The foundations of rock music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s; the genre spread to much of the rest of the world. Its origins lay in a melding of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music, with country and western

Roots rock is the term now used to describe a move away from the psychedelic scene to a more basic form of rock and roll that incorporated its original influences, particularly blues, country and folk music, leading to the creation of country rock and Southern rock.  In 1966, Bob Dylan went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde. 

This, and subsequent more clearly country-influenced albums, such as Nashville Skyline, have been seen as creating the genre of country folk, a route pursued by a number of largely acoustic folk musicians.  Other acts that followed the back-to-basics trend were the Canadian group the Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival, both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s.

The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt and Lowell George,and influenced the work of established performers such as the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet (1968) and the Beatles' Let It Be (1970). Reflecting on this change of trends in rock music over the past few years, '50s rock, country music, and rhythm-and-blues, and its key inspiration is the Bands.