Folk Rock

When you are talking about “folk rock”, I immediately think of “Dylan”, the Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, some of its most famous of prophets. However, is it all just them? As great as they are “folk rock” was a confluence or a perfect storm of a genre that popped up in mid-sixties out of acoustical folk music. So, when did folk rock start?

Did it start with that controversial moment when Dylan plugged in on July 25th, in 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival? Did folk rock start with the Byrds releasing their debut album in June of 1965? or was it that night August 28th in 64′, at the Delmonico in NYC where Dylan first turned on the Beatles and led to a friendly competition of “one-up-man-ship” that permeated the Beatles northern way. Or does it go back further?

The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins and even Elvis had been mixing rock & roll and folk music for years by the time of the mid-sixties when “folk rock” became the next big thing.

Late 1950s Folk Music Revival

Folk music, as a separate form of music from rock & roll, was a big thing in the early sixties with its strong emphasis on the acoustic stringed instrumentation. The “folk movement” that was growing in the college crowds was parallel to that of the social awareness and equal rights movements of the late 50/early 60s. The folk music revival was started in the late forties/early fifties by artists like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger in folk groups like the Weavers which led to a late 50s explosion of new artists like the New Christy Minstrels, the Brothers Four, the Chad Mitchell Trio, the Limelighters, the Highwaymen and the Kingston Trio with their notable 1958 hit “Tom Dooley”.

Bob Dylan grew out of the folk music revival inconspicuously with his brilliant but highly unknown anthological first album in 1962. The folk music circuit was having hits by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs and the Kingston Trio in being somewhat synonymous with the civil rights movement that was coming about partially (in music) from white youth’s acceptance of R&B music of the 50s.

A Master Poet Emerges

Dylan controversially plugged into an amp and rocked with a rock band at the Newport Folk Festival riding a string of folk rock hit singles and albums. The Byrds embodied the folk rock ethos as the quintessential folk rock group, with a string of “anthemic” original songs, as well as Dylan penned songs and a string of hit albums in the mid-sixties. However, almost simultaneously the Beatles showed interest in folk rock early on, after their first tour of America. The music on “A Hard Day’s Night” their 3rd album, and first hit film, shows a clear focus on incorporating folk music elements into their original music.

Sometime, just after the British invasion in 1964, many rock & roll groups on both sides of the Atlantic, adopted folk and blues music elements into a newer form of rock music simple called “folk rock”. This newer form of rock that developed was unique in that it was instigated by both sides of the Atlantic (US & UK). Just before the “invasion”, America was in its pinnacle of the doo-wop years with new rock sub-genres of surf rock, garage rock and “Jersey” rock over a backdrop of doo-wop Rhythm & Blues music as strictly popular music. This whole scenario was then completely interrupted and usurped by the freshly naive British bands playing old time rock & roll and bubble gum chewing “power pop”, thereby causing a slow revolution in rock music that took a couple of years for the waves to settle into a new idiom called “Rock Music”.

Folk Rock

Folk Rock developed around 1964 and then peaked in 1965 and 1966 when many rock & roll groups adopted folk and blues music elements into a newer form of rock music simple called “folk rock”. In turn, many folk music artists, that is, strictly acoustic folk musicians started to play and incorporate electrified mixes of rock & roll in their music. The music was changing and in 1965 it seemed to come from a newer generation (that of the “baby boomers”) where “rock & roll” turned (or split) into “rock” and “soul”.

Folk rock may have started that fateful night when Dylan turned on the Beatles at the Hotel Delmonico in September 1964. They were already showing signs of profound influence and counter-influence between both Bob Dylan and the Beatles culminating in fantastic musical output in both album and song in 1965.

Some say “folk rock” started with The Byrds from Los Angeles with the release of the Dylan authored “Mr. Tambourine Man”. The Byrds were a supergroup where the members were very active in the folk music scene with other folk music acts. In many ways, the Byrds started a folk-rock volley with the Beatles using Bob Dylan songs as well as their own originals.

Or maybe folk rock started early in 1965 when Bob Dylan first went electric on the A-side of his influential “Bringing It All Back Home” album. Bob Dylan had a huge influence on the Byrds and their first few hits and their first four albums. In fact, Bob Dylan would have a direct and indirect influence on almost everyone involved in the “folk rock” scene, including the Beau Brummels, the Turtles, the Band, the Beatles, the Stones, the Who and the many others.

Later on, in 1965 Simon & Garfunkel would also go number one, epitomizing the folk rock sound and ushering a wave of new “folk rock” groups that would go on to shape rock in the 60s. Groups like the Lovin’ Spoonful, the Mamas & the Papas, Jefferson Airplane and The Band among many others with acoustic leanings rose up and gave us a new genre “Folk Rock”.

Folk Rock would later go on to assimilated itself within popular rock music within the subgenres of light rock, country rock and much of radio-friendly soft rock.

Bob Dylan

In folk rock, you should first start off with Bob Dylan and his knowledge of an eclectic mix of Americana music. Bob Dylan possessed an internal library of music which included major forms of country music, western music, Blues, European styles with a keen knowledge of rare vintage R&B songs.

Dylan claimed to have done a lot of traveling, which is very evident in his music. He had regional forms from Nashville, Atlanta, Lubbock and Bakersfield, he knew forms of “honky-tonk”, “western swing”, “bluegrass”, “jug band” and other “close harmony” styles. He knew fingerpicking styles, a whole assortment of “western music”, the “blues” and other “European folk” forms (jigs and ballads). Due to his travels as a true “troubadour”, absorbing styles and techniques from all over, he was the last embodiment of the true Americana travelin’ musician.

Dylan has a vast library of styles on display on his first album, “Bob Dylan”, his hitless debut album. To me, Bob Dylan’s first album is absolute gold, with amazing gems of songs that would become sixties mythology. The evidence is on the many songs and arrangements on the album that would be covered later on by many bands and artists of the 60’s. Most notably on the album are versions of “House of the Rising Sun” and “In My Time of Dying”, later to be covered by the Animals and Led Zeppelin respectively.

One of the biggest and most controversial events in creating “Folk Rock” as a genre, was the moment Dylan plugged into an amplifier and jammed with a rock band. This event immortalized at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where folkies were so upset that the myth of the “Judas” taunt first surfaced. His output in 1965 and 1966 had him at the head of the folk-rock movement. The releasing of his first, “plugged in” (as into an amplifier), with a live rock & roll band really started to make “folk rock” as a genre take off as a new sound. Bob Dylan would go on to release three masterpiece albums that would stand the test of time, “Bringing It All Back Home”, “Highway 61” and “Blonde On Blonde”.

The Byrds

The southern Californian City of Angels was experiencing a huge change from the fast-paced “surf rock” scene to the newer “folk rock” scene. The Byrds surfaced as progenitors of Folk Rock under Dylan’s influence and epitomized as the quintessential American folk rock band. They would later follow the Beatles into the genre of “psychedelic rock” and then in 1968 help Dylan start “country rock”.

The Byrds came together in early 1964 Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, and David Crosby got together all folk musicians from other groups in the folk scene such as the New Christy Minstrels, the Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and Les Baxter’s Balladeers. The trio, along with drummer Michael Clarke and bassist Chris Hillman, went on to spearhead the “folk rock” movement. As the Byrds progressed throughout the mid-sixties, they would not only help “found” folk-rock but also help develop “psychedelic rock”.

The Beatles and the British Competition

After the initial British invasion, the Beatles had a couple of early folk rock songs, starting with “And I Love Her” off the “A Hard Day’s Night” album and the Beatles went practically country & western on their British release of “Beatles for Sale” album, which was the American albums “Beatles 65′” and “Beatles VI”. Next, came the album “Help!” with songs like “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and “I’ve Just Seen A Face”.

The Beatles master albums start with the great “Rubber Soul” album, in which great folk experimentations were conducted while providing classic rock with several rock anthems. In fact, the British version of Rubber Soul was chopped up, edited and re-packaged as a “folk-rock” album in the United States, much to the chagrin of the Beatles.

This was reciprocated with America’s Byrds albums “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “Turn, Turn, Turn!”, “The Fifth Dimension” and “Younger than Yesterday”; Bob Dylan’s triumvirate of albums “Bringing It All Back Home”, “Highway 61” and 1966’s “Blonde on Blonde”; and Simon & Garfunkel’s albums “Sounds Of Silence” and “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme” which are all key albums in the musical branch of folk-rock within the whole of classic rock.

The songs became more progressive in their experimentations with folk rock, country rock, and psychedelic rock. Much of the Beatles music in the mid-sixties was influenced by the, then current, sounds of music going on in America. Along with Bob Dylan, The Byrds, the San Franciscan scene, and with surf rockers (The Beach Boys in California), there was cross-pollination with the UK bands, the Beatles, the Stones and the Kinks in 1965 in terms of folk rock.

Folk Rock #4

Simon & Garfunkel

Late in 1965, a song written by a struggling artist originally from NYC and then struggling in the UK hit the number one spot on the Billboard charts at the start of 1966. The song was unique in that it was an original folk song using acoustic guitar only and then months later overdubbed with a rock band accompaniment. Paul Simon recorded the song before he left for Britain in 1964. Simon & Garfunkel went on to dominate the pop charts until the end of the decade with multiple hit singles and albums.

Other Folk Rock bands

Starting with the British invasion’s “The Animals” rendition of “House of the Rising Sun”, an anonymous song off of Dylan’s debut album became a number one hit in the summer of 1964. The Beau Brummels early hits of “Laugh, Laugh” and “Just A Little” were also precursors to the 1965 rush of folk rock music.

After “Mr. Tambourine Man” hit in early 1965, a whole new wave of folk-rock bands appeared. Among them were The Lovin’ Spoonful with “Do You Believe In Magic?”; there was The Mamas & the Papas with “Monday, Monday” and “California Dreaming”; then The Turtles with “It Ain’t Me Babe” along with multiple pop hits; along with Barry McGuire and his Vietnam war protest song “Eve Of Destruction”.

Also in California but north of Los Angeles, a new Mecca of music was starting in San Francisco with Jefferson Airplane and Grace Slick’s two rock anthems the truthful seeking “Somebody To Love” and the psychedelic anthem “White Rabbits”; the group We Five’s remake of Sylvia Fricker’s “You Were On My Mind” which was a hit at #3 in the summer of 1965; the San Franciscan group Love with their #52 hit “My Little Red Book” and their “7 and 7 is” a number 33 hit; Sonny & Cher number 1 hit with ” I Got You, Babe”, then The Monkees “Last Train To Clarksville” and “I’m A Believer” shot up to the top of the charts in 1966; Donovan  had his hits later in 1967 with “Mellow Yellow” and “Sunshine Superman”

Then there was Dylan’s previous touring band originally called the Hawks but ultimately known as The Band (Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson), began their rise to the top of the folk-rock pantheon with their 1968 “Songs From Big Pink” and their second album simply titled “The Band”.

Other notable groups in the folk-rock scene were the electric (British) Folk groups, Pentangle, The Fairport Convention, Alan Stivell, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band which would keep the genre alive, years after the mainstream heyday had died out.

Folk rock had a long-lasting effect on rock music. It kept the folk American ethos alive in rock music which would manifest itself later in genres of “country rock”, “southern rock” and later “singer/songwriter” forms of rock music. Lyrics became very complex, with topics ranging from protest songs to songs of morality and poetry. It was a time of experimentation.

The mix of acoustic instruments with electric rock & roll instruments and song elements were very innovative for the day and even up until today. There was a lot of thought that went into the music of the mid-1960s in all genres but most particularly in the words and the messages of the songs. Folk rock had it all, questioning, observing, and then questioning again very much in the spirit of rebellion in the face of tyranny.  Folk-rock said it like it was, warts and all, no soft soaping, no glad-handing. The spirit of the 60s came out when the rebel (rock) found a cause and that cause was true freedom expressed in “Folk Rock”, which would later resurface in other genres, funk and hip-hop.