it sounds more like a country album with moments of rock interspersed. "One Hundred Years From Now ♫," a song written by Parsons, is the most rock-like song on the album, with its strong backbeat and fast tempo.
"One Hundred Years From Now ♫" is still audibly country, though, with its pedal steel guitar and vocal harmonies. Sweetheart of the Rodeo was an influential album on many artists who also sought to meld rock and country music.
