In 1966, as many rock artists moved towards expansive and experimental
psychedelia,
Bob Dylan spearheaded the back-to-basics
roots revival when he went to Nashville to record the album
Blonde on Blonde, using notable local musicians like
Charlie McCoy. Other acts that followed the back to basics trend in different ways were the Canadian/American group
The Band and the California-based
Creedence Clearwater Revival, both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country, and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. At the same time the
Grateful Dead, a band previously associated with the
San Francisco sound and known for ferocious psychedelic improvisation, followed in the footsteps of
Crosby, Stills & Nash to focus on
Americana-styled songwriting for their 1970 albums ''
Workingman's Dead and American Beauty''. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like
Ry Cooder,
Bonnie Raitt, and
Lowell George.
Blues rock performing with Fleetwood Mac in 1970 The blues boom overlapped, both chronologically and in terms of personnel, with the earlier, wider rhythm and blues phase, which had begun to peter out in the mid-1960s leaving a nucleus of instrumentalists with a wide knowledge of blues forms and techniques, which they would carry into the pursuit of more purist blues interests. Blues Incorporated and
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers were well known in the London Jazz and emerging R&B circuits, but the Bluesbreakers began to gain some national and international attention, particularly after the release of
Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album (1966), considered one of the seminal British blues recordings. From 1966 to 1968, young Englishmen formed blues rock bands such as Cream,
Fleetwood Mac, Keef Hartley Band, Ten Years After, and Free. In America,
Paul Butterfield Blues Band,
Canned Heat, and
Johnny Winter performed at Woodstock Festival 1969.
Country rock Dylan's lead was also followed by
the Byrds, who were joined by
Gram Parsons in 1968. Earlier in the year Parsons had already recorded
Safe at Home with the
International Submarine Band, which made extensive use of
pedal steel guitar and is seen by some as the first true country-rock album. A number of performers also enjoyed a renaissance by adopting country sounds, including:
the Everly Brothers, whose
Roots album (1968) is usually considered some of their finest work; former
teen idol Ricky Nelson (after dropping the "Y" from his name and letting his hair grow) who became the frontman for the Stone Canyon Band;
Michael Nesmith who formed the
First National Band after his departure from
the Monkees; and
Neil Young who moved in and out of the genre throughout his career. Country rock began to fade in the late 1970s in the face of punk and new wave trends.
Southern rock playing guitar at the
Fillmore East, 26 June 1971 (late show) Although the Southern states had been, as much as anywhere, the birthplace of rock and roll, after the decline of rockabilly in the late 1950s, it was not until the early 1970s that a distinctive regional style of rock music emerged. (This was despite some successful bands from the region, a major contribution to the evolution of
soul music in the
Stax-Volt records company and the existence of the
Muscle Shoals and
FAME Studios). The founders of Southern rock are usually thought to be
the Allman Brothers Band, who developed a distinctive sound, largely derived from
blues rock, but incorporating elements of
boogie, soul, and country; combining hard rock instrumentation and rhythms with accented vocals and
Duane Allman's slide guitar.
ZZ Top,
Black Oak Arkansas,
Potliquor,
Barefoot Jerry, Grinderswitch,
Wet Willie,
Blackfoot,
Johnny Winter,
Edgar Winter Group, Sea Level, and the more country-influenced
The Marshall Tucker Band. After the loss of original members of the Allmans and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the genre began to fade in popularity in the late 1970s, but was sustained the 1980s with acts like the Outlaws,
Georgia Satellites, the Fabulous Thunderbirds,
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble,
Jimmie Vaughan, Pointblank,
.38 Special, and
Molly Hatchet. The style also drew from
beat music,
country blues,
Cajun music and
New Orleans rhythm and blues. Part of the early swamp rock scene were John Fogerty & C.C.R.,
Leon Russell, Dale Hawkins, Tony Joe White, and
Delaney & Bonnie.
Heartland rock The term heartland rock was first used in the early 1970s to describe
Midwestern arena rock groups like
Kansas,
REO Speedwagon, and
Styx, but came to be associated with a more socially concerned form of roots rock more directly influenced by
folk,
country, and
rock and roll. It has been seen as an American Midwest and
Rust Belt counterpart to West Coast country rock and the Southern rock of the American South. Led by figures who had initially been identified with punk and new wave, it was most strongly influenced by acts such as Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Van Morrison, 1960s garage rock, and the Rolling Stones. Exemplified by the commercial success of singer songwriters
Bruce Springsteen,
Bob Seger, and
Tom Petty, along with less widely known acts such as
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and
Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, it was partly a reaction to post-industrial urban decline in the East and Mid-West, often dwelling on issues of social disintegration and isolation, beside a form of good-time rock and roll revivalism. It can also be heard as an influence on artists as diverse as
Billy Joel and
Kid Rock. Though various heartland rock acts had sustained success through the 1990s, such as Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, The Wallflowers, and to a lesser extent, the BoDeans and Los Lobos, Heartland rock's commercial prosperity and general popularity began to fade away as early as the early 1990s. As rock music in general, and blue collar and white working class themes in particular, lost influence with younger audiences, heartland's artists turned to more personal works. and
the War on Drugs and English act
Sam Fender firmly integrated the heartland rock genre into their respective musical styles. In addition the
alternative country movement, producing such figures as
Steve Earle,
Lucinda Williams, and
Uncle Tupelo, can be seen as part of the roots rock tendency. The movement began to decline in popularity again in the 1990s but produced some bands like
Son Volt,
Wilco, and
The Bottle Rockets. In the mid-1990s,
Hootie & the Blowfish,
the Wallflowers and
Gin Blossoms led the way for "a pop-conscious roots-rock resurgence via the
alternative charts", according to
Trouser Press. After disbanding
Dire Straits in 1995, lead singer
Mark Knopfler has largely returned to a roots-rock sound across
his ten albums. ==See also==