Americana music
[4] Americana musicians often played acoustic instruments such as the guitar, banjo, fiddle, and upright bass, and their songs typically told stories about the struggles and hardships of everyday life.
[9][10] McGuinn's melodic, jangling 12-string Rickenbacker guitar playing—which was heavily compressed to produce an extremely bright and sustained tone—was immediately influential and has remained so to the present day.
[12] The term "folk rock" was itself coined by the American music press to describe the band's sound in June 1965, at roughly the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man" peaked at number 1 in the U.S.[16][17] The commercial success of the Byrds' cover version of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and their debut album of the same name, along with Dylan's own recordings with rock instrumentation—on the albums Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), and Blonde on Blonde (1966)—encouraged other folk acts, such as Simon & Garfunkel, to use electric backing on their records and new groups, such as Buffalo Springfield, to form.
Dylan's controversial appearance at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965, where he was backed by an electric band, was also a pivotal moment in the development of the genre.
Many eschewed the increasingly polished production values and pop sensibilities of the Nashville-dominated industry for a more lo-fi sound, frequently infused with a strong punk and rock and roll aesthetic.
The artist most commonly thought to have originated country rock is Gram Parsons (who referred to his sound as "Cosmic American Music"), although Michael Nesmith, Steve Earle[19] and Gene Clark are frequently identified as important innovators.
But these styles merged fully in Uncle Tupelo's 1990 LP No Depression, which is widely credited as being the first "alt-country" album, and gave its name to the online notice board and eventually magazine that underpinned the movement.
Artists such as Wilco, Lucinda Williams, and Gillian Welch helped to popularise a new style of Americana music that blended elements of rock, folk, country, and blues.
[23][24] Rolling Stone notes that "Americana" first came to fashion as a descriptive musical phrase in the mid-Nineties, when a group of radio promoters and industry outsiders dispersed throughout Nashville, California and Texas sought to carve out a distinct marketplace for a wave of traditionally minded songwriters like Guy Clark, Darrell Scott and Jim Lauderdale, artists whose work was no longer being served by a country music industry riding high on Garth Brooks and Shania Twain.
[26] It is a network for Americana artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others with the goal of developing an infrastructure that will boost visibility and economic viability.
The genre remains deeply rooted in the cultural and social landscape of the United States, and it continues to reflect the diverse experiences and perspectives of the American people.
In 2017 Rolling Stone published an article claiming that Americana was having an "identity crisis," which focused on changing definitions and efforts to promote ethnic diversity in the genre.
[31] In Americana music, the acoustic guitar is often played fingerstyle, which produces a warm and organic sound that is perfect for the genre's earthy, rootsy feel.
[34] The banjo adds a unique texture to Americana music, and its intricate, fast-paced playing can create a driving rhythm that propels a song forward.
Its bright, high-pitched sound adds a distinctive flavor to Americana music, and its fast, intricate playing can create a lively and upbeat feel.
Fiddles are often played using a technique called "sawing," which involves rapidly moving the bow back and forth across the strings to create a driving rhythm.
