117-442: " Nashville Cats " is a song by the American folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful . Written by John Sebastian , the song appeared on the band's 1966 album Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful , and it was also issued on a single released the same day as the album. The single peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the seventh and final time the band reached the American Top Ten. ["Nashville Cats"] happened because
234-499: A Rickenbacker twelve-string guitar on the Beatles' mid-1960s recordings. This relatively clean, jangly sound—without distortion or other guitar effects —became a cornerstone of folk rock instrumentation and was used in many American folk rock records made during 1965 and 1966. We were a group, but not professional musicians. I had to de-complicate my music and get it simpler and simpler, so that we could play it and make it sound like
351-410: A pedal steel guitar and what Sebastian terms "sponge rubber guitar playing" on rhythm guitar. The pedal steel guitar had been leftover from a previous session, and Sebastian quickly learned to play it in the 45 minutes before the band began recording. Like Boone, the rock author John Einarson describes the song as "pure country". By contrast, the author David Dachs describes the song as a parody, and
468-626: A volume-control pedal . "Daydream" proved influential, especially among British musicians, directly inspiring the 1966 compositions " Good Day Sunshine " by the Beatles and " Sunny Afternoon " by the Kinks . John Sebastian composed "Daydream" in November 1965, during a 19-day tour through the American South . The Lovin' Spoonful served as a support act during the tour for the American girl group
585-460: A 1934 hit by the American jazz musician Hal Kemp . Paul McCartney of the Beatles described "Daydream" as a having a "traditional, almost trad-jazz feel". The author Richie Unterberger connects "Daydream" to the Spoonful's jug band roots, writing that its only major difference from 1920s and '30s jug band recordings is its electric arrangement. The journalist Paul Williams similarly writes
702-504: A 1984 interview. Sebastian later reflected that he often wondered about the Spoonful's impact on other artists, but the Beatles' originality meant that "when they did cop an idea from somebody else it never occurred to you." After seeing the Spoonful perform in England during their April 1966 tour, Ray Davies , the principal songwriter of the Kinks , was regularly influenced by their sound. "Daydream" directly inspired him in writing
819-520: A British and Swedish promotional tour, leading the song to be the band's first major hit outside North America. It topped sales charts in Canada and Sweden, and it was ultimately the band's most successful record in the United Kingdom, where it reached number two. Sebastian composed "Daydream" in November 1965 in an effort to lift his spirits amid a grueling three-week tour of the American South . He
936-406: A I–VI –ii–V chord progression and the refrain uses IV–i –I–VI . The musicologist Walter Everett writes that because the song's verses always end with half cadences , it means the song never "[achieves] a full-cadence closure" but instead fades out while still feeling incomplete. Zal Yanovsky , the Spoonful's lead guitarist, later compared the song's melody to that of "Got a Date With an Angel",
1053-453: A Loser ", with the latter song being directly inspired by folk singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In the opinion of Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, writers who attempt to define the origins of folk rock "don't realise that the Beatles were responsible as far back as 1963". He cites " She Loves You " as one of the first examples where the Beatles introduced folk chord changes into rock music and so initiated
1170-517: A Rolling Stone ", " For What It's Worth ", and " Let's Live for Today ". During the 1950s and early 1960s in the UK, a parallel folk revival referred to as the second British folk revival , was led by folk singers Ewan MacColl and Bert Lloyd . Both viewed British folk music as a vehicle for leftist political concepts and an antidote to the American-dominated popular music of the time. However, it
1287-511: A category including Dando Shaft , Amazing Blondel , and Jack the Lad , an offshoot of northern progressive folk group Lindisfarne , who were one of the most successful UK bands of the early 1970s. Examples of bands that remained firmly on the border between progressive folk and progressive rock were the short lived (but later reunited) Comus and, more successfully, Renaissance , who combined folk and rock with elements of classical music. Folk metal
SECTION 10
#17330923024531404-437: A complete guitar track. The band next overdubbed several elements: Steve Boone added honky-tonk piano , Joe Butler played spoons and a slapstick and Yanovsky added extra electric guitar parts on his Guild Thunderbird . Sebastian sang and whistled, and he played a harmonica contribution which he later said was derivative of Nino Tempo and April Stevens ' 1963 hit " Deep Purple ". The finished recording staggers
1521-512: A few examples of proto-folk rock that were important in the development of the genre. Of these secondary influences, Unterberger has cited the self-penned, folk-influenced material of San Francisco's the Beau Brummels as arguably the most important. Despite their Beatlesque image, the band's use of minor chords , haunting harmonies, and folky acoustic guitar playing—as heard on their debut single " Laugh, Laugh "—was stylistically very similar to
1638-489: A large proportion of America's youth, who instead turned their attention to the influx of British acts. The influence of these acts also impacted on the collegiate folk and urban folk communities, with many young musicians quickly losing interest in folk music and instead embracing the rock 'n' roll derived repertoire of the British Invasion. Future members of many folk rock acts, including the Byrds, Jefferson Airplane ,
1755-565: A number of factors, including the Beatles' coupling of folk derived chord progressions and beat music, the Byrds' rock adaptation of "Mr. Tambourine Man" (which Dylan had heard at a Byrds' rehearsal in late 1964), and the Animals hit cover of "The House of the Rising Sun". Bringing It All Back Home was released on 22 March 1965, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and #1 on
1872-423: A popular music group. Dylan's material would provide much of the original grist for the folk rock mill, not only in the U.S. but in the UK as well, with many pop and rock acts covering his material in a style reminiscent of the Byrds. Their reworking of "Mr. Tambourine Man", along with the Animals ' rock interpretation of " The House of the Rising Sun " (itself based on Dylan's earlier cover), helped to give Dylan
1989-476: A popular thing. Whenever you have a format like that, it sounds folky, because it's not glitzed over with anything. We only had acoustic and electric guitars, so every chance we got, we'd try to add some variety. The only way you could get variety was to go to a harmonica during this song, or get an acoustic in this space; get different moods that way. Although folk rock mainly grew out of a mix of American folk revival and British Invasion influences, there were also
2106-648: A rebuke to the folk purists who had rejected his new electric music. Throughout 1965 and 1966, hit singles like "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Like a Rolling Stone", "Positively 4th Street", and " I Want You " among others, along with the Bringing It All Back Home , Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde albums, proved to be hugely influential on the development and popularity of folk rock. Although Dylan's move away from acoustic folk music served to outrage and alienate much of his original fanbase, his new folk rock sound gained him legions of new fans during
2223-409: A result, he had been thinking of a way in which to introduce folk styled acoustic guitars and socially conscious lyrics into pop music for several years prior to his 1965 breakthrough as a recording artist. By January 1966, he had recorded the self-penned hit " Sunshine Superman " with a full electric backing band. Other bands and solo artists who were blurring the boundaries between folk and rock in
2340-516: A rhythmic feel commonly heard in both jazz and blues , but Sebastian later clarified that, like both of the Supremes' songs, the shuffle "[is not] all the way expressed". For his vocal, Sebastian later said he was aiming to sound like Geoff Muldaur , a vocalist in the Jim Kweskin Jug Band , a jug band group which was particularly influential on the Spoonful. The verses of "Daydream" use
2457-529: A shade corny." Reviewing the latest releases in Melody Maker 's "Blind Date" column, the singer Dusty Springfield also described the song as "corny", but she used the term favorably. She compared its sound to the American jazz pianist Fats Waller , adding that she liked the Spoonful "just for daring to do this number". The anonymous reviewer for the Whitstable Times also wrote that on first listen,
SECTION 20
#17330923024532574-504: A single in the U.K. on April 1. By mid-May, the song had reached number two on all of the major British singles charts, bested only by Manfred Mann 's single " Pretty Flamingo ". "Daydream" reached number one on Wonderful Radio London 's Fab 40 chart, and it additionally reached number one on the Swedish Kvällstoppen chart. Paul Williams reviewed "Daydream" in the third issue of his American magazine Crawdaddy! , one of
2691-545: A song which had been recorded by the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel in 1964 and first released on their album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. . The reissued single rose to number 1 on the Billboard pop chart in late 1965, became a hit around the world, and set the duo on one of the most successful careers in pop and rock music. Simon and Garfunkel have been described as "folk-rock's greatest duo, and one whose fame and influence would persist well beyond folk-rock's heyday." One of
2808-502: A traditional style, and is played on a combination of traditional and rock instruments. This incorporation of traditional British folk music influences gives British folk rock its distinctly British character and flavour. It evolved out of the psychedelia -influenced folk rock of British acts such as Donovan, the Incredible String Band , and Tyrannosaurus Rex , but was also heavily influenced by such American folk rock bands as
2925-523: A very simple, uncluttered tune so out of place ... that record producers are having to think again about what makes a hit. The simple arrangement of "Daydream" was out of step with contemporary pop music trends, and it inspired numerous similar compositions from British musicians. Soon after the song's release, the Beatles and members of the Rolling Stones lauded the Spoonful as the "hot new group". John Lennon and George Harrison first met
3042-551: Is the BibleCode Sundays . Celtic rock is also popular in Spain where bands such as Celtas Cortos have had a large following since the early 1990s. Medieval folk rock developed as a subgenre of electric folk from about 1970 as performers, particularly in England, Germany and Brittany, adopted medieval and renaissance music as a basis for their music, in contrast to the early modern and nineteenth century ballads that dominated
3159-600: Is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for example, Dutch Heidevolk , Danish Sylvatica and Spanish Stone of Erech). It also sometimes features soft instrumentation influenced by folk rock. The earliest folk metal bands were Skyclad from England, Cruachan from Ireland and Mago de Oz from Spain. Skyclad's debut album The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth
3276-497: Is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop , English and American folk music . It typically combines elements of folk and rock music together, it arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival . Performers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds —several of whose members had earlier played in folk ensembles—attempted to blend
3393-486: The 1967 Detroit riot . He would rise to top the charts in the 1970s with a number of his folk-rock recordings such as " Sundown " and " Carefree Highway " and eventually become known as a folk-rock legend. Some artists who originally produced with a harder edged rock sound found the ability to communicate more easily and felt more genuine in this method of delivery. In this category was Cat Stevens , who began in London much like
3510-625: The Bill Monroe bluegrass standard " Blue Moon of Kentucky "; Buddy Holly 's self-penned material, which strongly influenced both Dylan and the Byrds; Ritchie Valens ' recording of the Mexican folk song " La Bamba "; Lloyd Price 's rock 'n' roll adaptation of the African-American folk song " Stagger Lee " (originally recorded by Mississippi John Hurt in 1928); Jimmie Rodgers ' rock 'n' roll flavored renditions of traditional folk songs; and
3627-481: The Celtic rock movement, medieval music was focused on by bands like Ripaille from 1977 and Saga de Ragnar Lodbrock from 1979. However, by the end of the 1970s almost all of these performers had either disbanded or moved, like Gentle Giant and Gryphon, into the developing area of progressive rock . In the 1990s, as part of the wider resurgence of folk music in general, new medieval folk rock acts began to appear, including
Nashville Cats - Misplaced Pages Continue
3744-530: The Ritchie Blackmore project Blackmore's Night , German bands such as In Extremo , Subway to Sally or Schandmaul and English bands like Circulus . In Britain the tendency to electrify brought several progressive folk acts into rock. This includes the acoustic duo Tyrannosaurus Rex, who became the electric combo T. Rex . Others, probably influenced by the electric folk pioneered by Fairport Convention from 1969, moved towards more traditional material,
3861-504: The UK Album Chart . The album's blend of rhythm and blues -derived rock and abstract, poetic lyrics was immediately influential in demonstrating that intelligent lyrical content could be wedded with rock 'n' roll. The songs on the album saw Dylan leaving folk music far behind. Even with this folkier, acoustic material, Dylan's biting, apocalyptical, and often humorous lyrics went far beyond those of contemporary folk music, particularly
3978-577: The electric twelve-string guitar . Many musicians in the collegiate and urban folk movements were already familiar with acoustic twelve-string guitars via the music of folk and blues singer Lead Belly. However, the Searchers' use of amplified twelve-strings provided another example of how conventional folk elements could be incorporated into rock music to produce new and exciting sounds. The Beatles' lead guitarist , George Harrison , also influenced this trend towards jangly guitars in folk rock with his use of
4095-573: The 1920s and 1930s, which had been reissued by Folkways Records ; Harry Smith 's Anthology of American Folk Music was particularly influential. While this urban folk revival flourished in many cities, New York City, with its burgeoning Greenwich Village coffeehouse scene and population of topical folk singers, was widely regarded as the centre of the movement. Out of this fertile environment came such folk-protest luminaries as Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton , Phil Ochs , and Peter, Paul and Mary , many of whom would transition into folk rock performers as
4212-450: The 1960s progressed. The vast majority of the urban folk revivalists shared a disdain for the values of mainstream American mass culture and led many folk singers to begin composing their own "protest" material. The influence of this folk-protest movement would later manifest itself in the sociopolitical lyrics and mildly anti-establishment sentiments of many folk rock songs, including hit singles such as " Eve of Destruction ", " Like
4329-578: The 1970s, Celtic rock held close to its folk roots, drawing heavily on traditional Celtic fiddle , pipe , and harp tunes, as well as traditional vocal styles, but making use of rock band levels of amplification and percussion. In the 1980s and beyond, Celtic rock was perpetuated by bands such as the Pogues , the Waterboys , Runrig , Black 47 , and the Prodigals . A more recent folk rock band based in England
4446-598: The 1970s, the country folk subgenre has been perpetuated by artists including John Prine , Nanci Griffith , Kathy Mattea , Mary Chapin Carpenter , and Iris DeMent . A subgenre of folk rock that combines traditional Celtic instrumentation with rock rhythms, often influenced by a wide variety of pop and rock music styles. It emerged from the electric folk music of the late 1960s and was pioneered by bands such as Horslips , who blended Gaelic mythology , traditional Irish music and rock. The British singer-songwriter Donovan
4563-458: The 1990s. It was not until the early 2000s when the genre exploded into prominence, particularly in Finland with the efforts of such groups as Finntroll , Ensiferum , Korpiklaani , Turisas , and Moonsorrow . The music of folk metal is characterised by its diversity with bands known to perform different styles of both heavy metal music and folk music. A large variety of folk instruments are used in
4680-688: The American and British charts. In particular, the Byrds' influence can be discerned in mid-1960s recordings by acts such as the Lovin' Spoonful, Barry McGuire , the Mamas & the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel , Jefferson Airplane , the Turtles , We Five , Love , and Sonny & Cher . It was during the rehearsals at World Pacific that the band began to develop the blend of folk music and Beatles-style pop that would characterize their sound. However, this hybrid
4797-458: The Atlantic. In mid-1965, folk singer-songwriter Donovan was also experimenting with adding electrified instrumentation to some of his folk and blues-styled material, as evidenced by songs such as " You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond " and "Sunny Goodge Street". In spite of his folky persona and repertoire, Donovan himself had always considered himself a pop star, rather than a folk singer. As
Nashville Cats - Misplaced Pages Continue
4914-560: The Beatles recorded in June during the sessions for Revolver . "Good Day Sunshine" uses no guitars, but like "Daydream" it features honky-tonk piano, a shuffling beat, applied dominants and similarly themed lyrics. The Spoonful met all four of the Beatles in August 1966, before the band's Shea Stadium show during their 1966 US tour , but Sebastian did not learn of the Spoonful's influence on "Good Day Sunshine" until McCartney mentioned it in
5031-469: The Beatles themselves utilized folk as just one of many styles evident in their music, the underlying folk influences in a number of their songs would prove to be important to folk rock musicians attempting to blend their own folk influences with beat music . The effect that the music of these British bands, and the Beatles in particular, had on young Americans was immediate; almost overnight, folk—along with many other forms of homegrown music—became passé for
5148-412: The Beau Brummels' commercial breakthrough by almost two years, singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon 's April 1963 single " Needles and Pins " marked, according to Unterberger, the earliest appearance of the ringing guitar sound that would become a mainstay of early folk rock. This use of cyclical, chiming guitar riffs was repeated on DeShannon's late 1963 recording of her own composition " When You Walk in
5265-553: The Byrds did in the United States but toned down the sound more frequently with acoustic instruments. He performed songs that contained concern for the environment, war, and the future of the world in general. The Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell won many Grammy Awards with her folk rock/pop songs. British folk rock developed in Britain during the mid to late 1960s by the bands Fairport Convention , and Pentangle . It uses traditional British music and self-penned compositions in
5382-465: The Byrds entered Columbia Studios in Hollywood to record his song "Mr. Tambourine Man", Bob Dylan completed the recording sessions for his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home . Of the eleven tracks on the album, seven featured Dylan backed by a full electric rock band, in stark contrast to his earlier acoustic folk albums. Dylan's decision to record with an electric backing band had been influenced by
5499-561: The Byrds, Love , and Buffalo Springfield. British folk rock was at its most significant and popular during the late 1960s and 1970s, when, in addition to Fairport and Pentangle, it was taken up by groups such as Steeleye Span and the Albion Band . Steeleye Span, founded by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings , was made up of traditionalist folk musicians who wished to incorporate electrical amplification, and later overt rock elements, into their music. This, in turn, spawned
5616-501: The Lovin' Spoonful as new folk-rock acts. Dylan also contributed to the creation of the genre, with his recordings utilizing rock instrumentation on the albums Bringing It All Back Home , Highway 61 Revisited , and Blonde on Blonde . In a broader sense, folk rock encompasses similarly inspired musical genres and movements in different regions of the world. Folk rock may lean more towards either folk or rock in instrumentation, playing and vocal style, and choice of material. While
5733-457: The Lovin' Spoonful . Written by John Sebastian , it was issued as a single in February 1966 and was the title track of the band's second album, Daydream , released the following month. The song was the Spoonful's third consecutive single to enter the top ten in the United States, and it was their best performing to that point, reaching number two. The single's European release coincided with
5850-602: The Lovin' Spoonful's music blended influences from blues , country and folk music , their music was focused towards the popular music market. Each of the band members enjoyed elements of country music, particularly Yanovsky, whose lead guitar playing often drew from influences like the rockabilly guitarist Carl Perkins . Steve Boone , the band's bassist, recalled that though the group's earlier songs had sometimes hinted at country, on "Nashville Cats" they "consciously tried to make it sound country, like we were really Nashville cats". "Nashville Cats" features an electric guitar,
5967-500: The Lovin' Spoonful, the Mamas & the Papas , and Buffalo Springfield, all turned their backs on traditional folk music during 1964 and 1965 as a direct result of the influence of the Beatles and the other British Invasion bands. Author and music historian Richie Unterberger has noted that the Beatles' impact on American popular culture effectively sounded the death knell for the American folk music revival . In addition to The Beatles,
SECTION 50
#17330923024536084-692: The Nashville A-Team , a loose group of session musicians based in Nashville, Tennessee . He later recalled that after the Lovin' Spoonful played a show in Nashville, he and Zal Yanovsky , the band's lead guitarist, were amazed by an unknown guitarist, who played the bar of the Holiday Inn hotel at which the band was staying. Sebastian composed the song weeks later at his home in East Quogue, New York . Though
6201-544: The Room ". The following year, both songs would become hits for the Liverpudlian band the Searchers, who chose to place even greater emphasis on the jangly guitar playing in the songs. In addition, a number of DeShannon's songs from the period, including "When You Walk in the Room", displayed a greater degree of lyrical maturity and sensuality than was usual for pop songs of the time. This heightened degree of emotional introspection
6318-491: The Spoonful after attending their concert at the Marquee club in London on April 18, 1966. A week later, the Beatles recorded a version of Lennon's composition " I'm Only Sleeping " in the style of "Daydream", but they abandoned the arrangement for the final version issued on their 1966 album Revolver . In an attempt to write a song in the same vein as "Daydream", Paul McCartney composed " Good Day Sunshine ", which
6435-485: The Spoonful was successful in North America but remained generally unknown in the United Kingdom. Neither of their first two singles had charted in the country. To expand the band's popularity to an international audience, their management organized several concert and television appearances in England and Sweden for the end of April 1966. To coincide with the tour, Pye International Records issued "Daydream" as
6552-696: The Spoonful's other singles, as being representative of folk rock . Amid a busy TV and live-date schedule, the Spoonful recorded most of their second album Daydream over four days, from December 13 to 16, 1965. "Daydream" was among the songs recorded during the sessions, which took place at Bell Sound Studios in New York City and were produced by the band's regular producer, Erik Jacobsen . [ Zal Yanovsky and I] did twenty-odd takes because it involved two guitar figures that had no swing or variation to them. ... We'd be good for two or three verses and then sooner or later one guy would get ahead of
6669-547: The Supremes , and the two groups traveled together on the same bus. The Spoonful generally enjoyed the experience but found the schedule physically exhausting, and Sebastian additionally missed his girlfriend, Loretta "Lorey" Kaye. On a rainy day near the tour's end, Sebastian was feeling particularly depressed and sought to raise his own spirits by writing a song. While riding the bus to their November 27 show in Greensboro, North Carolina , he composed "Daydream", finishing
6786-567: The U.K. on December 2, 1966. The single reached number 23 on Melody Maker magazine's single chart. The Lovin' Spoonful had achieved quick success in the country months earlier, when their single " Daydream " reached number two on the British charts in May 1966, but the band's subsequent singles failed to perform as well. The anonymous reviewer for the Bucks Examiner newspaper suggested that
6903-417: The U.S. The band's arrangement of "The House of the Rising Sun", which transmuted the song from an acoustic folk lament to a full-bore electric rock song, would go on to influence many folk rock acts but none more so than Dylan himself, who cited it as a key factor in his decision to record and perform with an electric rock band in 1965. The Searchers were influential in popularizing the jangly sound of
7020-544: The Weavers , whose mainstream popularity set the stage for the folk revival of the 1950s and early 1960s and also served to bridge the gap between folk, popular music, and topical song . The Weavers' sound and repertoire of traditional folk material and topical songs directly inspired the Kingston Trio , a three-piece folk group who came to prominence in 1958 with their hit recording of " Tom Dooley ". The Kingston Trio provided
7137-543: The [Lovin'] Spoonful played Nashville ... We go in [to the Holiday Inn basement] and get beers when this guy shows up with a Telecaster and this crappy old amp . He sits down on the amp. There's no stage. He starts playing and it's incredible what comes out. ... [ Zal Yanovsky and I] both are saying, "How is it that this guy that doesn't even have a stage can take us to town, and just kill it, in 20 minutes?" John Sebastian composed "Nashville Cats" as an ode to
SECTION 60
#17330923024537254-506: The band's declining fortunes stemmed from their recent releases lacking the striking quality needed to succeed in the singles market, adding that though "Nashville Cats" was "very good", it was "a strange choice for a single". The Lovin' Spoonful's version of "Nashville Cats" failed to appear on any country charts, but the American bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs recorded a cover which reached number 54 on Billboard 's Hot Country Singles chart in 1967. Folk-rock Folk rock
7371-564: The band's sound in June 1965, at roughly the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man" peaked at number 1 on the Billboard chart. Within three months it had become the first folk rock smash hit, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart . The single's success initiated the folk rock boom of 1965 and 1966, during which a profusion of Byrds-influenced acts flooded
7488-536: The burgeoning folk rock scene and in establishing Dylan as a bona fide rock star, rather than a folksinger. "Like a Rolling Stone" managed to reach the Top 5 on both sides of the Atlantic. Five days after the release of "Like a Rolling Stone", on 25 July 1965, Dylan made a controversial appearance at the Newport Folk Festival , performing three songs with a full band. He was met with derisive booing and jeering from
7605-461: The chart for twelve weeks, peaking at number two for two weeks in mid-April. It was the Spoonful's third consecutive single to reach the top ten and their highest charting single to date. The single was kept from the top spot on Billboard 's chart by the Righteous Brothers ' " (You're My) Soul and Inspiration ", but it reached number one on Cash Box magazine's chart and also reached
7722-413: The commercial success of the Byrds' cover version of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man ", along with Dylan's own contributions to the genre on the albums Bringing It All Back Home , Highway 61 Revisited , and Blonde on Blonde , initiated an explosion of emulators and imitators. Their success led record producer Tom Wilson to add electric guitar, bass, and drums overdubs to " The Sounds of Silence ",
7839-448: The concurrent offshoot of country rock . This successful blending of country, folk and rock styles led to pioneering country folk records by folk-influenced singer-songwriters such as John Denver and Neil Young during the 1970s. Country folk music usually displays a softer, more "laid-back" feel than the majority of country music and is often complemented by introspective lyrics, thus preserving its folk singer-songwriter roots. Since
7956-507: The conspicuously English folk rock music of the Albion Band, a group that also included Hutchings. In Brittany folk rock was developed by Alan Stivell (who began to mix his Breton, Irish, and Scottish roots with rock music) and later by French bands like Malicorne . During this same period, folk rock was adopted and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and Cornwall, to produce Celtic rock and its derivatives. A subgenre originally arising from
8073-425: The earliest publications devoted to rock and roll criticism. Williams described the song as "the sort of thing that could get tiring and repetitious, but doesn't". He counted the Spoonful as one of the few groups with authentic roots in folk music , adding that rather than simply turning jug band songs electric, the band instead worked to incorporate new sounds from rock music into their productions. He concluded that
8190-448: The early 1960s folk and country-influenced music of singer-songwriter artists such as Bob Dylan and Bobby Bare , as well as from folk revivalist vocal groups like the Kingston Trio. During the late 1960s, many folk rock artists including Dylan, Ian and Sylvia , and the Byrds began to incorporate a strong country influence into their music, drawing heavily on Hank Williams , Merle Haggard , and Buck Owens amongst others, resulting in
8307-597: The early 1960s include Judy Henske , Richard and Mimi Fariña , and the Mugwumps , the latter of which were a New York band featuring future members of the Lovin' Spoonful and the Mamas & the Papas. Also of note are the Australian band the Seekers , who had relocated to England in 1964 and reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart with " I'll Never Find Another You " in February 1965. Unterberger has noted that, although it
8424-501: The early folk-rock music emerged during a time of general global upheaval, the Vietnam War , and new concerns for the world by young people. In the United States, the heyday of folk rock was arguably between the mid-sixties and the mid-seventies, when it aligned itself with the hippie movement and became an important medium for expressing radical ideas. Cities such as San Francisco, Denver , New York City and Phoenix became centers for
8541-402: The entrance of four differently textured guitars, an arrangement which Everett describes as " Beatlesque ". The last guitar to enter features a volume-control pedal , a device which had only recently begun to be employed in popular music and would be used on many recordings in 1966. Paired with a guitar, the device hides the initial attack and decay of the instrument's tone while allowing
8658-523: The era. Bands whose music was significantly folk rock in sound during the mid-to-late 1960s included Donovan , the Lovin' Spoonful, the Mamas & the Papas, the Youngbloods , Love , and, in their early years, Jefferson Airplane . In the mid-1960s, singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot began moving his folk songs into a folk-rock direction with recordings such as the percussion-driven "Black Day in July" about
8775-450: The experience of taking psychedelic drugs . Accompanying the single's release, a trade ad appearing in Billboard made several drug allusions, drawing the ire of the band, who had regularly sought to distance themselves from drug associations. The following month, the song served as both the opening- and title-track of the Lovin' Spoonful's second album . "Daydream" entered the Billboard Hot 100 on February 26 and remained on
8892-400: The festival's purist folk music crowd, but in the years since the incident, Dylan's 1965 Newport Folk Festival appearance has become widely regarded as a pivotal moment in the synthesis of folk and rock. Dylan followed "Like a Rolling Stone" with the wholly electric album Highway 61 Revisited and the non-album single " Positively 4th Street ", which itself has been widely interpreted as
9009-462: The first bands to craft a distinctly American sound in response to the British Invasion was the Beach Boys ; while not a folk rock band themselves, they directly influenced the genre and at the height of the folk rock boom in 1966 had a hit with a cover of the 1920s West Indian folk song " Sloop John B ", which they had learned from the Kingston Trio , who had learned it from the Weavers . Much of
9126-464: The folk and country -influenced recordings featured on the Everly Brothers ' 1959 album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us . The moment when all of the separate influences that served to make up folk rock finally coalesced into an identifiable whole was with the release of the Byrds' recording of Bob Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man ". The term "folk rock" was coined by the U.S. music press to describe
9243-453: The folk rock band Pentangle in the late 1960s. Other notable folk rock artists with roots in the progressive folk scene were Donovan , Al Stewart , John Martyn and Paul Simon . They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid. You could only do that with other musicians. Even if you're playing your own chords you had to have other people playing with you. That
9360-432: The folk rock culture, playing on their central locations among the original folk circuits. The "unplugged" and simplified sound of the music reflected the genre's connection to a critical view of a technological and consumerist society. Unlike pop music's escapist lyrics, arguably a fantasy distraction from the problems in life, folk artists attempted to communicate concerns for peace, global awareness, and other touchstones of
9477-423: The folk-protest music with which he had been previously associated. On 20 July 1965, Dylan released the groundbreaking " Like a Rolling Stone ", a six-minute-long scathing put-down, directed at a down-and-out society girl, which again featured Dylan backed by an electric rock band. Released just as the Byrds' cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man" topped the charts in the United States, the song was instrumental in defining
9594-451: The gap between folk and rock. Mr. Tambourine Man's blend of abstract lyrics, folk-influenced melody, complex harmonies , jangly 12-string Rickenbacker guitar playing, and Beatles-influenced beat, resulted in a synthesis that effectively created the subgenre of folk rock. The song's lyrics alone took rock and pop songwriting to new heights; never before had such intellectual and literary lyrics been combined with rock instrumentation by
9711-404: The genre with many bands consequently featuring six or more members in their regular line-ups. A few bands are also known to rely on keyboards to simulate the sound of folk instruments . Lyrics in the genre commonly deal with fantasy , mythology , paganism , history and nature . Sources Daydream (The Lovin%27 Spoonful song) " Daydream " is a song by the American folk-rock band
9828-441: The impetus to start recording with an electric backing band. As the 1970s dawned, folk rock evolved away from the jangly template pioneered by the Byrds, but their influence could still be heard in the music of bands like Fairport Convention and Pentangle . The Byrds themselves continued to enjoy commercial success with their brand of folk rock throughout 1965, most notably with their number 1 single " Turn! Turn! Turn! ". By
9945-424: The journalist Peter Doggett writes that though it was a sincere tribute from Sebastian, the song sounds "condescending" and a "pastiche of Southern slang". The author James E. Perone considers the song an example of pop music. Released as psychedelic music began to reach its height in popularity, "Nashville Cats" stood in contrast to the music being recorded by the Lovin' Spoonful's peers. The band were cynical of
10062-531: The key transitional albums The Times They Are A-Changin , Another Side of Bob Dylan , and Bringing It All Back Home , he was a key architect of Dylan's electric sound. He is perhaps even better known, however, for first discovering Simon & Garfunkel at the tail end of the folk movement and then transforming them into folk-rock superstars with the unauthorized rock remix that made a number one hit out of their previously underappreciated song, "The Sound of Silence". Music critic Richie Unterberger has noted that
10179-571: The later folk rock of the Byrds. Released in December 1964, "Laugh, Laugh" peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1965, while its similarly folk-flavored follow-up, " Just a Little ", did even better, reaching number 8 on the U.S. singles chart. The high-profile success of the Beau Brummels' music was important in demonstrating that a hybrid of folk and rock could potentially be translated into mainstream commercial success. Pre-dating
10296-437: The mid-1960s. The popularity and commercial success of the Byrds and Bob Dylan's blend of folk and rock music influenced a wave of imitators and emulators that retroactively became known as the folk rock boom. Although he started out as a jazz musician, the young, African-American Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson became known as the "mid-wife of folk-rock" for his seminal work behind the scenes. As Bob Dylan's producer during
10413-545: The music of the skiffle craze. These UK groups, known collectively as the British Invasion , reintroduced American youth culture to the broad potential of rock and pop music as a creative medium and to the wealth of musical culture to be found within the United States. Of particular importance to the development of folk rock by the British Invasion were the subtle folk influences evident in such Beatles' compositions as " I'll Be Back ", " Things We Said Today ", and " I'm
10530-409: The new genre. These songs were all influential in providing a template for successfully assimilating folk-based chord progressions and melodies into pop music. This melding of folk and rock 'n' roll in the Beatles' music became even more explicit during 1965, with the release of " You've Got to Hide Your Love Away ", a folk-derived song with introspective lyrics, again influenced by Dylan. Although
10647-429: The original genre draws on music of Europe and North America, there is no clear delineation of which other culture's music might be included as influences. The American folk-music revival began during the 1940s; building on the interest in protest folk singers such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger , it reached a peak in popularity in the mid-1960s with artists such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez . In 1948, Seeger formed
10764-455: The other. ... "Daydream" is, in fact, a splicing wonder. The song's backing track consisted of only two guitars: Sebastian played his 1958 Les Paul electric and Yanovsky borrowed Sebastian's Heritage Gibson acoustic. Due to the song's staccato rhythm, the two musicians struggled to keep in sync. They soon abandoned the song to work on other compositions, returning to it when Jacobsen spliced different takes together to establish
10881-500: The output of Fairport Convention. This followed the trend explored by Steeleye Span, and exemplified by their 1972 album Below the Salt . Acts in this area included Gryphon , Gentle Giant and Third Ear Band . In Germany Ougenweide , originally formed in 1970 as an acoustic folk group, opted to draw exclusively on High German medieval music when they electrified, setting the agenda for future German electric folk. In Brittany, as part of
10998-430: The overtly English folk rock of the Albion Band and Celtic rock . "Folk rock" refers to the blending of elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the U.S. and UK in the mid-1960s. The genre was pioneered by the Byrds, who began playing traditional folk music and songs by Bob Dylan with rock instrumentation, in a style heavily influenced by the Beatles and other British Invasion bands. The term folk rock
11115-400: The player to more easily control volume changes than through using the guitar's volume control knob. Kama Sutra Records issued "Daydream" as a single in the United States in February 1966. The song furthered speculation from the press and public about a link between the Spoonful and drug use, fueled by the lyrics' use of the term "dream", which by 1966 was sometimes used to connote
11232-487: The possibility of the single succeeding in the pop charts, but they hoped it could become a crossover hit in the country music market. The band's record label, Kama Sutra Records , were similarly skeptical of the single's chances; as a hedge, they opted to add "Full Measure" – a song more suggestive of psychedelia – as the B-side. Kama Sutra issued "Nashville Cats" as a single in the U.S. in late November 1966 , simultaneously with
11349-487: The release of the album on which it appeared, Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful . The single exceeded expectations and became a Top Ten hit; on December 17, 1966, it entered Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart, and it peaked six weeks later at number eight. Since October 1965, the band had had six singles enter the Hot 100, and "Nashville Cats" was their seventh and final single to do so. Kama Sutra issued "Nashville Cats" in
11466-440: 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 25 July 1965, where he
11583-411: The song in around twenty minutes. Sebastian initially hoped to compose a song like the Supremes' 1964 singles " Baby Love " and " Where Did Our Love Go ", both of which he thought had a " straight eighth feel". Employing a "trick figure" he had devised months earlier to play the songs on guitar, his arrangement of "Baby Love" for a single guitar transformed into "Daydream". The song employs swing ,
11700-427: The song owes much to the jug band tradition, adding that the lyrics, which describe a love-fueled bliss boosted by beautiful weather, seem almost ad-libbed by Sebastian. Unterberger writes that, when paired with the song's bright melody and lyrics, the arrangement morphs the number into a pop song. The author James E. Perone also characterizes it as pop music, and the critic Paul Nelson considers it, alongside
11817-488: The song sounded both "corny" and "outdated" because it was so out of step with contemporary trends, but that it soon proved unforgettable after repeat listens. The critic for the Liverpool Echo wrote that with the new single, the Spoonful "may be heralding a new era for pop music." In the pop music scene, where " feed-back " has become a fetish and electronic distortion a trademark of hit songs, there emerges "Daydream,"
11934-752: The song was both popular and good, and he expected it to be another top ten hit for the band. The review panel for Billboard similarly predicted "Daydream" would equal the success of the Spoonful's most recent single, "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice", which reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1966. The review panel for Record World called "Daydream" "wonderful", writing that it managed to sound both contemporary and "oldtime" simultaneously. Among British critics, Derek Johnson of New Musical Express described "Daydream" as both "tuneful and pleasantly hummable", but also "not very meaty and maybe
12051-400: The sounds of rock with their pre-existing folk repertoire, adopting the use of electric instrumentation and drums in a way previously discouraged in the U.S. folk community. The term "folk rock" was initially used in the U.S. music press in June 1965 to describe the Byrds' music. The commercial success of the Byrds' cover version of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man " and their debut album of
12168-673: The start of 1966, however, the group had begun to move away from folk rock and into the new musical frontier of psychedelic rock . The folk rock sound of the Byrds has continued to influence many bands over the years, including Big Star , Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers , R.E.M. , the Long Ryders , the Smiths , the Bangles , the Stone Roses , and Teenage Fanclub , among others. Five days before
12285-489: The template for a flood of "collegiate folk" groups between 1958 and 1962. At roughly the same time as these "collegiate folk" vocal groups came to national prominence, a second group of urban folk revivalists, influenced by the music and guitar picking styles of folk and blues artist such as Woody Guthrie , Lead Belly , Brownie McGhee , and Josh White , also came to the fore. Many of these urban revivalists were influenced by recordings of traditional American music from
12402-406: The top spot in Canada. On Billboard 's 1966 Year-End singles chart , "Daydream" ranked number 38, one of three singles by the Spoonful to make the chart. The song's success expanded the band's popularity such that they were able to headline their concerts rather than perform as a support act. "Daydream" became a major international hit. Before the single's release in early 1966,
12519-419: The two British groups that were arguably the most influential on the development of folk rock were the Animals and the Searchers . The Animals released a rock interpretation of the traditional folk song " The House of the Rising Sun " in the U.S. in August 1964. The song reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and stayed there for three weeks, selling over a million copies in just five weeks in
12636-496: Was also influential in developing Celtic rock during the late 1960s, with his albums The Hurdy Gurdy Man , Barabajagal , and Open Road , the latter of which actually featured a song entitled "Celtic Rock". The subgenre was further popularised in 1973 by Thin Lizzy , who had a hit with " Whiskey in the Jar ", a traditional Irish song performed entirely in the rock idiom. Throughout
12753-541: Was backed by an electric band, was also a pivotal moment in the development of the genre. During the late 1960s in Britain and Europe, a distinct, eclectic British folk rock style was created by Pentangle , Fairport Convention and Alan Stivell . Inspired by British psychedelic folk and the North American style of folk rock, British folk rock bands began to incorporate elements of traditional British folk music into their repertoire, leading to other variants, including
12870-463: Was coined in the June 12, 1965, issue of the American music magazine Billboard by the journalist Eliot Siegel. Siegel used the term principally to describe the music of the Byrds, who had issued their debut album in the U.S. that month. In the same article, he wrote that Billy J. Kramer , Jackie DeShannon and Sonny & Cher had all started incorporating "folk-oriented material on singles", and he listed Rising Sons , Joe and Eddie and
12987-453: Was initially inspired by the music of the Supremes , with whom the Spoonful were then touring, and the final composition relates to his earliest influences in jug band music. The following month, during a break from their busy touring schedule, the Spoonful recorded the song at Bell Sound Studios in New York City. Among the instruments on the finished recording are a honky-tonk piano and four differently textured guitars, one of which uses
13104-661: Was inspired by her love of Bob Dylan's folk songwriting and represents one of the first attempts by an American artist to absorb folk sensibilities into rock music. In the UK, the folk group the Springfields (featuring Dusty Springfield ) had been releasing folk-oriented material featuring full band arrangements since the early 1960s, including renditions of " Lonesome Traveler ", " Allentown Jail ", and " Silver Threads and Golden Needles ". Although these records owed more to orchestral pop than rock, they were nonetheless influential on up-and-coming folk rock musicians on both sides of
13221-502: Was not deliberately created; it evolved organically out of some of the band members' own folk music roots and their desire to emulate the Beatles. The band's folk influences, lack of experience with rock music forms, and Beatleseque instrumentation all combined to color both their self-penned material and their folk derived repertoire. The band themselves soon realized that there was something unique about their music and, with Dickson's encouragement, they began to actively attempt to bridge
13338-419: Was not strictly a folk song, "I'll Never Find Another You" was heavily influenced by Peter, Paul and Mary and featured a cyclical, twelve-string guitar part that sounded similar to the guitar style that Jim McGuinn of the Byrds would popularize later that same year. There are also a few antecedents to folk rock present in pre-British Invasion American rock 'n' roll, including Elvis Presley 's 1954 cover of
13455-438: Was not until 1956 and the advent of the skiffle craze that the British folk revival crossed over into the mainstream and connected with British youth culture. Skiffle renewed popularity of folk music forms in Britain and led directly to the progressive folk movement and the attendant British folk club scene . Among the leading lights of the progressive folk movement were Bert Jansch and John Renbourn , who would later form
13572-656: Was obvious. And it started me thinking about other people. Beginning in 1964 and lasting until roughly 1966, a wave of British beat groups, including the Beatles , the Rolling Stones , the Dave Clark Five , Gerry & the Pacemakers , the Kinks , and Herman's Hermits amongst others, dominated the U.S. music charts. These groups were all heavily influenced by American rock 'n' roll , blues , and R&B —musical genres they had been introduced to via homegrown British rock 'n' roll singers, imported American records , and
13689-618: Was released in 1991 and would be considered a thrash metal album with some folk influences, unlike Cruachan's early work which embraced the folk element as a defining part of their sound. It was not until 1994 and 1995 that other early contributors in the genre began to emerge from different regions of Europe and beyond. Among these early groups, the German band Subway to Sally spearheaded a different regional variation that over time became known as medieval metal . Despite their contributions, folk metal remained little known with few representatives during
#452547