It was pioneered by musicians including The Beatles, The Byrds, and The Yardbirds, emerging as a genre during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in the United Kingdom and United States, such as Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, The Doors and Pink Floyd.

Psychedelic rock particularly took off in California's emerging music scene as groups followed the Byrds from folk to folk rock from 1965.

More contemporary renditions include samples from such popular artists as Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers ( 1963 ), The Byrds ( 1970 ), Elvis Presley ( 1971 ), Skeeter Davis ( 1972 ), Mighty Clouds of Joy ( 1972 ), Amazing Rhythm Aces ( 1975 ), Willie Nelson ( 1976 ), and The Lemonheads ( 1992 ).

By 1968 Parsons had come to the attention of The Byrds ' bassist, Chris Hillman, via Larry Spector ( The Byrds ' business manager ), as a possible replacement band member following the departures of David Crosby and Michael Clarke from the group in late 1967.

Prior to Parsons ' departure from The Byrds, he had accompanied the two Rolling Stones to Stonehenge ( along with McGuinn and Hillman ) in the English county of Wiltshire, where Richards had a house near the ancient site.

" Love's ' Forever Changes ,' from 1967, is a lost classic of a period when The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Byrds and other top acts routinely stretched pop / rock's boundaries.

In 1966, The Byrds moved rapidly away from folk rock with their single " Eight Miles High ", which made use of free jazz and Indian ragas, and the lyrics of which were widely taken to refer to drug use.

The super-group Crosby, Stills and Nash, formed in 1968 from members of The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Hollies, were joined by Neil Young for Deja Vu in 1970, which moved away from many of what had become the " clichés " of psychedelic rock and placed an emphasis on political commentary and vocal harmonies.

The band expanded from its folk roots, drawing inspiration from The Beatles, The Byrds and The Lovin ' Spoonful, and gradually developed a more pop-oriented electric sound.

In order to meet Norman's hospital bills, in November 2002 Solid Rock Records began releasing the Essential Series on CD-R, a set of seven Norman albums, with 142 songs ( including 16 previously unreleased songs ), which comprised: Instigator, which included rough mix versions of two previously unreleased songs, " Butterfly " and " Kulderachna ", both removed from 1973's So Long Ago the Garden ; Agitator, which included three unreleased bonus tracks, " Sweet Silver Angels ", " God, Part 2 ", and " People In My Past "; Liberator, which included songs that were aimed at " liberating Christians who felt trapped inside the church and also providing a cultural doorway to allow those who felt dismissed and isolated by Christianity to find their way into fellowship with Christ regardless of the church's response toward them "; Collaborator, which featured songs representing " the combined efforts of Charles and Larry from lyrics and melodies to arrangements and production ", including three unreleased songs: " Perfect World ", " Don't Wanna Be Like You ", and " Jesus Is God ", recorded about 2000 ; Emancipator, included two unreleased songs of Norman singing with Randy Stonehill: a Christian version of the folk song " He Was a Friend of Mine ", which had been popularized by The Byrds and Bob Dylan, which was re-titled " He is a Friend of Mine ", and " I Love You ", the song Stonehill and Norman co-wrote in 1971 for Stonehill's Born Twice album ; Infiltrator, which sees love as " the most powerful infiltrator in the world ", is a collection of Norman's love songs, and includes two new releases: a cover of David Noble's " Waves of Grace ", and " Stranger, Won't You Change "; and Survivor, included the full 8-minute version of " Dark Passage ", an unreleased third verse of " Baby Out of Wedlock ", and " One Star Remains ", which is Judee Sill's " My Man On Love " from her 1971 eponymous debut album.

", written by Pete Seeger with the lyrics drawn from Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, was The Byrds ' second Number One success in late 1965.

On July 11, 2000, McGuinn testified before in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on downloading music from the Internet that artists do not always receive the royalties that ( non-Internet based ) record companies state in contracts, and that to date, The Byrds had not received any royalties for their greatest successes, " Mr. Tambourine Man " and " Turn, Turn, Turn " – they only received advances, which were split five ways and were just " a few thousand dollars " per band member.

The body of country-rock musician Gram Parsons ( lead singer of the Flying Burrito Brothers and one-time member of The Byrds ) was stolen from a California airport by a friend, and then burned in the Joshua Tree desert on September 19, 1973.

It also brought an invitation from Friedman to Dickie Davis, who had been lighting manager for The Byrds, to become involved in the group's management.

Friction existed between David Crosby and his bandmates in the Byrds, and he was dismissed from the band in late 1967.

Their early repertoire of covers ( by such artists as The Byrds and Blues Traveler ) was soon augmented by originals from songwriters Schaefer and Clem, and over time the band developed a distinctive folk sound, marrying two acoustic guitars with hand percussion and strong four-part harmonies.

As the 1970s dawned, folk rock evolved away from the jangly template pioneered by The Byrds, but their influence could still be heard in the music of bands like Fairport Convention and Pentangle.

The song " Subterranean Homesick Blues " was taken from the album and issued as a single in April 1965 ( the same month as The Byrds ' " Mr. Tambourine Man " was released ) and it became a sizable hit internationally, reaching # 39 in the U. S. and # 9 in the UK.

Ry Cooder's slide guitar and contributions from Byrds members Gene Parsons and Clarence White helped to give the album a much rootsier feel.

During the show they covered songs from other artists such as Aretha Franklin, Neil Young and The Byrds.

The Beatles and other British Invasion bands, in turn, influenced the Californian band The Byrds, who began playing folk-influenced material and Bob Dylan compositions with rock instrumentation.

Drug use and attempts at psychedelic music moved out of acoustic folk-based music towards rock soon after The Byrds " plugged in " to produce a chart topping version of Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man in the summer of 1965, which became a folk rock standard.

Dylan's lead was also followed by The Byrds, joined by Gram Parsons to record Sweetheart of the Rodeo ( 1968 ), helping to define the genre of country rock, which became a particularly popular style in the California music scene of the late 1960s, and was adopted by former folk rock artists including Hearts and Flowers, Poco and New Riders of the Purple Sage.

After the Beatles-led British invasion of 1964, Balin was inspired by the merging of folk with rock, spearheaded by the success of The Byrds and Simon & Garfunkel, and decided to form a group in 1965 to play this hybrid style.

The genre was pioneered by the Los Angeles band The Byrds, who began playing traditional folk music and Bob Dylan-penned material with rock instrumentation, in a style heavily influenced by The Beatles and other British bands.

The term " folk rock " was itself first coined by the U. S. music press to describe The Byrds ' music in June 1965, the same month that the band's debut album was issued.

The release of The Byrds ' cover version of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man " and its subsequent commercial success initiated the folk rock explosion of the mid-1960s.

Many future folk rock artists, including members of The Byrds, The Mamas & the Papas, and Buffalo Springfield, along with solo singers like Barry McGuire and Scott McKenzie, began their professional music careers in folk revival groups.

Future members of many folk rock acts, including The Byrds, the Jefferson Airplane, The Lovin ' Spoonful, The Mamas & the Papas, and Buffalo Springfield, all turned their backs on traditional folk music during 1964 and 1965 as a direct result of the influence of The Beatles and the other British Invasion bands.

Despite their Beatlesque image, the band's use of minor chords, haunting harmonies, and folky acoustic guitar playing — as heard on their debut single " Laugh, Laugh "— was stylistically very similar to the later folk rock of The Byrds.

Although it was not strictly a folk song, " I'll Never Find Another You " was heavily influenced by Peter, Paul and Mary and featured a cyclical, 12-string guitar part that sounded remarkably similar to the guitar style that Jim McGuinn of The Byrds would popularize later that same year.

There are also a few antecedents to folk rock present in pre-British Invasion American rock ' n ' roll, including Elvis Presley's 1954 cover of the Bill Monroe bluegrass standard " Blue Moon of Kentucky "; Buddy Holly's self-penned material, which strongly influenced both Dylan and The Byrds ; Ritchie Valens ' recording of the Mexican folk song " La Bamba "; Lloyd Price's rock ' n ' roll adaptation of the African-American folk song " Stagger Lee " ( which had originally been recorded by Mississippi John Hurt in 1928 ); Jimmie Rodgers ' rock ' n ' roll flavored renditions of traditional folk songs ; and the folk and country-influenced recordings featured on The Everly Brothers ' 1959 album, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us.

The moment when all of the separate influences that served to make up folk rock finally coalesced into an identifiable whole was with the release of The Byrds ' recording of Bob Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man ".

Dylan's material would provide much of the original grist for the folk rock mill, not only in the U. S. but in the UK as well, with many pop and rock acts covering his material in a style reminiscent of The Byrds.

Released just as The Byrds ' cover of " Mr. Tambourine Man " topped the charts in the United States, the song was instrumental in defining the burgeoning folk rock scene and in establishing Dylan as a bona fide rock star, rather than a folksinger.

Although not widely known to the general public at that time, Van Dyke Parks was a figure of high repute on the L. A. music scene thanks to his work as a session musician and songwriter ( notably with The Byrds and Harper's Bizarre ) and especially because of his renowned collaboration with Brian Wilson on the legendary unreleased Beach Boys album Smile.

With members who had been part of the cafe-based folk scene in Los Angeles, the Byrds adopted rock instrumentation, including drums and 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, which became a major element in the sound of the genre.

" WCFL Beat magazine was also complimentary about the album, noting that during the mid-1960s British Invasion The Byrds were the only American band to " help to revolutionize the pop scene and to pave the way for the so-called psychedelic music of today.

Jefferson Airplane's fusion of folk rock and psychedelia was original at the time, in line with musical developments pioneered by The Byrds, The Mamas & the Papas, Bob Dylan, The Yardbirds, and The Beatles, amongst other mid-1960s rock bands.

The featured artists on the reel to reel were The Yardbirds, The Zombies, Young Rascals, Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf and The Byrds.

The band has the distinction, shared by The Byrds, The Allman Brothers Band, The Yardbirds, MC5, Sonic Youth, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Stills-Young Band and Radiohead, of having two members that made the Rolling Stone list of the 100 greatest guitarists of rock history.

" Nonetheless, the experimental nature of the song placed The Byrds firmly at the forefront of the burgeoning psychedelic movement, along with The Yardbirds, The Beatles, Donovan and The Rolling Stones, who were all exploring similar musical territory concurrently.