Folk Rock

Folk Rock is exactly what it sounds like, a combination of folk music and rock and roll. It had its day in the sun between 1964 and 1967 but has continued to be influential ever since, with numerous folk rock and folk rock-inspired scenes popping up in the intervening 6 decades.

Folk Rock is not Art Rock, which begs the question as to why we're covering it on this site.

Why is Folk Rock Important in the History of Art Rock?

Folk Rock was the first time in the history of rock and roll that rock bands consistently reached out to a genre outside of the rock and roll tradition (i.e. not blues, country or gospel) and outside of the professional popular song world for inspiration. This act was important in a number of ways:

• The folk tradition encouraged pop rock songwriters to write songs using different chords and different chord progressions, and encouraged longer compositions
• The folk tradition's serious attitude toward lyric writing utterly transformed pop lyrics. We've called this The Lyrical Revolution.
• Listening to folk music encouraged pop rock bands to use different instruments than just the standard two electric guitars, bass, drums (or electric guitar, keyboard, bass, drums).
• The very act of reaching into a different genre for inspiration encouraged these folk rock artists, and those inspired by them, to reach into new genres for inspiration, notably Indian music, Jazz and other forms of High Art Music. It's no coincidence that the earliest Psychedelic bands were originally folk rock bands.

Who Are the Most Important Folk Rock Bands?

The three most important early folk rock bands and artists were:

• The Beatles, who invented the genre with their third album, A Hard Days Night
• The Byrds who, inspired by A Hard Days Night, became the definitive folk rock group for the genre's apex
• Bob Dylan, who came at folk rock from the other side of the divide but who forever altered the way popular music lyrics were written, opening up the world to endless lyrical possibilities.

What is the Most Essential Folk Rock?

Can't Buy Me Love b/w "You Can't Do That" (March 16, 1964) by The Beatles

The first hint of the new sound was actually the "Can't Buy Me Love" single, released in March 1964. The b-side, "You Can't Do That," is the pop rock debut of the Rickenbacker 12-string guitar, inauspiciously kicking off the folk rock era.

The House of the Rising Sun b/w Talkin' Bout You (June 19, 1964) by The Animals

Though it may not bear much in common with the sound of folk rock that the Byrds later popularized, a key point in the movement towards a merger of folk and rock music is the Animals' cover of this traditional folk song. Though more of a blues, it is still the first time a British group had gone this deep into American folk music for what would become a hit single.

Long Tall Sally (June 19, 1964) by The Beatles

Should this be here?

A Hard Day's Night (July 10, 1964) by The Beatles (title track released as a single on the same day)

The real launch of the folk rock era was the Beatles' third album, and first film, A Hard Day's Night. (The film premiered the week before the album was released in the UK. As with all Beatles albums except one, the British version is the version we are talking about here.)

The record features songs primarily written or co-written by John Lennon, heavily influenced by contemporary American folk music in song structure, in the often confessional lyrics and the prominent use of acoustic guitar. For the Beatles themselves, the record represented a quantum leap from records half full of covers to a record of original songs which invented a new subgenre of music.

But more importantly, the film and the record inspired a folk trio called The Jet Set to expand to a full band and take up the instruments they saw the Beatles playing in the film.

Beatles For Sale (December 4, 1964) by The Beatles

Though often regarded as subpar because it contains covers, Beatles for Sale expands the Beatles' folk rock exploration, with stronger, more interesting original songs and a broader instrumental palette. The covers are notably mediocre but the originals are more complicated than before, with more confessional lyrics. And the broad range of instrumentation and arrangements (for the day) makes this record sound significantly different than most of the other folk rock records of the era.

Subterranean Homesick Blues b/w She Belongs to Me (March 8, 1965) by Bob Dylan

Dylan's first electric single features a dirtier, grimier sound than the Beatles, with stream-of-concsciousness lyrics rarely heard outside of a Dylan deep cut.

Bringing It All Back Home (March 22, 1965) by Bob Dylan

Dylan's decision to go (partially electric) created a whole other aspect of folk rock. Instead of a rock band dipping their toes in folk music, here was the most significant English language folk songwriter of the 20th century playing out and out rock and roll, only with no concessions to the tropes of that genre. Instead of rock songs, Dylan was playing Dylan songs, albeit with rock and roll instruments.

Mr. Tambourine Man b/w I Knew I'd Want You (April 12, 1965) by The Byrds

As far as most radio listeners are concerned, folk rock truly began in April 1965, with the Byrds' first hit single, their cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man." The song set the template for the vast majority of folk rock to come afterwards and remains the movement's most iconic song.

Mr. Tambourine Man (June 21, 1965) by The Byrds

The Byrds' take on folk rock is obviously significantly different than that of the Beatles. The Byrds cover four Dylan songs plus a Pete Seeger song, a Jackie DeShannon song and "We'll Meet Again." The originals were all written by Gene Clark, some of which were co-written by McGuinn. It's a less diverse form of folk rock, but it's iconic and this is the style that most of the numerous Byrds imitators would follow.

Maggie's Farm b/w On the Road Again (June ?, 1965) by Bob Dylan

Like a Rolling Stone b/w Gates of Eden (July 20, 1965) by Bob Dylan

The longest hit single to date, "Like a Rolling Stone" broke down barriers not just due to its length but due to its lyrics; it was the first Top 5 single for Dylan in either the US or the UK and it introduced a way larger audience to Dylan's lyrics. Sure, these are easier to decipher than many of his lyrics of the day, but they are still arty beyond anything that as ever a Top 5 hit before them, and there are just so damn many.

Help! (August 6, 1965) by The Beatles

Highway 61 Revisited (August 30, 1965) by Bob Dylan

Positively 4th Street b/w From a Buick 6 (September 7, 1965) by Bob Dylan

Turn! Turn! Turn! (October 1, 1965) by The Byrds

Turn! Turn! Turn! (December 6, 1965) by The Byrds

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 b/w Pledging My Time (April ?, 1966) by Bob Dylan

Blonde on Blonde (June 20, 1966) by Bob Dylan

How and When Did Folk Rock Help Create Psychedelia?

The beginning of folk rock can be dated to sometime early in 1964, during the recording of The Beatles A Hard Day's Night. John Lennon had begun writing songs influenced by folk singers such as Bob Dylan and, to match this, the band adopted different instrumentation - acoustic guitars, unusual percussion and, most significantly for folk rock, the Rickenbacker 12-string guitar (actually a country instrument).

When the Beatles began incorporating folk influences into their songs, they took their already daring pop rock compositions to knew places, even though it may not sound like it now. They were already combining multiple genres together as part of their creation of pop rock, but now there was growing sophistication to the songs and lyrics, thanks to the folk artists they were listening. The Beatles' success with these songs would encourage them to take even greater risks.

Though the Byrds were more of a cover band initially, the very act of covering pure folk songs as rock songs radically altered the idea of what was possible in the rock context. And the Byrds' originals also incorporated folk tropes like the Beatles' songs, and helped expand what was considered normal in a pop rock song. Much like the Beatles, the Byrds' success encourage them to take new risks.

Bob Dylan had already completely reinvented the folk song - lyrically more than musically - when he went electric but, much like the Byrds' covers, Dylan songs in a rock context shattered the possibilities within the pop rock tradition, particularly as Dylan began to write longer and longer songs with endless verses and unheard of run-times.

It should go without saying that the folk music tradition was far more lyrically sophisticated than the pop music tradition or the rock and roll tradition. Pick any pop song from the '30s or '40s or any rock and roll song from the first wave of rock and roll and pick any folk song, and you'll see a distinct difference. But the lyrical revolution wrought by Bob Dylan's complete re-imagining of folk music lyrics as poetry destroyed any further restrictions on pop rock lyricists. After listening to a John Lennon song, a young songwriter wanted to write about his feelings, rather than about dancing or cars, after listening to Dylan, a young songwriter could write about literally anything.

The Beatles, and the Byrds after them, drastically expanded the rock and roll instrumental palette, first by incorporating the 12-string guitar, but also by incorporating more and more keyboards, using sessions musicians, and by adding percussion. Overdubbing was making it easier and easier to create arrangements full of many different instruments, and Beatles songs from this period use more and more overdubs between 1964 and 1966 (the Byrds were a little less prolific).

On the flip side, Dylan's embrace of a certain raggedness in performance help allow an alternative route to these professional, highly arranged recordings. Dylan's folk rock is often dirty and raw in comparison to the Beatles' and Byrds' folk rock, sounding more "garage," to use a word.

As these bands and artists played with song structure, lyrics, arrangements and the studio, they looked for new sources of inspiration. For The Beatles, it was Indian music and Musique Concrete, in addition to their usual influences. For the Byrds, it was Jazz and Indian music. For Dylan, it was Country.