Americana (also known asAmerican roots music)^[1] is a mixture ofAmerican music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musicalethos of the United States of America, with particular emphasis on music historically developed in theAmerican South.

The term "Americana music" was defined by theAmericana Music Association (AMA) in 2020 as "…the rich threads ofcountry,folk,blues,soul,bluegrass,gospel, androck in our tapestry."^[2] A previous 2016 AMA definition of the genre includedrhythm and blues, with additional comments that Americana music results "in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses a full electric band."^[3]

The origins of Americana music can be traced back to the early 20th century, when rural American musicians began incorporating elements of folk, blues, and country music into their songs.^[4] Americana musicians often played acoustic instruments such as theguitar,banjo,fiddle, andupright bass, and their songs typically told stories about the struggles and hardships of everyday life.^[5]

The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. The folk revival in New York City was rooted in the resurgent interest insquare dancing and folk dancing there in the 1940s as espoused by instructors such asMargot Mayo, which gave musicians such asPete Seeger popular exposure.^[6][7][8] The folk revival more generally as a popular and commercial phenomenon begins with the career ofThe Weavers, formed in November 1948 byPete Seeger,Lee Hays,Fred Hellerman, andRonnie Gilbert ofPeople's Songs, of which Seeger had been president and Hays executive secretary.

The Kingston Trio, a group originating on the West Coast, were directly inspired by the Weavers in their style and presentation and covered some of the Weavers' material, which was predominantly traditional. The Kingston Trio's popularity would be followed by that ofJoan Baez, whose debut albumJoan Baez reached the top ten in late 1960 and remained on the Billboard charts for over two years. It was not long before the folk-music category came to include less traditional material and more personal and poetic creations by individual performers, who called themselves "singer-songwriters". As a result of the financial success of high-profile commercial folk artists, record companies began to produce and distribute records by a new generation of folk revival and singer-songwritersPhil Ochs,Tom Paxton,Eric von Schmidt,Buffy Sainte-Marie,Dave Van Ronk,Judy Collins,Tom Rush,Fred Neil,Gordon Lightfoot,Billy Ed Wheeler,John Denver,John Stewart,Arlo Guthrie,Harry Chapin, andJohn Hartford, among others.

Some of this wave had emerged from family singing and playing traditions, and some had not. These singers frequently prided themselves on performing traditional material in imitations of the style of the source singers whom they had discovered, frequently by listening toHarry Smith's celebrated LP compilation of forgotten or obscure commercial 78rpm "race" and "hillbilly" recordings of the 1920s and 30s, the FolkwaysAnthology of American Folk Music (1951). A number of the artists who had made these old recordings were still very much alive and had been "rediscovered" and brought to the 1963 and 64Newport Folk Festivals. For example, traditionalistClarence Ashley introduced folk revivalists to the music of friends of his who still actively played the older music, such asDoc Watson andThe Stanley Brothers.

In the 1950s and 1960s, folk revival music began to evolve and incorporate elements of rock and roll and other popular music styles. Artists such asBob Dylan andthe Byrds began blending traditional folk and country music with electric guitars and drums, creating a new sound that came to be known asfolk rock.^[4]

On January 20, 1965, the Byrds enteredColumbia Studios inHollywood to record Bob Dylan's acoustic tune "Mr. Tambourine Man" for release as their debut single on Columbia. The full, electric rock band treatment that the Byrds and producerTerry Melcher had given the song effectively created the template for the musical subgenre offolk rock.^[9][10] McGuinn's melodic, jangling 12-string Rickenbacker guitar playing—which was heavilycompressed to produce an extremely bright andsustained tone—was immediately influential and has remained so to the present day. The single also featured another major characteristic of the band's sound: their clearharmony singing, which usually featured McGuinn and Clark inunison, with Crosby providing the high harmony.^[11] Additionally, Richie Unterberger has stated that the song's abstract lyrics took rock and pop songwriting to new heights; never before had such intellectual and literary wordplay been combined with rock instrumentation by a popular music group.^[12]

Within three months "Mr. Tambourine Man" had become the first folk rock smashhit,^[13] reaching number one on both the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 chart and theUK Singles Chart.^[14][15] The single's success initiated the folk rock boom of 1965 and 1966, during which a number of Byrds-influenced acts had hits on the American and British charts.^[12] The term "folk rock" was itself coined by the American music press to describe the band's sound in June 1965, at roughly the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man" peaked at number 1 in the U.S.^[16][17]

The commercial success of the Byrds'cover version of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and their debutalbumof the same name, along with Dylan's own recordings with rock instrumentation—on the albumsBringing It All Back Home (1965),Highway 61 Revisited (1965), andBlonde on Blonde (1966)—encouraged other folk acts, such asSimon & Garfunkel, to use electric backing on their records and new groups, such asBuffalo Springfield, to form. Dylan's controversial appearance at theNewport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965, where he wasbacked by an electric band, was also a pivotal moment in the development of the genre.

In the 1990s, the term ‘alternative country’—mirroring the rise of alternative rock—emerged to describe a diverse group of artists working outside the norms and commercial structures of mainstream country music. Many eschewed the increasingly polished production values and pop sensibilities of theNashville-dominated industry for a morelo-fi sound, frequently infused with a strong punk androck and roll aesthetic. Alternative country drew on traditional American country music, the music of working people, preserved and celebrated by practitioners such asWoody Guthrie,Hank Williams, andThe Carter Family, often cited as major influences.^[18] Another major influence wascountry rock, the result of fusing country music with a rock & roll sound. The artist most commonly thought to have originated country rock isGram Parsons (who referred to his sound as "Cosmic American Music"), althoughMichael Nesmith,Steve Earle^[19] andGene Clark are frequently identified as important innovators.^[20] The third factor waspunk rock, which supplied an energy andDIY attitude.^[19]

Attempts to combine punk and country had been pioneered byNashville'sJason and the Scorchers, and in the 1980s Southern Californiancowpunk scene with bands likethe Long Ryders^[21] andX,^[22] and the Minneapolis-based bandthe Jayhawks. X signed with major labelElektra in 1982 and releasedUnder the Big Black Sun, which marked a departure from their trademark sound. While still fast and loud, with raw punk guitars, the album displayed evolving country leanings. The Scorchers released their debut,D.I.Y. EP,Reckless Country Soul, in 1982 on the independent Praxis label. But these styles merged fully inUncle Tupelo's 1990 LPNo Depression, which is widely credited as being the first "alt-country" album, and gave its name to the online notice board and eventuallymagazine that underpinned the movement.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Americana music underwent a resurgence in popularity, as a new generation of artists began incorporating elements of traditional American music into their songs. Artists such asWilco,Lucinda Williams, andGillian Welch helped to popularise a new style of Americana music that blended elements of rock, folk, country, and blues.^[23][24]

Rolling Stone notes that

"Americana" first came to fashion as a descriptive musical phrase in the mid-Nineties, when a group of radio promoters and industry outsiders dispersed throughout Nashville, California and Texas sought to carve out a distinct marketplace for a wave of traditionally minded songwriters like Guy Clark, Darrell Scott and Jim Lauderdale, artists whose work was no longer being served by a country music industry riding high on Garth Brooks and Shania Twain.^[25]

This new style of music reflected a renewed interest in traditional American music forms, and it helped to establish Americana music as a distinct and important genre in its own right.

The Americana Music Association, a not-for-profit trade organization advocating forAmerican Roots Music around the world, was formed in 1999.^[26] It is a network for Americana artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others with the goal of developing an infrastructure that will boost visibility and economic viability.

The 2010s saw several musical groups connected with Americana music finding their way on to the Billboard charts. Bands likeMumford and Sons,The Lumineers andThe Avett Brothers helped bring contemporary Americana to more people than ever before. Their popularity as artists took the genre (which was somewhat of a niche, in the shadow of country and rock) and made it mainstream.^[27]

In 2011, the genre was officially inducted into theMerriam-Webster dictionary.^[28]

In recent years, the genre has incorporated more influences from blues, R&B, and soul, in addition to the country and folk elements that have always been prominent. Alongside these musical shifts, Americana has also grown in international popularity, particularly in Europe. Notable Dutch artists such asAd Vanderveen and the groupThe Common Linnets have contributed to the genre’s expansion beyond the United States. In June 2025, Dutch singer-songwriterTuskHead was named a "One to Watch" on the Euro Americana Chart, reflecting the increasing presence of European artists within the Americana scene.^[29] In 2017Rolling Stone published an article claiming that Americana was having an "identity crisis," which focused on changing definitions and efforts to promote ethnic diversity in the genre.

In 2014, traditional country musician Dale Watson formed the Ameripolitan Music Awards, focused on the genres ofhonky tonk,outlaw,Western swing, androckabilly, on the premise that these genres can no longer be properly categorized as country or Americana, thus necessitating the creation of a new term, "Ameripolitan".

The radio station laying the best claim to the Americana radio format origins is KFAT in Gilroy, California, active from mid-1975 to January 1983, as described in the bookFat Chance,^[30] authored by Gilbert Klein in 2016 and published by MainFramePress.com. KFAT was succeeded by KHIP in Hollister CA, KPIG in Freedom CA, and Fat 99 KPHT-LP in Laytonville CA. Though some^[who?] say Americana as aradio format had its origins in 1984 onKCSN ("college radio") in Northridge, California, but that did not happen until after KFAT, Gilroy went off the air when it was sold and the format changed.

Mark Humphrey, a contributor to country/folkFrets magazine, hosted a weekly radio show called "Honky Tonk Amnesia" which played "country, folk, honky tonk, cajun, dawg, blues, and old-time music", a combination that the country music station KCSN advertised as "Americana".^[31] The format came into its own in the mid-1990s as a descriptive phrase used by radio promoters and music industry figures for traditionally-oriented songwriters and performers.

Americana type radio shows can be heard on a variety of non commercial radio stations.

• Acoustic guitar

The acoustic guitar is perhaps the most essential instrument in Americana music. It is often used to provide the rhythmic foundation of a song, as well as to accompany vocals and other instruments.^[32] In Americana music, the acoustic guitar is often playedfingerstyle, which produces a warm and organic sound that is perfect for the genre's earthy, rootsy feel.^[33]

• Banjo

The banjo is a distinctive and essential instrument in Americana music.^[34] Its bright, twangy sound is instantly recognizable and often associated withAppalachian andbluegrass music also. Banjos are often played using a technique calledclawhammer, which involves striking the strings with the back of the fingernail.^[35] The banjo adds a unique texture to Americana music, and its intricate, fast-paced playing can create a driving rhythm that propels a song forward.

• Mandolin

The mandolin is a small, stringed instrument that is commonly used infolk and bluegrass music. Its bright, high-pitched sound adds a distinctive flavor to Americana music, and its fast, intricate playing can create a lively and upbeat feel. Mandolins are often played using a technique calledtremolo, which involves rapidly picking the strings to create a sustained, shimmering sound.^[36]

• Fiddle

The fiddle is a traditional stringed instrument that is often used in Americana music.^[37] Its versatile sound can create both slow, mournful melodies and fast, lively rhythms. Fiddles are often played using a technique called "sawing," which involves rapidly moving the bow back and forth across the strings to create a driving rhythm.^[38] Fiddles can add a haunting quality to Americana music and can create a sense of nostalgia and longing.

Despite the genre's most common name, it is not practiced solely by artists from the United States, as numerous artists from Canada are also prominent in the genre.^[39] Canadian bands in the genre will sometimes be referred to asCanadiana rather than Americana in Canadian media,^[40] although this is not a widely recognized synonym elsewhere. A Norwegian scene is often referred to asNordicana.^[41]

• Americana Music Association
• Americana Radio Airplay Chart
• Twang Nation – Americana and Roots Music Blog
• Americana Music Show Podcast

• Popular music
• Americana (music)
• American folk music
• Country music genres
• Radio formats
• Retro-style music

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