Everything about Roots Rock totally explained
Roots Rock is a term used to describe "a style of rock music that draws material from various American musical traditions including
country,
blues, and
folk." The term is sometimes used in a broader sense to encompass other
Americana, including early
rock and roll,
country rock, and other genres of rock with traditional roots.
Roots Rock has been called "a return to rock 'n' roll's roots: the merging of blues and country, a revival of folk, an adaptation and celebration of American rock local traditions, from
swamp-rock to rockabilly to
Southern rock to other heartland styles."
Music critics have traced a line of roots rock bands that runs from late 1960s
Creedence Clearwater Revival to early 1980s
Bruce Springsteen to the mid-1990s-era band
Wilco.
History
Jack Madani claims that that roots rock was popularized in the late 1960s, when "[r]ock music took a step back from its drug-fueled experiments ... and turned to less-experimental sounds, while the topics became angrier." He argues that "
Creedence Clearwater Revival was the most successful of the roots rock groups, with hits ranging from
Green River and
Proud Mary to the ferocious anti-
Viet Nam [war] song
Fortunate Son. By the late 1970s, there were a flood of genre fusions and new styles in rock, including "punk, new wave, power pop,
ska, and the other rock revolutions." However, by the early 1980s, these "rock revolutions" had "passed their peak and were in decline." The rise of the
music video station
MTV helped to promote commercial genres such as pop and dance music, and there was little traditional rock music available on the airwaves.
In the early 1980s, as a "reaction against the aggressive and nihilistic tendencies of
punk, the bombast of
metal and
prog, and the synthetic nature of
new wave", some listeners began seeking out
rock bands that played "no-frills" "music with straight-ahead lyrics." These "rustic"-sounding" bands, whose music was filled with "echoes of folk, blues, Rockabilly, or country were called 'Roots Rock'" groups; though in Los Angeles they were associated with the loosely termed
cowpunk music.
Amidst the proliferation of pop and dance music in the early 1980s, though, one writer notes that emergence of singer " represents the ultimate standard bearer for the post-60's mainstream "Roots Rock" hero." The writer argues that Springsteen's music is "a working-class mix of 1950's rock 'n' roll,... 60's
folk sensibilty, and 70's rock ...
garagey sounding guitars, good-time raucousness, and homey vocals is as American as a Chevy pickup."
Many roots rock bands did get some "limited MTV exposure", but they were never given the "heavy rotation" that pop bands received. Roots rock was a "fragmented and localized" trend that was nurtured on the college radio airwaves, not a mass movement which was supported by the mainstream radio stations. It encompassed the "country-rock stylings of
Lone Justice, the garage rock of the
Long Ryders, the 50's flavored rock 'n' roll of
the Blasters, or the
cowpunk of the
Beat Farmers. What it all had in common was a simplicity of approach; guitars, bass, drums, singer" which made the core sound of bands or artists such as the
Gun Club,
Chris Isaak,
Steve Earle,
John Mellencamp, and LA's
Los Lobos.
Bands with a strong "roots rock" orientation included the
BoDeans and
Jason and the Scorchers, and roots rock influences can be found in bands such as the "
Counting Crows,
Cracker,
The Nob Hill Billys, and
Wilco"; indeed, the "entire
Alt-Country movement" can be considered to be a roots rock offshoot. Roots rock bands from the 1990s and 2000s included Wilco, whose "roots-rock...[sound] reached back to proven materials: the twang of country, the steady chug of 1960's rock, the undulating sheen of the
Beach Boys, the
honky-tonk hymns of
the Band and the melodic symmetries of pop."
Media Coverage
Roots rock reviews are available in
No Depression, and
Uncut, a
British magazine.
PBS's
Austin City Limits series often feature excellent
alt.country,
americana, or roots rock acts, and the city of
Austin, Texas, hosts an annual
Austin City Limits music festival.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Roots Rock'.
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