All about folk rock - learn more
Folk rock is a musical genre that is a combination (as its name say), between folk music and rock music. It is believed that this musical genre appeared in the 1960’s. That’s when an American group, called “The Byrds” decided to play with Bob Dylan. But the band was singing folk music, and Bob Dylan brought in his playing some rock accents. When they released the cover “Mr. Tambourine Man” the press was the one that said the played genre is folk rock. “Mr. Tambourine Man” had a great success,
being number one on two big American charts, including the Billboard Hot 100. This single has all the credits for developing the folk rock music. It was written by Bob but it was recorded with “The Byrds” so it had both folk and rock. Another great hit played by “The Byrds” was “Turn! Turn! Turn!”. This group was original a folk group, formed by 3 members, McGuinn, Clark and Crosby that were before that folk singers. But they loved the Beatles sound much better, so they started playing in the studio with their folk and some instrumentals sound. When they achieved to get a copy of Dylan’s song, they tried to modify it (they even changed the time to 4/4) and they called Dylan to hear it. He liked it very much, because it was a song that could be danced, so he accepted to play with them. The Byrds were the ones that brought into the folk music sound the 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and some other influences from the Beatles music. They managed to create this genre called folk rock. The group was the only one at those times to combine beautiful lyrics with rock instrumental sounds.
Bob Dylan was the one that developed this type of music genre in his own way. At a concert in Newport in 1965, he played some folk music and brought with him to play another band, with an electric sound. That single’s name was “Like a Rolling Stone” and it was a great folk rock song, even if Bob Dylan saw himself now as a rock singer. Because the song was too long the radio edit included only a half of it.
A british band called the Beach Boys started soon to play folk rock too. Other singers are: Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen or Cat Stevens.
New sub-genres of folk rock were created, including celtic rock, medieval folk rock or electric folk.
being number one on two big American charts, including the Billboard Hot 100. This single has all the credits for developing the folk rock music. It was written by Bob but it was recorded with “The Byrds” so it had both folk and rock. Another great hit played by “The Byrds” was “Turn! Turn! Turn!”. This group was original a folk group, formed by 3 members, McGuinn, Clark and Crosby that were before that folk singers. But they loved the Beatles sound much better, so they started playing in the studio with their folk and some instrumentals sound. When they achieved to get a copy of Dylan’s song, they tried to modify it (they even changed the time to 4/4) and they called Dylan to hear it. He liked it very much, because it was a song that could be danced, so he accepted to play with them. The Byrds were the ones that brought into the folk music sound the 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and some other influences from the Beatles music. They managed to create this genre called folk rock. The group was the only one at those times to combine beautiful lyrics with rock instrumental sounds.
Bob Dylan was the one that developed this type of music genre in his own way. At a concert in Newport in 1965, he played some folk music and brought with him to play another band, with an electric sound. That single’s name was “Like a Rolling Stone” and it was a great folk rock song, even if Bob Dylan saw himself now as a rock singer. Because the song was too long the radio edit included only a half of it.
A british band called the Beach Boys started soon to play folk rock too. Other singers are: Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen or Cat Stevens.
New sub-genres of folk rock were created, including celtic rock, medieval folk rock or electric folk.