The Evolution Of Folk Rock

Folk rock in the sixties inherited the tradition of country and western. In the 1960s, the main representatives of folk rock were Joan Baez, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, and so on. However, the most important folk rock singer is Bob Dylan, who was the first and the most important folk rock music creator. Known as the “protest song singer”, for the entire 1960s, Bob Dylan 's music strongly affected young people that were in the wandering and confusion. It was like a banner, a totem, and a pioneer, helped the the youth from the 1960s generation of found the sustenance of their ideals.

Not parents, not teachers, but music changed the decade of the 1950s. Welcome to the decade, where rock ‘n’ roll music emerged. Rock ‘n’ roll changed the world, but it wasn’t just the music. The music created a movement. People were not afraid to be different. The Birth of Rock ‘n’ roll, created a major impact on many cultures and society. When I think of Rock ‘n’ roll music, I think of the music, as a stepping stone for Americans. I think of Rock ‘n roll music as a stepping stone for Americans because the music reflects on the change of America after the war. Everybody was afraid to break out and be different. Rock and roll music made it cool to be different. During the 1950s no other genre of music was accepted or despised as much a

Loud, soothing, meaningful, and deep, rock music has many characteristics. These characteristics are ones that rock music fans appreciate. But, many people have different preferences of music, such as pop, rap, country, and other genres. Although there are several types of music, most modern music comes back to the foundation of rock and roll. Many artists have been influenced by the heart-wrenching power of rock music. Most people that enjoy rock music do not know how rock started. It is a genre that has evolved over the years.

Rock ‘N’ Roll’s birth came after the Great Depression and World War II. It was in the 50’s called the baby boomers that started it all. It expanded the teenage population with 3.4 million babies born. The 1950’s scrap the ideology of a conservative family, where the father is the bread winner and the mother was a stay home mother. The young adults found an escape and enjoyment in Rock ‘N’ Roll.

“The rise of rock ‘n’ roll and the reception of it, in fact, can tell us a lot about the culture and values of the United States in the 1950s. According to historians James Gilbert, there was a struggle throughout the decade ‘over the uses of popular culture to determine who would speak to what audience, and for what purpose”. At the center of that struggle, rock ‘n’ roll unsettled a nation had been “living in an ‘age of anxiety’” since 1945” (p.15). Altschuler talks about how music and race interlock with one another. Rock had become a “highly visible and contested arena for struggles over racial identity and cultural and economic empowerment in the United States” (p.35). Other chapters within the book state the battles involving sexuality, generational conflicts, as well as other social issues. The author states ideas that are somewhat problematic. For example, he states that there is a myth that rock ‘n’ roll went into a “lull” following the payola hearings (the practice of record promoters paying DJs or radio programmers to play their labels ' songs) of 1959 and did not come about again until the arrival of the Beatles in 1964.

When we hear the song Brown-Eyed Girl, it is safe to assume the majority of us think of the Van Morrison version that was first introduced in his album Blowin’ Your Mind, released in 1967. Since that time the song’s legend and popularity have grown to unprecedented heights. Many artists have redone the song, some with a similar music style to Morrison (like Jimmy Buffet), and others of a completely different genre like the punk rock band Green Day. In my essay I will argue that the stylistic differences between the two songs are not a barrier. Rather, in combination with the similarities associating with cover songs, they form a bridge between two genres. In this case, it is achieved by

Jazz has been providing lot of ideas and avenues for the growth of the rock and roll music. Right from the commonality of tunes and instruments, Rock and Roll music performers have been able to draw from their knowledge of Jazz.

Rock and roll has developed a long way throughout the years from a dance craze in the 1950's to a political and cultural landscape that is recognized worldwide. Rock and roll has come to define the roots of teenage rebellion, people who don't follow the norms, and have disrespect for authority. The style of rock and roll itself is a melting pot of music, a combination of sounds that include jazz, country, blues, ragtime, gospel, swing, classical, and ethnic music. It can be a simple variation of three chords to a complex chromatic scale combination. It can convey emotions such as love, hate, fear, lust, sadness, joy, disillusion, or a strong sense of reality. Many things can be said about rock but the fact is that it is the most widely

Even though Miko didn’t get to do four years at the Musicians Institute, she got quite an education in rock-n roll. One night they would be opening for Nick Lowe at the Hollywood Palladium and then the next for the Ramones. It was this constant back and forth into new musical languages and territories that gave them the opportunity to build a diverse fan base. They shared bills with Social Distortion, Roseanne Cash, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Chris Isaak. The spaces were equally diverse. Spaces were Cathay Du Grand one night and The Palomino the next.

The 1950s was largely dominated by Rock and Roll as the Rock and Roll era had emerged. This Genre of music developed from other styles of music such as country, Jazz, and gospel.

When looking at country music from the early 20th century, to what it is today there has been some change but most of the concepts have stayed the same. Much of the country from the early times had music about religion, or hardships that were being faced. This is the same as in the present, there are many songs about turning to religion to find hope. There are also the instruments that are used, the bajo, and other stereotypical country instruments are still used to today. This sound that they have, and that these instruments make are what really categorize the music as country. The sound of country has been modified but the underlying sounds have stayed the same, and the messages that are being sung about have been consistent throughout time. This shows that country is very much like its older counterpart with a few modern changes that are made.

Country music was one of the first genres of modern American popular music, and old-time music was its earliest style. It developed in the southeastern states of the USA as a mix of folk music from the British Isles, church music and African American blues. It was played on instruments like acoustic guitar, mandolin, autoharp, fiddle and the banjo. Old-time music was first recorded in the 1920s, with recordings of the Carter Family becoming the most popular. A. P. Carter collected folk songs and also wrote new songs, and he sang them in harmony with his guitar-playing sister-in-law Maybelle and his wife Sarah, who also played autoharp. Songs like Can The Circle Be Unbroken (By and By) and Wildwood Flower became hit records, and the Carter Family

The begins of rock and roll have always been challenged as to when they were first established. The most common argument is that is first started in Southern United states, the birth place of many of the first early rock and roll music hits. As the south always had a huge majority of slaves from Africa and immigrants from Europe, through the gathering of different influences that created a connection between African musical traditions with European instrumentation. Immigration of once slaves to populated urban centers including New York City and Chicago meant that both the black and white communities were living in close proximity, resulting in hearing each other's music and even ‘began to follow and impersonate each other's fashions’.

The 1960’s in America was often referred to as an age of protest because of not only the social protests that have taken place, but also for the upbringing of protest music, which became very popular during that era. The roots of protest music were largely from folk music of American musicians during 1950’. Folk musicians, such as Joe Hill, composed labor union protest songs and distributed song booklets, hoping to “fan the flames of discontent.” (Rodnitzky pg. 6) Symbolically, this meant that the songs, the fan, would reduce the uncontrollable social protests that the United States government caused with the misleading information that they did not keep their word on, or the flames of discontent. Other folk musicians, such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, traveled around the United States spreading their “message music” and becoming involved in political movements. Guthrie and Seeger were the pioneers of protest music, bringing their folk music to New York City and merging it with urban music. Woody’s songs were about the masses, often identifying problems and offering solutions. While Seeger was cautious about referring to his music as folk music, preferring the term “people’s music,” meaning that not everyone may had the same thoughts, but they all expressed it in their own unique musical sense. For both Woody and Seeger, folk music was a necessity in these protests, when the needs

“The Beatles shift towards more introspective songwriting in the 60’s would never have happened without him” [V.Bogdanov, 2002]. Artists such as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits all acknowledge the profound impact Dylan had on the industry and themselves as artists. “Bob Dylan, I'll never be Bob Dylan. He's the master. If I'd like to be anyone, it's him. And he's a great writer, true to his music and done what he feels is the right thing to do for years and years and years. He's great. He's the one I look to”. [Neil Young, 2005]. Dylan encapsulated a generations hunger for change, challenged the social and political status quo but interestingly seemingly rejected this status after receiving the ‘Tom Paine Award’ from the National Emergency and Civil Liberties Committee he drunkenly questioned the role of the committee and claimed to see something of himself and everyone in JFK’s alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald [Andrew Loog Olham, 2005]. In 1965 The Byrds cover of his song Mr. Tambourine Man helped to propel not only The Byrds to super stardom but established the folk rock genre. [V.Bogdanov, 2002]. His verbal sophistication drew comparison to the romantic poets and much literary criticism artists still strive to attain today. His launch of Theme Time Radio Hour for XM Satellite Radio helped him to establish