Country is a genre of popular music that originated with blues, old-time music, and various types of American folk music including Appalachian, Cajun, Creole, and the cowboy Western music styles of New Mexico, Red Dirt, Tejano, and Texas country. Its popularized roots originate in the Southern and Southwestern United States of the early 1920s.
William Smith Monroe was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the "Father of Bluegrass".
Traditional pop is Western popular music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards or American standards. The works of these songwriters and composers are usually considered part of the canon known as the "Great American Songbook". More generally, the term "standard" can be applied to any popular song that has become very widely known within mainstream culture.
Country rock is a subgenre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal styles, and additional instrumentation, most characteristically pedal steel guitars. Country rock began with artists like Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers, The International Submarine Band and others, reaching its greatest popularity in the 1970s with artists such as Emmylou Harris, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Nesmith, Poco, Charlie Daniels Band, and Pure Prairie League. Country rock also influenced artists in other genres, including the Band, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones, and George Harrison's solo work, as well as playing a part in the development of Southern rock.
The story of Tennessee's contribution to American music is essentially the story of three cities: Nashville, Memphis, and Bristol. While Nashville is most famous for its status as the long-time capital of country music, Bristol is recognized as the "Birthplace of Country Music". Memphis musicians have had an enormous influence on blues, early rock and roll, R&B, and soul music, as well as an increasing presence in rap.
Michael Peter Hayes, known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind scores of hit singles for acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate, Arrows, Racey, and the Jeff Beck Group, often issued on his own RAK Records label.
The Nashville Teens are an English rock band, formed in Surrey in 1962. They are best known for their 1964 hit single "Tobacco Road", a top 10 UK hit and a top 20 hit in the United States.
Roots rock is rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid subgenres from the later 1960s including blues rock, country rock, Southern rock, and swamp rock which have been seen as responses to the perceived excesses of dominant psychedelic and developing progressive rock. Because roots music (Americana) is often used to mean folk and world musical forms, roots rock is sometimes used in a broad sense to describe any rock music that incorporates elements of this music. In the 1980s, roots rock enjoyed a revival in response to trends in punk rock, new wave and heavy metal music.
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances. Session musicians are usually not permanent members of a musical ensemble or band. They work behind the scenes and rarely achieve individual fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders. However, top session musicians are well known within the music industry, and some have become publicly recognized, such as the Wrecking Crew, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and The Funk Brothers who worked with Motown Records.
John D. Loudermilk Jr. was an American singer and songwriter. Although he had his own recording career during the 1950s and 1960s, he was primarily known as a songwriter. His best-known songs include "Indian Reservation", a 1968 UK cover by Don Fardon and a 1971 U.S. No. 1 hit for Paul Revere & the Raiders; "Ebony Eyes", a 1961 U.K. No. 1 and U.S. No. 8 for the Everly Brothers; "Tobacco Road", a 1964 Top 20 hit in both the U.S. and the U.K. for the Nashville Teens; "This Little Bird", a U.K. No. 6 for Marianne Faithfull in 1965, and "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", a U.S. Top Ten hit in 1967 for the Casinos and also a U.S. No. 1 country hit for Eddy Arnold the following year.
James Henry Martin was an American bluegrass musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass".
Progressive country is a subgenre of country music developed in the early 1970s. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, mainstream country music was dominated by the slick Nashville sound and the rock-influenced Bakersfield sound of artists like Merle Haggard. A new generation of country artists emerged, influenced by contemporary rock music, singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, and the liberal politics of the 1960s counterculture.
John Christopher Hawken is an English keyboard player. He studied classical piano between the ages of four and eighteen before acquiring a taste for rock and roll. Hawken's first band was the Cruisers Rock Combo but he is possibly best known for his contributions to various versions of The Nashville Teens. He was then a founding member of Renaissance in 1969.
Fred F. Carter Jr. was an American guitarist, singer, producer and composer.
Colin Roy Pattenden is an English bass guitarist, chiefly known for his membership of Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
Be My Guest is a 1965 British black and white musical film. It was filmed at Pinewood Studios, England. The film is notable for the appearances of Steve Marriott and Jerry Lee Lewis. It was released as a B movie to support the Morecambe and Wise feature film The Intelligence Men.
Colin Ernest "Barry" Jenkins is an English musician, who is best known for being a drummer for The Animals during both of that 1960s group's incarnations.
James E. "Buzz" Cason is an American rock singer, songwriter, record producer, and author.
This article includes an overview of the events and trends in popular music in the 1960s.
Richard Leonard 'Len' Tuckey is an English musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Tuckey was the guitarist for The Chasers and The Riot Squad before joining the Nashville Teens, and came to prominence in the early 1970s as the lead guitarist for Suzi Quatro. He is credited as the co-writer of many of Quatro's songs, including hits such as "Mama's Boy".
