Country-Rock

Country and rock music have borrowed musical elements from one another since the late 1950s. In fact, rock and roll, the earliest form of rock music, combined Western swing, the hillbilly style, and R&B music, while Elvis Presley and other early rock music artists began their careers in country music. During the late 1960s and 1970s Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and other bands led a movement to merge country and rock styles. The resulting style, known as country-rock, characteristically takes country melody, harmony, and lyric themes and adds the percussive beat, rhythms, and electric instrumentation of rock.

New Country

The term new country dates from the mid-1980s when a handful of artists, notably Ricky Skaggs, John Anderson, Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam, and the Brooks & Dunn duo, led yet another return to the sounds of traditional country music. This return was primarily to such instruments as steel guitars and single or twin fiddles, as opposed to full orchestral string sections. New country also prominently featured female artists, including Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, and Shania Twain.

In the late 1980s Clint Black, another new-country artist, helped usher in an era of so-called hat acts. Following Black’s example, nearly all male country vocalists began wearing cowboy hats, symbolizing the return of country music to its rural roots.

Current Trends

Country music has developed a broad palette of styles and attracted a large mainstream audience by adapting elements of other musical styles. Many country records of the 1990s would have been considered rock or popular music recordings in past years.

Social Significance

Country music tends to mirror the concerns, achievements, and lifestyle of the times, and remains an important form of American cultural expression. Western-style clothing and numerous catch phrases from country songs have found their way into American popular culture. Although country music was born in the politically conservative South, its audience and many of its performers come from all parts of the political spectrum.