Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most successful and widely known rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals, as well as her "electric" stage presence.
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term "rockabilly" itself is a portmanteau of "rock" and "hillbilly", the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues.
Cowpunk is a subgenre of punk rock that began in the United Kingdom and Southern California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or new wave with country, folk, and blues in its sound, lyrical subject matter, attitude, and style. Examples include Social Distortion, The Gun Club, The Long Ryders, Dash Rip Rock, Violent Femmes, The Blasters, Mojo Nixon, Meat Puppets, The Beat Farmers, Rubber Rodeo, Rank and File, and Jason and the Scorchers. Many of the musicians in this scene subsequently became associated with alternative country, roots rock or Americana.
Screamin' Sirens was an American all-female band from Hollywood, California that recorded from 1983 to 1987. The band combined country music, punk rock, rockabilly and a dash of funk to create an eclectic wild party music. Screamin' Sirens predated what is usually referred to as alternative country, but influenced that subgenre's development.
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After some initial personnel changes, the band became well known with the lineup of vocalist Janis Joplin, guitarists Sam Andrew and James Gurley, bassist Peter Albin, and drummer Dave Getz. Their second album Cheap Thrills, released in 1968, is considered one of the masterpieces of the psychedelic sound of San Francisco; it reached number one on the Billboard charts, and was ranked number 338 in Rolling Stone's the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album is also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Asleep at the Wheel is an American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception, released over twenty albums, and has charted more than 21 singles on the Billboard country charts. Their highest-charting single, "The Letter That Johnny Walker Read", peaked at No. 10 in 1975.
Wanda LaVonne Jackson is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, recording a series of 1950s singles that helped give her the nickname "The Queen of Rockabilly". She is also counted among the first female stars in the genre of country music.
Kathryn Valentine is an American musician who is the bassist for the rock band the Go-Go's. She has maintained a career in music through songwriting, recording, performing and touring as well as additional academic and creative pursuits. Valentine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in October 2021 as a member of The Go-Go's.
Douglas Wayne Sahm was an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in San Antonio, Texas. Sahm is regarded as one of the main figures of Tex-Mex music, and as an important performer of Texan Music. He gained fame along with his band, the Sir Douglas Quintet, with a top-twenty hit in the United States and the United Kingdom with "She's About a Mover" (1965). Sahm was influenced by the San Antonio music scene that included conjunto and blues, and later by the hippie scene of San Francisco. With his blend of music, he found success performing in Austin, Texas, as the hippie counterculture soared in the 1970s.
The Beat Farmers were an American rock band that formed in San Diego, California, United States, in August 1983, and enjoyed a cult following into the early 1990s before the death of drummer and sometime lead singer Country Dick Montana. Their music has been described as an amalgamation of jangle pop, roots rock, hard-twang Americana, country rock, rockabilly, and swamp rock. The San Diego Reader summed up their sound as ..."like Bo Diddley, CCR, Joe South, and the Yardbirds, ham fisted into a food processor, stuffed into a shotgun shell, and blasted into a beer keg at three in the morning."
Daniel John Baird is an American singer-songwriter, musician and producer. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist from the 1980s rock band The Georgia Satellites. Baird formed The Georgia Satellites in 1980 and left the band in 1990 to pursue a solo career. He is often credited as one of the pioneers in cowpunk and alt-country music, which combines elements of rock music, country music, outlaw country, and punk rock.
Raymond Charles Campi was an American singer, musician and songwriter, nicknamed "The Rockabilly Rebel". He first recorded in the mid-1950s. Campi's trademark was his white double bass, which he often jumped on top of and "rode" while playing. He was a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Dash Rip Rock is an American rock band. The band is best known for its cowpunk sound, which mixes punk rock, rockabilly, hard rock, country and boogie. The New York Times stated that Dash Rip Rock combines “fluency in American roots music with a robust dose of punk-rock spirit.” Bill Davis, Dash Rip Rock's founder and frontman, is a songwriter known for his blistering guitar work. Spin praised Dash Rip Rock as “undeniably the South’s greatest rock band.” In 2012, Dash Rip Rock was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
Janis Darlene Martin was an American rockabilly and country music singer. She was one of the few women working in the male-dominated rock and roll music field during the 1950s and one of country music's early female innovators. Martin was nicknamed the Female Elvis for her dance moves on stage, similar to those of Elvis Presley.
Pete Anderson is an American guitarist, music producer, arranger and songwriter.
Rank and File was an American country rock band established in 1981 in Austin, Texas by brothers Chip Kinman and Tony Kinman, who had been members of the seminal California punk rock band The Dils. The band were forerunners in combining the musical rawness and Do It Yourself punk aesthetic with the style and ambience of country and western music, helping to create a subgenre known as cowpunk. After releasing three albums, the band terminated in 1987.
Tex & the Horseheads is an American punk rock band, which emerged in the Los Angeles punk subculture of the early-1980. Their original run was from 1980 to 1986 and during this time they enjoyed a sizeable cult following. As of 2007, the band has reunited and tours the Los Angeles area sporadically.
Bill Davis is an American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is the founder, lead guitarist, and lead vocalist of the rock band Dash Rip Rock, and a member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Davis founded Dash Rip Rock in 1984 and is often credited as a pioneer of cowpunk, a genre that combines country and punk rock, but Davis has said in interviews that he considers his music to be widely roots-based. His work has been inspired by a variety of styles, including rock, country, power pop, punk, soul and, at times, Cajun.
Rosie Flores is an American singer, songwriter and musician. Her discography consists of 13 studio albums, 2 compilations, and 9 singles. In addition, she has been featured as a performer and composer on numerous albums by other artists.
Heart Trouble is a studio album by American recording artist Wanda Jackson. It was released on October 14, 2003 via CMH Records and contained 16 tracks. The disc was Jackson's forty first studio release of her career and her first disc released in the United States in a decade. The album was a mixture of rockabilly and country recordings, featuring collaborations with musicians Elvis Costello, The Cramps and Rosie Flores. Heart Trouble received a positive response from critics following its release.
