Page "American rock" Paragraph 25

By the 1960s, the scene that had developed out of the American folk music revival had grown to a major movement, utilising traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style, usually on acoustic instruments.

In America the genre was pioneered by figures such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and often identified with progressive or labor politics.

In the early sixties figures such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan had come to the fore in this movement as singer-songwriters.

Dylan had begun to reach a mainstream audience with hits including " Blowin ' in the Wind " ( 1963 ) and " Masters of War " ( 1963 ), which brought " protest songs " to a wider public, but, although beginning to influence each other, rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with mutually exclusive audiences.