Cowpunk

Cowpunk
Stylistic origins	Punk rock,[1] New Wave,[1] southern rock, roots rock, country rock
Cultural origins	Late 1970s United Kingdom and early 1980s Los Angeles
Typical instruments	Vocals - Electric guitar - Bass - Drums - Occasional use of other instruments
Mainstream popularity	Underground
Derivative forms	Alternative country
Fusion genres
Psychobilly - Gothabilly - Southern metal
Other topics
Punk rock subgenres, timeline of punk rock, timeline of alternative rock, psychobilly, swamp rock, garage rock, post-punk

Cowpunk or Country punk is a subgenre of punk rock and New Wave that began in the UK and California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New Wave with country music, folk music, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style.^[1][2] Many of the musicians in this scene have now become associated with alternative country or roots rock.

History

A 1984 New York Times article on the emerging aesthetic acknowledged cowpunk as one of several catch-all terms critics were using to categorize the country-influenced music of otherwise unrelated punk and New Wave bands. The article briefly summarized the music's history, at least in the U.S., saying that in the early 1980s, several punk and New Wave bands had begun collecting classic country records, and soon thereafter began performing high-tempo cover versions of their favorite songs, and that new bands had also formed around the idea. By 1984, there were dozens of bands in both the U.S. and England "personalizing country music and making it palatable for the MTV Generation." Examples included two UK groups—the country-tinged pop band Boothill Foot Tappers and the tongue-in-cheek New Wave outfit Yip Yip Coyote—and several U.S. bands: X, The Blasters, Meat Puppets, Rubber Rodeo (which ironically "juxtaposed countrypolitan elements and more conventional rock postures" in homage to "a pop-culture west rather than a geographic or historic one"), Rank and File (playing "an updated version of 1960s country-rock"), Jason and the Scorchers (with "authentically deep country roots"), and Violent Femmes (at that time incorporating "mountain banjo, wheezing saxophones, scraping fiddle, twanging jew's harp, and ragged vocal choruses").^[1]

Bands associated with the 1980s "Cowpunk" ethos in Los Angeles

• The Beat Farmers (1980s San Diego rock band)
• The Blasters (1980s Los Angeles rockabilly, led by Phil Alvin)
• Blood on the Saddle (1980s Los Angeles band)
• Eddie and the Subtitles (1980s Orange County band)
• Green On Red (1980s Tucson and Los Angeles, with roots in the "Paisley Underground")
• The Gun Club (1980s Los Angeles punk blues)
• The Cramps (1980s Los Angeles punk blues, psychobilly, gothabilly)
• The Knitters (1980s Los Angeles folk-rock, made up of the members of X and The Blasters)
• Lone Justice (1980s Anaheim and Los Angeles country-rock band, led by Maria McKee)
• The Long Ryders (1980s Los Angeles, with roots in "Paisley Underground")
• Los Lobos (1980s East L.A. Tex-mex/Chicano rock)
• Glen Meadmore (1980s Los Angeles)
• Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper (1980s San Diego psychobilly cowpunk)
• Rank and File (1980s San Francisco/Los Angeles new wave)
• The Rave-Ups (1980s Los Angeles)
• Social Distortion (1980s Orange County)
• Wall of Voodoo^[3]
• X (1980s Los Angeles punk, with country and rockabilly influences)^[3]

Other notable cowpunk bands and musicians

Lucero - live in concert

• 3 Daft Monkeys
• 500 Miles to Memphis
• Absolute Whores
• Andrew Jackson Jihad
• Antiseen (also considered shock rock)
• Bad Livers
• Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash
• Beck (1993 Golden Feelings era)
• Blessid Union of Souls
• Blitzen Trapper
• Bottle Rockets
• Joe Buck
• Can Kickers
• Colorfinger
• Cowboy Mouth
• The Crocketts
• D-A-D (early career)
• Dash Rip Rock
• The Dead Milkmen
• Drive-by Truckers
• E.J. Wells
• Everclear (early)
• Fake Problems
• Fifth on the Floor
• Gas Huffer
• The Gaslight Anthem
• Goober & the Peas
• Government Cheese
• Jason & the Scorchers (1980s)
• Jackals (2010 Melbourne, Australia)
• Jon Wayne (1985), (2000)
• Fred LeBlanc
• Th' Legendary Shack Shakers (1990s Nashville)
• Lucero
• Mary Prankster
• Maria McKee
• Matanza
• The Meat Puppets (1980s Arizona)
• The Mekons
• Mike Herrera's Tumbledown
• Mike Ness
• Mischief Brew
• Nashville Pussy
• Nine Pound Hammer
• Old 97's
• The Peacocks (1990, Switzerland)^[4]
• Reverend Horton Heat
• Rubber Rodeo
• Scott H. Biram
• Slim Cessna's Auto Club
• Social Distortion
• Southern Culture on the Skids
• Split Lip Rayfield
• Spurs For Jesus
• Strawfoot
• Supersuckers
• The Tower of Dudes
• The Vandals
• Hank Williams III
• The Ziggens

Secondary sources

• Einarson, John. Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001
• Haslam, Gerald W. Workin' Man Blues: Country Music in California. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999
• Wolff, Kurt. The Rough Guide to Country Music. London: Rough Guides, 2000.
• Hinton, Brian. "South By South West: A Road Map To Alternative Country" Sanctuary 2003

See also

• Alternative country
• Psychobilly
• Punk blues

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Palmer, Robert (June 10, 1984). "Young Bands Make Country Music for the MTV Generation". New York Times: p. H23. http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/10/arts/young-bands-make-country-music-for-the-mtv-generation.html. 
2. ^ Gerald Haslam, Workin' Man Blues: Country Music in California (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999) covers all of the major movements in California Country music from the Hollywood Cowboys to Country Rock. He also includes a chapter on the 1980s and the "Los Angeles renaissance" of country-styled "roots", rockabilly and cowpunk music and interviews members of The Blasters, Los Lobos, X/The Knitters, Lone Justice, Dwight Yoakam, Rosie Flores, Rank and File and The Beat Farmers. Kurt Wolff in The Rough Guide to Country Music (London: Rough Guides, 2000) also highlights chapters covering major California contributions to Country Music: Hollywood Cowboys, The Bakersfield Sound and Country Rock as well as California's contribution to Western Swing. Under chapters dealing with Dwight Yoakam and Alternative Country, Wolf mentions the influence of Los Angeles and its 1980s "roots" music scene.
3. ^ ^{a b} Taylor, Steve (2006). A to X of Alternative Music. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 276. ISBN 0826482171. http://books.google.com/books?id=KPOsu8JOHO8C&pg=PA276&lpg=PA276&dq=cowpunk+X#v=onepage&q=cowpunk%20X&f=false. 
4. ^ [The Peacocks http://www.thepeacocks.ch/bio.php The Peacocks]

External links

• Pronghorn - "The UK's No.1 Cowpunk Band"
• Bo Pilar and The Mountain Valley Boys - "The UK's No.2 Cowpunk Band - No.1 in the West Midlands though"