I started out wanting to draw a line from the folk rock of the 1960s to the singer-songwriters of the 1970s, and asking the question ‘why did the name change?’ It became out of fashion. But more than that, a new kind of voice emerged. It was not a reaction to folk music or a scene in New York City. It was formed, made from everything America had offered. Soul, R&B, jazz and top 40 hit radio. And, yes, the nexus where rock n roll overtakes folk music. Folk rock.
In this episode, we are following the evolution from folk to folk rock, and it is right that we concentrate on Bob Dylan’s influence, exclusively, from the most simple syllable—like, a word choice that woke people up—to the epic, the many many verses written in Biblical parables, the manner of his delivery, earnest and seemingly incapable of really singing. That incapacity would set the trend for future singers.
