Folk-rock is a genre of music, incorporating elements of rock music and folk music.
In the narrowest and original sense, the term referred to a musical genre that began in Canada and the United States in the mid-1960s. The sound epitomized taut vocal harmonies and a comparatively clean (distortion- and effects- free) approach to electric instruments found in the "jangly" sound of Roger McGuinn, the Byrds guitarist. The repertory consisted in part from folk sources, but especially from folk-influenced singers-songwriters like Bob Dylan.
This early folk-rock led straight to the separate, eclectic style of British folk-rock (also known as electric folk) conceived in the late 1960s by such folk-rock bands as Fairport Convention and Pentangle. Starting from folk-rock in a North-American style, Fairport, Pentangle and other related folk-rock bands slowly integrated elements of traditional folk music of Britain. Very soon afterwards, Ashley Hutchings, the bassist of Fairport, formed Steeleye Span together with British folk musicians who wanted to integrate electrical amplification, and later elements of pure rock, into their music.
In a wider sense, folk-rock includes equally-inspired musical movements and genres in the English-speaking world and, to a lesser degree, elsewhere in Europe. The same as with any other musical genre, the borders are hard to define. Folk-rock may perhaps lean more to folk or to rock in its instrumentation, its vocal style and playing, or its material selection; whilst the original genre is inspired by the music of English-speaking North American whites, there is no apparent definition of which folk traditions music might be incorporated as influences.
Folk-rock Artists:
All of the artists listed in this article have or had both considerable elements of folk and considerable elements of rock in their music.
A lot of singer-songwriters are tied strongly with folk-rock. Among musicians who started off strongly determined with folk music but afterward incorporated rock elements in their music are: Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Donovan, Joni Mitchell, Jonatha Brooke, Phil Ochs, Jim Croce, Neil Young, Indigo Girls, Nathan Bishop and others.
The most prominent 1960s North American folk-rock bands were: The Band; The Byrds; Buffalo Springfield; The Mamas & the Papas; Crosby, Stills & Nash; The Turtles; Peter, Paul & Mary; The Grateful Dead; Love Moby Grape; Jefferson Airplane; Sonny and Cher; Dion DiMucci; Gene Vincent; and others.
The most famous 1960s British and Irish folk-rock bands were: Capercaillie; Fairport Convention; Five Hand Reel; Hedgehog Pie; Horslips; Jethro Tull; Lindisfarne; Malicorne (Breton); Magna Carta; Pentangle; Planxty; Renaissance Band; Steeleye Span; The Strawbs; Tricks Upon Travellers; The Incredible String Band; The Corrs; The Waterboys; Dropkick Murphys; The Pogues; Fathom (band); Flogging Molly; and others.
Present-day folk-rock bands are: Aaron sprinkle, The River Bends, The Tossers, Tegan&Sara, One Star Hotel, and acoustic favorite Denison Witmer.