Cowpunk
Cowpunk (or country punk) is a subgenre of punk rock that began in the United Kingdom and Southern California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or new wave with country, folk, and blues in its sound, lyrical subject matter, attitude, and style.[1][3] Examples include Social Distortion,[4] The Gun Club, The Long Ryders, Dash Rip Rock, Violent Femmes, The Blasters, Mojo Nixon, Meat Puppets, The Beat Farmers, Rubber Rodeo, Rank and File, and Jason and the Scorchers.[5] Many of the musicians in this scene subsequently became associated with alternative country, roots rock or Americana.
Cowpunk
Late 1970s, United Kingdom
Early 1980s, Southern California
Etymology and terminology[edit]
The term "cowpunk" is first attested in 1979, as a blend of "cowboy" and "punk".[6] The term "country punk" has been proposed as an equivalent term.[7] Both terms are sometimes hyphenated, especially in late 1970s or early 1980s sources (e.g., cow-punk or country-punk).
In 1984, Robert Palmer wrote in the New York Times 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 United States, 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."[8]
A New York Times writer stated that one issue with the "cowpunk" term was that "...no single term really describes the music of all these bands."[6] Another author called the term "cowpunk" a critic-coined "misnomer" in 1985.[9] A 2018 article looking back at the 1980s trends states that the "...diversity of styles beyond punk proper" in cowpunk, "...for some, made the category...suspect, [or] at least misleading."[7]
History[edit]
Precursors[edit]
The first cowpunk bands in the late 1970s "...were inspired not by mainstream country but classic country, a more authentic-sounding music but also historically distant enough to be non-mainstream by default..."[7] There were precedents for blending country and related genres with rock or other styles. For example, all through the 1970s, country rock and southern rock were popular. However, by the early 1980s, the outlaw country trend had "worn out its welcome".[11] Another factor that made country music unappealing to many youth in the early 1980s was that it was perceived as being on the "wrong side" in the "culture war", as country music was associated with conservative political values and highly-produced commercial music.[12]
Don McLeese said the ways that youth associated country music made them not realize that it had youthful, exuberant "hillbilly music" roots in earlier eras.[12] Joey Camp says he was turned off country as a teen in the early 1980s because he mistakenly thought that the "...countrypolitan fare" then popular on commercial radio, such as "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, "Queen of Hearts" by Juice Newton, and "Always on My Mind" by Willie Nelson" was the extent of country music.[13]
Music writer Peter Doggett has stated that there has been a "difficult relationship between punk and country" since musicians from the two genres first encountered each other, but they did manage to meet and blend their styles.[14] As well, some new wave bands "displayed blatant country influences".[14]
Early cowpunk bands were more appealing to alternative, non-mainstream youth from the 1980s, as some cowpunk bands explored "queer" themes in their lyrics, or identified or appeared in an androgynous manner.[7] By the early 1980s, punk audiences did come to appreciate a blend of punk and rockabilly, when the new subgenre of psychobilly emerged, with bands such as The Cramps.
1970s[edit]
In 1978, Rosie Flores led Rosie and the Screamers, a band that one author calls a "cow-punk" group.[15] T. Tex Edwards , the singer for Dallas area punk band The Nervebreakers, which opened for the Ramones in 1977 and the Sex Pistols on their 1978 US Tour, went on to cowpunk and other country-influenced groups. After The Nervebreakers, influenced by The Cramps and Gun Club he started Tex & The Saddletramps.