Folk Rock: The Way I See It

"Folk rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and rock music." -Wikipedia


Yea, I guess that's what it is in it's simplest terms....but I dunno. I see it as something bigger than that, something more complex and hard to categorize.

I've come across people who are confused about how one categorizes themself as folk rock. Well, here's how I see it.

When people ask me what genre my band is, I often say folk rock. Maybe it's just because of my undeniable affection for a genre that is, in my mind, perfect in every way. Folk rock takes elements not just from folk and rock, but from country, celtic, and pop. I'm not saying that it takes elements from country and bluegrass, celtic, and pop in the sense that the songs sound like country songs or pop songs. What I'm saying is when someone is seen as writing folk rock songs or playing folk rock music, they're taking the Americana elements of folk music, whether it be in the lyrics or the music, adding a rock backbeat, and most of the time exploring different instrumentation. You'll hear many folk rock songs that include instruments like mandolin, pedal steel, harmonica, banjo, accordion, and so on. Take, for example, Shawn Colvin's hit song "Sunny Came Home". That song, as well as many of Shawn's brilliant songs, is a great example of a folk rock song. It's definitely got pop elements, being so catchy and having a great hook. But if you listen to the music more attentivley, as I often do, you'll hear 12 string guitar (a huge part in folk rock, especially early folk rock, thanks to The Byrds), piano, steel guitar, mandolin, and obviously acoustic guitar. I always love a rock song with mandolin because it adds such a brightness and a bit of a punch to the song. I'm a sucker for the mandolin, folks.

I recently purchased a great box set titled "4 Decades of Folk Rock", or as I call it "4 Decades of Songs I Wish I'd Written". This covers the genre in, obviously, 4 different decades (60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's & Beyond) and it presents some of the best songs and the best representations of what folk rock is. It begins with "Like a Rolling Stone" by the great Bob Dylan. It could be said that this song started the folk rock movement. There's the legendary story of the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when Dylan brought members of Paul Butterfield's band to back him up. He played lots of his songs, but for the first time he played them in sort of a rock and roll fashion, with the guitars amp'd up and the drums pounding. I can imagine why people wouldn't know what to think. Newport seems like it's always been such a low key event. You have a few mics for guitars and vocals, maybe some percussion or something but that's about it. Suddenly this great folk singer brings in a band and people go crazy. For me, when I think about it, this was a blessing. Even though I obviosuly wasn't there, I think that this really paved the way for folk rock to become what it is.

Soon you had The Byrds covering Dylan songs and adding one distinct sound to them that really gave folk rock it's own identity. The 12 string guitar. Roger McGuinn really brought that sound to the mainstream. The jangely, bright, smooth tone coming from his Rickenbacker really amazed me the first time I heard it. The Byrds did quite a few Dylan songs, though if you haven't heard much from them you should check out their original material. especially ones written by Gene Clark, the main songwriter for the band.

I'll try not to go into any more detail on folk rock music. I just felt like sharing my point of view on the genre. I have no problem classifying my band as folk rock, even though most of the time, especially in our live show, we tend to be a little harder in terms of style. In the studio we use mandolin, accordion, electric piano, 12 string guitar, steel guitar, slide guitar, and other instruments that, to me, play a big part in folk rock music.