Listen To Linda Ronstadt
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Country Rock (CR) stems from a fusion of
Country & Western with Rock. Others regard it as a morphed sub genre of Rock coming from the development of Folk Rock, Country and Rockabilly. Its typical instruments include acoustic, electric and steel guitars with piano, drums and bass guitar. CR largely grew out of the Western United States in the late 1960s. As such CR generally refers to those many Rock musicians in the late 1960s and early 1970s who began to record country-flavored records, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds. CR reached its greatest popularity in the 1970s with artists like Emmylou Harris and the Eagles. |
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History: As noted in Wikipedia – ‘Rock and Roll has often been seen as a combination of Rhythm and Blues with Country music, a fusion particularly evident in the 1950s Rockabilly, and there has been cross - pollination throughout the history of both genres, however, the term Country-Rock is generally used to refer to the wave of Rock musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s who began to record Rock records using Country themes, vocal styles and additional instrumentation, most characteristically pedal steel guitar.' |
The Eagles - Lyin Eyes
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Wooden Ships
Creedence Clearwater Revival -
Looking Out My Back Door |
With early RnR stemming from C&W, Rockabilly was one of three basic trends of such early Rock. However by the early 1960s, Rockabilly was almost dead. As a result C&W’s influence over Rock was virtually non existent during the 1960s. But at the end of the decade and early into the 1970s, there came another surge of interest in rekindling a mesh between C&W and Rock. Artists experimenting with this included The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and Dylan. Then in the early 1970s, The Grateful Dead turned towards Country Rock with their albums Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. |
With such activity in the early 1970s, San Francisco soon became the major focus for Country Rock. A similar band with similar purpose were the Flying Burrito Brothers, among others. In the years that followed the most successful Country Rock artists included the Eagles (Lyin Eyes) – also The Band – Dylan's back-up band – and perhaps their best album was Music from Big Pink. Other bands – Lynard Skinnard, Linda Ronstadt, The Charlie Daniels and Marshall Tucker Bands, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. |
The Band - Music From Big Pink
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Neil Young - Harvest Moon
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Country Rock was a particularly popular style in the California music scene of the late 1960s, and was adopted by other bands including Hearts and Flowers and Poco. |
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Southern Cross
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Linda Ronstadt - You're No Good
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Emmylou Harris - Considered The Queen of Country Rock
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Dixie Chicks - Not Ready To Make Nice
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Lynard Skinnard - Sweet Home Alabama
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Poco - Crazy Love
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The greatest commercial success for Country Rock came in the 1970s. The Doobie Brothers mixed in elements of R&B. Emmylou Harris became the "Queen of Country - Rock" while Linda Ronstadt created a highly successful pop-oriented brand of the genre. Also some former members of Ronstadt's backing band went on to form the Eagles (made up of members of the Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco and Stone Canyon Band). The Eagles subsequently emerged as one of the most successful rock acts of all time, producing albums that included Desperado (1973) and Hotel California (1976). |