Cowpunk

Chris Stapleton released his debut album, Traveller, in the Spring of 2015. This album is characterized by what I would describe as a traditional country feel, but with a slightly more modern sound, or to be more technical, a country rock meets blues album. This record, and Chris Stapleton himself, went relatively unnoticed by the general public after initial release. It was not until the 2015 CMA awards when Stapleton performed “Tennessee Whiskey” with Justin Timberlake that his album truly took

Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Chris Isaak. The spaces were equally diverse. Spaces were Cathay Du Grand one night and The Palomino the next. At the time, it was common for quite a few bands in the scene to navigate between genres. The term cowpunk started to be coined by music journalists in the early 1980’s as a catch-all phrase to describe punk-influenced country music, and country influenced punk rock. Some bands played straight up country music with an attitude of punk rock, for example

The punk subculture was rebellious, disobedient and revolutionary. The same words could be used to describe the genre of music called punk rock. Punk subculture with its unique music was beloved in both US and the UK during 70s-80s. The subculture was present in the two countries, which are separated by the Atlantic ocean. However, was it exactly the same in the UK and US? In the UK punk subculture was associated with working class and anti-political movement. In the US the punk was more of a counter-culture

The cultural climate of Los Angeles in the late 1970s set the stage for a groundbreaking music scene that fused punk, country, and rock and roll. The plethora of clubs and dive bars in Hollywood meant that something was going on every night. As a result, the city became an incubator for influential and iconic bands including X, the Blasters, Los Lobos, the Germs, and the Bags. A three-dollar cover at the Whiskey A Go Go could get scenesters in to see shows ranging from the Sex Pistols to Patti Smith