The early Beatles were a folk music band using rock n roll backbeat.

[jeff721]

The early Beatles were a folk music band using rock n roll backbeat.    Explained here at 00:58  Can anyone go into more detail about that with examples?

 

[MikeRobinson]

I also missed the very earliest stuff produced by The Grateful Dead, when they had very strong folk-music influences and seemed to just be having fun.

[Stuart Scholes]

Hi Jeff, what is it exactly you're looking for an explanation of? Do you mean the breaking out of the 1,4,5 chords of blues/rock n roll, or I you talking about the rhythm element? Or is there something else?

 

[Clay Anderson Johnson]

On 1/23/2022 at 6:35 AM, jeff721 said:

The early Beatles were a folk music band using rock n roll backbeat.    Explained here at 00:58  Can anyone go into more detail about that with examples?

 

The video was a very good explanation of the Byrds but very much off base with the assumptions for both The Beatles and Bob Dylan.

 

The Beatles themselves have said in interviews that their two biggest roots sources were The Everly Brothers and Chuck Berry.

 

The Everly Brothers were a Rock & Roll band which sprang from The Everly Family of professional Country artists in Nashville.  They were known for Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie, and All I Have to Do Is Dream which were all covered by Ricky Nelson.

 

Everyone knows who Chuck Berry was.

 

George Harrison was also very influenced by the Western style of what was formerly known as Country & Western which were guitarists associated with Bakersfield, California.

 

Bob Dylan in his own words originally wanted to be the next Elvis Presley.  He ran away from home in Hibbing, Minnesota and ended up in Greenwich Village in NYC.  There he worked for Woody Guthrie as the babysitter for his son Arlo.  This is when he was introduced to Folk music.

 

Dylan’s change in direction came from being friends with Allen Ginsberg, one of the most famous of the Beat poets, and heavily indulging in amphetamine and marijuana usage.  His move to creating electrified music came from his original inspiration of Elvis melded to the Folk music of Guthrie.

[Glammerocity]

They had a diverse musical education and took a lot from music hall (Harrison maintained a love of ukelele) and Tin Pan Alley - they knew how to use a 7th. I've often thought when McCartney dreamed up Yesterday he was actually playing Georgia on my Mind, which has a very similar chord opening. Liverpool has a strong Irish connection, so certainly Paul would've had those folk influences in his early years.  But I wouldn't call them a folk band. It's like calling chilli con carne mince and beans.