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The Sixties: Blues, Country, Gospel & Folk Pioneers

This guide covers the decade 1960 - 1970

Blues, Gospel, Country and Folk Pioneers

Rock & Roll had its its origins rooted in Blues, Country, Gospel and Folk music. On this page will be found some of the most influential of the pioneers of these genres.

Blues Pioneers

  • St. Louis Blues, Bessie Smith (1925)
  • I'm So Glad, Willie Dixon (1931)
  • Cross Road Blues, Robert Johnson (1937)
  • Gloomy Sunday, Billie Holiday (1941)
  • Boogie Chillun, John Lee Hooker (1948)
  • Three O'Clock Blues, B. B. King (1948)
  • Dust My Broom, Elmore James (1951)
  • Smokestack Lightning, Howlin' Wolf (1956)
  • Got My Mojo Working, Muddy Waters (1957)
  • Mojo Hand, Lightnin' Hopkins (1961)

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AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC

Gospel Pioneers

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, public domain cropped photo
from cover of Eighteen Original Negro Spirituals.

  • Rock My Soul, Golden Gate Quartet (1938)
  • This Train, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1939)
  • Amazing Grace, Mahalia Jackson (1948)
  • I'll Fly Away, The Chuck Wagon Gang (1948)
  • Mother Bowed, The Pilgrim Travelers (1950)
  • How I Got Over It, Clara Ward and the Ward Singers (1950)
  • I'll Live Again, The Dixie Hummingbirds (1952)
  • Angel Band, The Stanley Brothers (1958)
  • By and By, The Soul Stirrers (1959)
  • Wade in the Water, Brother John Sellars (1959)

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Folk Pioneers

Woody Guthrie playing a guitar that has a sticker attached reading: This Machine Kills Fascists
from Library of Congress.

  1. Midnight Special,Lead Belly (1940)
  2. Pastures of Plenty, Woody Guthrie (1941)
  3. Big Rock Candy Mountain, Burl Ives (1946)
  4. Goodnight Irene, The Weavers (1950)
  5. Arkansas Traveler, Pete Seeger (1954)
  6. John Henry, Odetta (1954)
  7. Rock Island Line, Lonnie Donegan (1955)
  8. Jamaica Farewell, Harry Belafonte (1957)
  9. Tom Dooley, The Kingston Trio (1958)
  10. Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos), Cisco Houston (1960)

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Country Pioneers

Photograph: Hank Williams

Hank Williams publicity photo for WSM in 1951, Public domain.

Hank Williams (1923-1953) was not the Father of Country Music. But he was country music's first superstar. Though he died at 29, he is the one whom country musicians measure country music by

  1. Blue Yodel (T for Texas), Jimmie Rodgers, "The Father of Country Music" (1927)
  2. Wildwood Flower, The Carter Family (1928)
  3. Tumbling Tumbleweed, Sons of the Pioneers (1934)
  4. Back in the Saddle Again, Gene Autry (1939)
  5. San Antonio Rose, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (1940)
  6. Walking the Floor Over You, Ernest Tubb (1941)
  7. Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Flatt & Scruggs (1949)
  8. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, Hank Williams (1949)
  9. Uncle Pen, Bill Monroe (1950)
  10. It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels, Kitty Wells (1952)

Songs found on Spotify
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Additional References

Covach, J. R. &  Flory, A. (2015). What's that sound?: an introduction to rock and its history. W.W. Norton & Company.
Duncan, D. & Burns, K. (2019). Country music: an illustrated history. Alfred A. Knopf..
Guralnick, P., Santelli, R., & George-Warren, H. (2011). Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: a Musical Journey. HarperCollins e-books.