The Smiley Smile Message Board

Who fired the first shot in the 60s Americana-In-Pop-Music movement?  Was it Dylan/The Band?  The Byrds?  The Beach Boys?    

I know that The Basement Tapes were recorded in 67, and of course SMiLE was recorded in 66/67, but neither of these had official releases at the time (though "Heroes and Villains" appeared on Smiley Smile, of course).  Buffalo Springfield's first album came out in 67 too, I believe. 

I suck at starting threads.

It's a good thread. I think that Dylan was always contributing to Americana from the first album. But I think we start seeing it in the pop world with people like The Byrds in 1965, particularly their second album with songs by Pete Seeger, Dylan, Stephen Foster, and songs like He Was a Friend of Mine.

an interesting topic and one I consider quite often.

I would put Brian (and Van) at the forefront of Americana or at least original Americana. but really, I think The Beach Boys in general are about as Americana as it gets.

similar to Americana music, though not quite the same is country-rock. It's a hard thing to define. Did it start with Elvis, who was labelled a country artist to begin with? or even earlier with Hank Williams, Bob Wills, etc...? honky-tonk and western swing music have many of the same elements as rock'n'roll. Then you had rock'n'roll artists like the Everly Brothers recording an album of rock-infused country songs. Or country guys like Buck Owens who recorded Chuck Berry songs and had his own songs recorded by The Beatles and other rock groups.

still, most folks consider The Byrds or Bob Dylan or maybe Gram Parsons or Gene Clark as the originators of country-rock. I can accept this belief, because I differentiate between what I consider the country-rock of The Byrds, Dylan, etc. and the country rock'n'roll of the Everlys, Buck Owens, and so on.

getting back to Americana sounds and themes being introduced into rock and pop formats, I think SMiLE is the greatest and one of the earliest examples. of course it wasn't actually released, but does that matter in the end? regardless, Heroes and Villains is a worthy contender all by itself.

The Americana concepts that SMiLE was exploring seem to be a very natural progression from the themes that the BBs were writing about in the early days. It really seems like a more grown-up version of the band they used to be, and I see an absolute continuity in what Brian (via VDP’s lyrics) was trying to achieve. The band had early on been established as a very American-themed band, and SMiLE was artfully trying to bust open the American (and Californian) myth more than a bit.

Just 4 short years earlier the same band who was releasing “Ten Little Indians” as a single was now singing about the horrors the Indians dealt with at the hands of Americans. It’s brilliant in terms of thematic continuity and artistic maturation.

That's fantastic. I'd never thought of it quite like that before, as far as it being a more mature version of their early stuff.

Chuck Berry

Johnny Horton?

Edit: VDP credited Marty Robbins with being an influence on his work on H&V.

Is it just me or is this edit/modify function suddenly weird?

The "Americana" I'm referring to--at least as it exists in my mind!--was a sort of trend that occurred in pop music in the mid to late 60s.  Suddenly it was hip to look like somebody who just blew in from the Dust Bowl!  Rather than (or in addition to) beads and flowers, it was boots, leather vests, bandanas, etc.

I was listening to Buffalo Springfield recently and it sounds to me like there is a very definite SMiLE influence on tracks like "Broken Arrow" and "Expecting To Fly."  Makes me wonder how widespread boots of the SMiLE stuff were circulating even then. 

I get your distinction but at the time Horton and Robbins were being played on the Top 40 stations and charting quite well.

I was familiar with Marty Robbins, but not so much Johnny Horton.  Wow!  Talk about laying the template, at least in terms of subject matter!  "Johnny Reb," "North To Alaska," "Cherokee Boogie"...all could easily be titles of The Band songs.  "Whispering Pines" IS one!