Americana is one of those slippery things to define. It is a blend of country, folk, rock, blues, and soul, all mixed together in a way that is both historical and new. If you have ever been curious about the people who put the genre together in the first place, here is a list of the 10 most influential artists, one after another, not only their names but also the characteristics that the music and the roots of the genre have been affected by.
10. Rhiannon Giddens – The Innovator
Rhiannon Giddens proves that the point of origin is not the only concern of the music. The past is important; however, the reinterpretation of the tradition is necessary for the present. With her multicultural background and a career where she has been performing both solo and with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, she’s revived old-time music while busting the myth that Americana is a single-culture, one-trick genre. Giddens’ musical skills prove that the future of roots music is more diverse and richer than ever.
9. The Grateful Dead – The Cosmic Cowboys
While being known for psychedelic jams and tie-dye atmospherics, the Dead also recorded two of the groundbreaking records of Americana in secrecy: Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty (both 1970). By integrating folk, country, and bluegrass with their rock DNA, they allowed the existence of both jam bands and roots revivalists. Their acoustic escapades have become a milestone for those artists who prefer to combine the established and the experimental traditions.
8. Emmylou Harris – The Guardian Angel
Emmylou Harris has, for over half a century, been a significant and vibrant presence in the American songbook. Her association with Gram Parsons in her formative years was just the prelude to her brilliant solo career. Her pure voice has always been the vehicle for the lyricism of roots music that brought her followers in thousands. By choosing to work with songwriters such as Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt at one time and then reinventing her image with the atmospheric Wrecking Ball, Harris has been both a custodian and a transformer of tradition.
7. Wilco – The Experimenters
Wilco started as a rugged alt-country band, but soon their journey made them one of the most unconventional contemporary Americana bands. Their Yankee Hotel Foxtrot(2002) was such an album that no one could have expected it to be a mixture of roots songcraft with noise, electronics, and pop hooks. Their willingness to experiment even on the borderlines of genre has allowed a whole generation of indie and alt-country bands not to hesitate to experiment while keeping their roots untouched.
6. Lucinda Williams – The Truth Teller
Lucinda Williams has an uncompromising style. With her rough voice and poetic lyrics, she has effectively combined blues, folk, and country into a raw and honest album like Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. The power of Williams and her determination not to fall into the trap of Nashville made it possible for several female singer-songwriters to break through the wall of the mainstream with their truth, rage, and vulnerability in Americana.
5. Steve Earle – The Outlaw Mentor
Steve Earle is partly a troubadour, partly a rebel, and completely a human. He took lessons from Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark and then expanded with works like Guitar Town and Copperhead Road to combine the narratives of folk with a rock-and-roll swirl. His awareness of social issues and unflagging inventiveness have crowned him as a lighthouse to the young artists who are trying to merge tradition with rebellion in roots music.
4. Neil Young – The Chameleon
Neil Young has never been one to stay put in one direction. He has always challenged the boundaries of folk, country, and rock, whether he was the frontman for Buffalo Springfield, touring with Crosby, Stills & Nash, or a solo artist. Americana very much owes its roots to albums such as Harvest and After the Gold Rush, but this is not even the main reason why he is considered a model of versatility in the genre; it is rather because of his constant transformation from soft ballads to grunge.
3. The Band – The Mythmakers
The members of The Band were not all, at least not completely, Americans, but no band represented the musical soul of the USA more than The Band. Besides Music from Big Pink and The Band, they were essentially making music based on the folklore, gospel, and country traditions of the times. Their excellent storytelling—think “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” made people wonder what Americana could sound like: music that was both old and new, timeless and timely at once.
2. Stephen Stills – The Shape-Shifter
Unlike the archetypal loud character of the genre, Stephen Stills is a rather mellow giant of Americana, who rarely leaves out folk, country, and blues from his works. The productions of Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash (and sometimes Young), and particularly Manassas were albums that were hard to describe as a certain style. His instrumental and lyrical skills spread over various genres like a ripple, and thus, he remains one of the most stylistically diverse writers of Americana.
1. The Byrds – The Founding Fathers
The Byrds did everything first. Their 12-string jangle not only created folk-rock with Dylan covers, but every band that followed pretty much had the opportunity to take the psychedelic or country direction, or merge the two and find an Americana influence. Their genre-busting approach, from psychedelia to bluegrass, was the basis of Americana as a playground for redefinition. It is without The Byrds that the genre would be radically different, if it even still existed.
Honorable Mention: The Long Ryders
Although they are not among the top 10, The Long Ryders deserve a shout-out. Their 1984 debut, Native Sons, combined elements of traditional roots rock and the emerging Americana scene, and bands like Uncle Tupelo and The Jayhawks were heavily influenced by them. They still make music (Psychedelic Country Soul, September November) that enlightens the genre like they did back then, no compromising on the quality of the genre.
The Long Ryders were not just musicians; they were the ones who redefined American roots music with their new conceptualization. Collectively, they brought to life the massive, genre-bending house we know as Americana, and the new-coming artists are still there. Whether you are a longtime die-hard or just a newbie, these are the inevitable milestones.