First Ever Country Rock Song

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by klaatuhf, Jun 10, 2008.

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  1. tommy-thewho

    tommy-thewho Senior Member

    Location:
    detroit, mi
    Too me folk/rock country/rock is about the same. Early Bob Dylan maybe???
     
  2. pocofan

    pocofan Senior Member

    Location:
    Alabama
    Well, this is a topic that I have found that no one will agree on. Been on numerous discussions. Beatles/Byrds/Gram Parsons/Gene Clark/Dillards and I could go on and on. Just my opinion, but I have to go with Buck Owens. That whole Bakersfield sound was something that caught my ear as a young one. Just a tad less country and just a little more bounce in the step in his songs. Nesmith,Parsons,Poco,Byrds,etc were all doing it with the country/bluegrass instruments. But who do you call the father of country rock?? As much as I love that genre, 65-75 country rock music, I can't come up with anyone who I can say deserves the credit for being the first. I give it to Owens because I was listening to him as a child in the 60's when I didn't know much about anybody other than The Beatles and The Dave Clark Five or whoever happened to be on Ed Sullivan that particular week.
     
  3. Drawer L

    Drawer L Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Long Island
    Anybody else know the Mike,John & Bill single from '63(?)-"How Can You Kiss Me?"--VERY Buffalo Springfield-ish-BEFORE the 'Springfield.(Mike being Mr.Nesmith,with his friends John London & Bill Chadwick.)
     
  4. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    I have to agree. Pretty much all of the Sun singles, and in particular, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" fused country and rock. As for 60s rock, I agree that the Beatles' "I Don't Want To Spoil the Party" beat the Byrds' cover of "Satisfied Mind" to the punch.
     
  5. Mike1055

    Mike1055 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    "Move it on Over" - Hank Williams
     
  6. For The Love

    For The Love Active Member

    Location:
    Richmond, VA
    If I remember correctly, didn't Hank Thompson have songs that were closer to rock in the 50's? Maybe rockabilly.

    Also I believe that Hank Snow and George Jones may have had a couple of tracks too.

    But wouldn't Johnny Cash and Conway Twitty be country rock artists?
     
  7. stumpy

    stumpy Forum Resident

    Location:
    South of Nashville
    Let's see... prior to 1967, but "country" artists are definitely not allowed. Rockabilly (the definition of country/rock to many) also not allowed. Assuming the OP meant songs after about 1960 - I'll have to look something up. ~ Guess I should have done that before I posted this, duh!
     
  8. GerryO

    GerryO Senior Member

    Location:
    Bodega Bay, CA
    The Everly Brothers or Roy Orbison?

    Bye Bye Love (1957) or Ooby Dooby (1956)

    Not pure country, rock or rockabilly.
     
  9. klaatuhf

    klaatuhf Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Well apart from Bluegrass of course and Lap Steel guitar in Hawaiian music etc and Banjo in Vaudeville/Skiffle music what other form of music except Country and Country Rock uses these instruments in a majority of cases? I ain't heard Pedal Steel in Heavy Metal or Rap or Banjo in Classical (except for some one off oddball albums or that series that turned every genre into bluegrass including reggae!). When I hear Pedal Steel I immediately think country and if it has "Rock" guitars (as opposed to Pop like Buck Owens et al) and a heavy drummed back beat I call it Country Rock. And I agree the line gets shady between Bluegrass Rock and Country Rock. The Dillards walked that line for most of their life and brilliantly too I might add.
    And as for the father of "Country Rock" I nominate Clarence White who was the guitarist on almost every candidate for first CR album including Rick Nelson, The Gosdins; Gene Clark; The Everlys; The Byrds; Burritos and even The Monkees! Without him I feel the mix of Rock and Country would have been a few years later in happening.
     
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  10. 905

    905 Senior Member

    Location:
    Midwest USA
    IMO, Buddy Holly was doing country rock as well.
     
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  11. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Wouldn't it be more accurate to say they fused country and blues, and rock-n-roll was the byproduct?

    Not to take anything away from Clarence, but he didn't play on any Burritos records, and as far as I know he never played on a Ricky Nelson record either (certainly not any of the classic records of the 50's... those were James Burton). The only song he did with the Monkees was "Steam Engine" which is an R&B pastiche not country-rock and was recorded in 1969. He only played on one or two Everlys songs and again that was circa 1969 or 70, long after their classic early years. He sure was great, though.
     
  12. Manic Mechanic

    Manic Mechanic Active Member

    Location:
    Twin Cities


    Yeah, but I was thinking Nashville Skyline. Girl from the North Country with Johnny Cash. At least it was the first time it appeared on my radar.
     
  13. mfp

    mfp Senior Member

    Location:
    Paris, France
    Exactly. That's what I was about to post.
    This is country, but listen to it and tell me it isn't rock; basically, it's Rock Around the Clock with different lyrics... And it's from 1947. Case closed.
     
  14. MrQwerty

    MrQwerty New Member

    Location:
    Fylde, UK
    The FIrst COuntry Rock Song

    Vanmeterannie - Apart from my own comment above about the Anglo-American cultures - I think your comment: "...specifically musicians with non-country backgrounds taking an affinity to the form and adopting it." hits the nail firmly on the proverbials. This would explain that beyond the Beatles, that the whole movement in the UK which began with bands like Matthews Southern Comfort, Brinsley Schwarz, Help Yourself, Cochise etc embraced elements of American music including country to serve up it's own brand of 'American Invasion' influence and beamed it right back at the US. Not that many Americans took the bait though - these acts generally did not trouble the US charts - but the country flavour is very much apparent through these bands and others right up to the so called 'pub rock' phenomena, which is almost a mini 'American Invasion' in itself so strong is the dominence of US style and content.

    Although the other suggestions that pre-date '63 are interesting they are more Rockabilly than Country Rock. Country Rock can't really exist before the British Invasion. Though I'll grant you that the Everleys and Buddy Holly are strong contenders, being a distinct influence on the Beatles over and above straight RnR and RnB.
     
  15. dickens12@excite

    dickens12@excite Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phillipsburg, NJ
    I think that White was the best guitarist and probably the best musician in the Byrds. He's fabulous on that new live CD.
     
  16. Coldplay2002

    Coldplay2002 New Member

    Location:
    New York, New York
    Reading this I say there is three schools of thought. There is the old school which is rock and roll Bill Haley, Elvis Buddy Holly. Then there is the Beatles genre I mean the pop/rock genre thats what we half jokingly call them and the guys who were full blown.

    I would nominate the Beatles. I have Live at the BBC at times it seems its all country music. "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" pre-dates the Byrds. The Beatles seemed to have had this knack for making any genre pop/rock which to me is what Beatlesque means. Another song "I'm A Loser" is a song which is more folk has some country influence on it. For pop/rock its the Beatles. I also have heard of the Band and I hear country music influence in their music.
     
  17. 120dB

    120dB Forum Resident

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    If that ain't country...

    Then again, there is that great steel guitar break...
     
  18. 120dB

    120dB Forum Resident

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Party spoiler...

    I read somewhere that IDWTSTP was The Beatles' attempt at writing a "good
    Everly Brothers song". Funny how the Everlys are usually not mentioned in these 'origin of country rock' discussions...
     
  19. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    In general they get shortchanged in most discussions of classic pop/rock, whether country-influenced or not.
     
  20. Back in the late 1950s, the Everly Brothers albums were found in the "Country Music" section of our local record shop in Statesville, NC. If the Everlys are not country rock then country rock doesn't exist.
     
  21. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    OK, it isn't rock. (And believe me, I've listened to it many, many times over the years.)

    It's country -- with a more pronounced backbeat than was usually heard in this era, but that backbeat is still provided entirely by the strings of an electric guitar, played in a "choke" style to emphasize their percussiveness.

    It's wonderful, but it lacks (both instrumentally and vocally) the loudness and in-your-face qualities that would characterize true rock 'n' roll.

    If you're making an argument that up-tempo country from this era was really rock 'n' roll, a far stronger candidate would be something like "Shotgun Boogie" by Tennessee Ernie Ford, which actually has drums (and loud ones at that).




    It's got a I-IV-V chord progression, like thousands of other country, R&B and blues songs of its day. That alone does not rock 'n' roll make.
     
  22. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    I hope this was said tongue-in-cheek.

    There is no steel guitar on "Hello Mary Lou." That's a plain old electric guitar, played very well.
     
  23. Coldplay2002

    Coldplay2002 New Member

    Location:
    New York, New York
    I read that Lennon called Beatles for Sale our Country & Western album. Ringo was stressing Buck Owens to them. Buck Owens needs some credit here. I think there is a differnece between 50's rock and roll and what became rock music. I think the Beatles/Byrds are the main bands that bridged the gap between rock and roll and what became rock music. I heard the Byrds went electric because of the Beatles folk/ pop rock traits in their music. So it seems to me The Beatles/Byrds connection was really one of the most important things that happened in rock music. Anyone agree with me on this point?
     
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  24. godstar

    godstar Well-Known Member

    Location:
    valencia, spain
    actually, country rock was invented in london in 1965:

    [​IMG]

    :righton:
     
  25. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Agreed. They came from a pure country background (their dad Ike was an influential guitarist and a contemporary of Merle Travis), but they adapted to rock because it was in the air at the time.

    I don't know that this necessarily qualifies it as a candidate for the OP's question, but it should be noted that "Bye Bye Love" was also recorded in a straight country version by Webb Pierce. I'll have to check to see whether it was a hit for him.

    There was a short period (roughly 1955-57) when the country establishment didn't quite know what to make of rock 'n' roll (except they knew it was dramatically cutting into its sales!). Many pure country artists experimented with the genre. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

    This dalliance more or less came to an end when Chet Atkins slammed home the "Nashville sound" on the country records he produced, and the twain of country and rock 'n' roll didn't much meet after that.


    Maybe it should be noted that most make a distinction between rock 'n' roll and rock (EDIT: I see Coldplay2002 made the same point as I was writing this), reasoning that the latter is a more sophisticated genre, with more to it than the three chords and a beat of rock 'n' roll. (I'm greatly simplifying when I say this, and mean absolutely no disparagement to rock 'n' roll.)

    But by this measure, "country rock" is a different animal than country/rock 'n' roll. And I believe the former is what the OP is going after.
     
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