Country Folk Rock
Country folk rock is the branch of folk rock in which the acoustic guitar-ballad form is married to a country band's backbeat and a working-class lyric, and it is one of the clearest places where the folk scene and the small-label rock scene meet. It is the sound of a folk writer who has added a drum kit, an electric guitar and a fiddle, and it has been a durable corner of independent music from the 1960s to the present.
Folk rock as a whole took the singer-songwriter form of the 1960s revival and amplified it, and the country side of that is what this page covers. It defines the form, explains how it formed, names the artists who made it, and sets out a short listening list. The overlap with the wider folk and blues rock branches of the scene is real, and the small-label scene that releases these records is the same one that carries the acoustic and indie folk sides.
What country folk rock is
What country folk rock is, in one line, is a folk song played by a band. The defining elements are the acoustic and electric guitars, a real drum kit with a steady backbeat, and a fiddle or steel guitar that gives the track its country colour. A typical song runs 3 to 5 minutes and keeps the folk form's simple structure, a verse and a chorus that repeat, while the band arrangement lifts the dynamics. The difference from plain folk rock is the country vocabulary, the open tunings, the slide guitar and the lyric that speaks in a specific regional voice. That combination is what a listener hears on the small-label country folk rock records, and it is the form that bridges the folk tradition to the rock bands of the scene.
How the form formed
How the form formed can be told in 3 steps. The first is the 1960s folk revival, where the guitar-ballad form was carried to a mass audience and proved that a single voice could fill a room. The second is the folk rock crossover of the mid 1960s, when bands such as The Byrds and Bob Dylan's backing group took that form and amplified it with electric guitars and drums. The third is the country turn, when the same amplified form picked up the fiddle, the steel guitar and the regional lyric, and country folk rock became a distinct branch. By the 1970s the form was a staple of the independent labels, and it has kept a small but steady place in the scene ever since, which is why the small-label scene still presses country folk rock records today.
Who makes it
Who makes country folk rock is a field that runs from the original crossover bands to the modern small-label acts. The original sound was set by The Byrds in the mid 1960s, and the form was carried through the 1970s by artists who mixed the folk revival with the country club tradition. In the modern era, the scene is made up of independent labels and their bands, many of them working in the American South and Midwest, where the form has its deepest roots. The artists on the small-label country folk rock releases tend to be bands rather than solo writers, and the typical line up is 4 or 5 musicians, a lead singer, 2 guitars, bass and drums, with a fiddle added for the country colour. That is the same small-label model that carries the rest of the folk scene, and it is why the form sits so comfortably alongside the acoustic and indie branches.
What it sounds like
What country folk rock sounds like is best described by 4 traits. The first is the backbeat, which is steady and unshowy, the drum kit serving the song rather than leading it. The second is the guitar balance, where an acoustic rhythm guitar sits under an electric lead, and the slide or steel guitar adds the country inflection. The third is the vocal, which stays in the folk tradition's range, close and direct, without the effects that a full rock record might add. The fourth is the lyric, which is specific and regional, speaking of a place, a job or a family rather than an abstraction. A listener who knows these 4 traits can pick out a country folk rock record in a store, and the same traits are what connect the form to the blues rock side of the scene, where the backbeat is heavier and the guitar more distorted.
Where to start listening
Where to start is easiest with a short list, so here is one in the order it will build an ear. Begin with The Byrds to hear the original crossover, then move to a 1970s country folk rock record to hear the fiddle and steel guitar enter, and close with a modern small-label release to hear the form as it is recorded now. The list is a starting point, and the genre pages on indie folk and the popular folk songs list give the wider context. For a listener who wants the heavier, more distorted side of the same band arrangement, the blues rock page covers the branch where the backbeat takes over from the folk form.