Country Blues & Country Rock (Southern Rock)

Country & Western have fused with different genres quite successfully to create new popular genres. We will look at Country Blues and Country Rock.

Country Blues

Crossroads in Music (p. 225) explains that “the use of country instrumentation and country-style lyrics” combined with blues music “led to the term ‘country blues.’”
An example of an artist performing in this style is Stevie Ray Vaughan. Crossroads in Music (p. 225) mentions that Vaughan “developed a guitar performance style that was a unique blend of blues, jazz, rock, and country, a blend that audiences found to be very exciting. The Rolling Stone Magazine listed Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in their list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Stevie Ray Vaughan is another guitarist that died young – he was killed in a helicopter crash.

Listen to “Texas Flood” below:



Country Rock / Southern Rock

Country Rock is a blend of rock ‘n roll, country music, and some blues elements. It is also sometimes referred to as “Southern Rock.” One example of Southern Rock would be Creedence Clearwater Revival. Here is “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”


Listen to Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long.” Kid Rock, who has won five Grammy awards, performs in different genres which include hip-hop, heavy metal, rock, blues rock, as well as country music. He is known as a "crossover" artist. “Crossover” is a term used to describe music or artists that is difficult to define, as one can label them within more than one genre. How would you label "All Summer Long"?



Another “crossover” artist is Sheryl Crow. She mixes Rock, Country-styles, and pop. One of her most famous songs is “If It Makes You Happy.”



Listen to this beautiful duet “Picture” by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. This song is clearly influenced by Country & Western, and, as is typical of the genre, it tells a story.



An important feature of country rock (which influenced how typical rock music is written as well) is the verse-chorus form. "In this form, each statement of the chorus (also called "refrain") repeats the same words, but each statement of the verse (also called "stanza") has different words. Most often these verses are used to tell a story or to provide additional information about a topic" (Crossroads in Music, p. 217).