The Byrds
Jingle-jangle to Sweetheart of the Rodeo in five short years.
The Byrds invented folk-rock with a 12-string Rickenbacker, then — with Gram Parsons in tow — invented country-rock with 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' (1968). Without that single pivot the entire Americana shelf doesn't exist. Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Gene Clark, David Crosby: each one a node in the family tree of everything after.
- Bob Dylan
- The Beatles
- Buck Owens
- Gram Parsons
- The Flying Burrito Brothers
- Crosby, Stills & Nash
Pull the thread
USA · 1944 — 1997
Townes Van Zandt
The patron saint of the kitchen-table songwriters.
USA · 1953 — present
Lucinda Williams
Louisiana made audible.
USA · 1978 — present
Sturgill Simpson
Walked into Nashville with a haircut and an attitude.
USA · 1991 — present
Tyler Childers
Appalachia, unfiltered and unembarrassed.
USA · 1988 — present
Sierra Ferrell
Sings like she found the songs in a creek bed.
USA · 1984 — present
Charley Crockett
Keeps the bones, throws out the gristle.
USA · 1979 — present
Jason Isbell
Wrote 'Southeastern' and meant it.
USA · 1983 — present
Margo Price
Outlaw country with a working-class spine.