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 Buffalo Springfield, Michael Nesmith, Bob Dylan, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Byrds, 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.
Christopher Hillman is an American musician. He was the original bassist of and one of the original members of the Byrds, which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby and Michael Clarke.
Clarence White was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds, as well as for being a pioneer of the musical genre of country rock during the late 1960s.
Bernie Leadon is an American singer, musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of three country rock bands: Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles.
The Dillards are an American progressive bluegrass and country rock band from Salem, Missouri. The band is best known for introducing bluegrass music into the popular mainstream with their appearance as "The Darlings" on The Andy Griffith Show.
The Desert Rose Band was an American country rock band from Los Angeles, California, founded in 1985 by Chris Hillman, with Herb Pedersen and John Jorgenson. The original lineup included Bill Bryson on bass guitar, JayDee Maness on pedal steel guitar, and Steve Duncan on drums. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band charted several hit singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts until disbanding in February 1994.
Dillard & Clark was a country rock duo which featured ex-Byrds member Gene Clark and bluegrass banjo player Doug Dillard.
Through the Morning, Through the Night is the second and final album from the country rock duo Dillard & Clark, released in 1969.
Linda Ronstadt is the third solo studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in early 1972 on the Capitol Records label. The album was a sales failure, prompting Linda's exit from Capitol Records. It peaked at number 163 on Billboard's Pop Album Chart and at number 35 on Billboard's Country Album Chart. It is considered to be a front-runner in the country rock music genre.
The Kentucky Colonels were a bluegrass band that was popular during the American folk music revival of the early 1960s. Formed in Burbank, California in 1954, the group released two albums, The New Sound of Bluegrass America (1963) and Appalachian Swing! (1964). The band featured the influential bluegrass guitarist Clarence White, who was largely responsible for making the acoustic guitar a lead instrument within bluegrass, and who later went on to join the Los Angeles rock band the Byrds. The Kentucky Colonels disbanded in late 1965, with two short-lived reunions taking place in 1966 and 1973.
Back Porch Bluegrass is the debut album by American band the Dillards, released in 1963. "Dooley" and "Duelin' Banjo" were released as singles.
Pickin' & Fiddlin' is the third album by American band the Dillards, recorded with up and coming fiddle player Byron Berline. The album is entirely instrumental, with no vocals. The group had been unhappy with Elektra because they felt pressure from the company not to innovate, as they were beginning to do, and because they felt that Elektra was not doing enough to promote their records. The Dillards chose to record a strictly traditional album with Berline, a friend of the group, because they owed Elektra one more album. Rodney later stated, "That wasn't a record made for anyone but the traditionals. We got completely hacked to pieces by them. So we said, 'Okay, screw you guys, we'll make an album, and we'll play it right up your ass!,' so we did."
Copperfields is the fifth album by American band the Dillards. Further distancing themselves from traditional bluegrass music, the album draws from bluegrass, rock, folk and country music, with prominent orchestra and increased use of drums, electric bass guitar and electric guitar on "Brother John". Herb Pederson, who replaced Doug Dillard starting with Wheatstraw Suite, assumes a more prominent role on this album, writing more songs, contributing more vocals and appearing more prominently on the album cover.
Tribute to the American Duck is the seventh album by American band the Dillards. Released only a year after Roots and Branches,Tribute features the same lineup and a country rock sound. Billy Ray Latham's electric guitar features on "Caney Creek", and rock influences are evident in the song writing and cover choice. The album features a re-recorded version of "Dooley" from the Dillards' debut, Back Porch Bluegrass.
The New Seldom Scene Album is an album by the progressive bluegrass Maryland band The Seldom Scene.
Live...Almost!!! is the second album by American band the Dillards, recorded live at The Mecca, Los Angeles, in front of a clearly appreciative audience. The Dillards perform with a lot of spirit, warmth and enjoyment, which seems to have been their usual approach: "There isn't a song that the Dillards do that they don't thoroughly enjoy, and they do them with equal enthusiasm on the back porch, or in concert before five thousand people".
James Dickson was born in Los Angeles, California, son of a diesel engineer in the United States Navy. He was an avid sailor as a teenager, and enlisted in the United States Army in 1946 before he embarked on a career in the recording industry as a self-taught record producer and band manager. Before producing the first Elektra Records Bluegrass records he produced his first record, an LP on his own label, Vaya. He eventually sold the rights of Lord Buckley's 1955 album Hipsters, Flipsters and Finger Poppin' Daddies, Knock Me Your Lobes to Elektra and it was in print for another 25 years. Jim Dickson was the lone individual behind Elektra Records Los Angeles Bluegrass albums. In 1962 he produced his first bluegrass record for Elektra called Dian and the Greenbriar Boys by the Greenbriar Boys and a Hollywood country singer, Dian James. While working on the collaboration between Greenbriar Boys and Dian James, Dickson discovered the Dillards and with the help of Ralph Rinzler convinced Elektra Records that they were a good Bluegrass group. He went on to produce three of their records, 1963's Back Porch Bluegrass, 1964's Live!!!! Almost!!! and 1965's Pickin' and Fiddlin' which featured fiddler, Byron Berline. Rosenberg notes that Pickin' and Fiddlin' "was unlike any previous bluegrass album; it was an LP of old-time fiddle music played to bluegrass backing." Dickson was behind was the first ever recording of a Bob Dylan song by a bluegrass band, The Dillards recording of Bob Dylan's "Walkin' Down the Line" on their 1964 album Live!!!! Almost!!!
Bernie Leadon is an American musician and songwriter. In addition to his solo album and recordings with Eagles, Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, he has been featured as a performer and composer on many albums by other artists.
Douglas Flint Dillard was an American musician noted for his banjo proficiency and his pioneering participation in late-60s country rock.
Doug Dillard is an American bluegrass banjo player. In addition to his solo albums and recordings with the Dillards and Dillard & Clark, he has been featured as a performer and composer on numerous albums by other artists.
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