Key Takeaways

• Country rock artists often blend influences from both country and rock genres.
• Many artists on this list achieved commercial success but remain less recognized today.
• Defining “country rock” can be subjective, as it encompasses a range of sounds and styles.
• The artists featured have made significant contributions to the genre, each with a unique sound.

The line between country and rock has long been flexible.

If you consider, for example, the catalogs of artists like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Eagles, the Grateful Dead, the Flying Burrito Brothers or the Byrds, to name a few, you’ll find that they were as comfortable pulling influences from Hank Williams as they were Chuck Berry.

But in the below list, in no particular order, we’re taking a look at 16 country rock artists — both individuals and bands — whose names aren’t heard as often.

To be clear, not everyone on this list flew under the commercial radar. In fact, several of them were chart-topping, highly successful recording acts, but they’re usually not talked about as often as some of the aforementioned artists.

It’s also worth noting that to define “country rock” is a limiting venture. There are some recognizable elements that appear over and over again in these groups, but in another sense, the best approach to categorizing country rock may be: you know it when you hear it.

1. Cowboy

Formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969, Cowboy’s original lineup consisted of singer-songwriters Scott Boyer and Tommy Talton, plus pianist/guitarist Bill Pillmore, bassist George Clark, guitarist Pete Kowalke and drummer Tom Wynn. Prior to that, both Boyer and Talton played with the likes of the Allman Brothers Band and Bonnie Bramlett, which should give you a sense of the sound Cowboy leaned toward — robust songwriting with some tender-hearted ballads made for sitting out on the front porch thinking about days long gone. (“Please Be With Me,” available for listening below, actually features Duane Allman on a dobro.) In the ’70s, Cowboy released four albums together. Boyer and Talton wound up reforming a version of the band in 2007 and released a reunion album, 10’ll Getcha Twenty, in 2018.

2. Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

Jam bands aren’t the only groups who can keep the party going for hours. Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, a country rock act out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, were famous back in the day for their marathon concerts. Led by George Frayne IV, aka Commander Cody, the group made the excellent choice to relocate to San Francisco in the late ’60s, a much more progressive scene where their rootin,’ tootin’ bar band attitude could be expanded into something bigger than themselves. “We didn’t think of appealing to anybody,” Commander Cody said to Rolling Stone in 1970. “We were just having a good time, picking and playing and making a few dollars on the side.” If the blues could make a comeback, why couldn’t country? The band grabbed just one Top 10 hit in 1972: a cover of the 1955 song “Hot Rod Lincoln.”

3. New Riders of the Purple Sage

What sometimes gets forgotten about the Grateful Dead was that their foundation was jug and bluegrass music. Guitarist John Dawson played often with Jerry Garcia in the ’60s, and when Garcia eventually formed the Dead, Dawson took inspiration from people like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, combined it with a California flare and made his own band called New Riders of the Purple Sage, who toured with the Dead frequently. The New Riders got signed to Columbia Records in 1971 by Clive Davis, releasing their debut self-titled album that same year. The group landed a little FM radio staple with a cover of Peter Rowan’s “Panama Red,” and though their commercial output never shattered the charts, their association with the Dead served them well through the ’70s. The group has split up and been revived multiple times over the years, with Dawson passing away in 2009.

4. Pure Prairie League

Below you can hear the song Pure Prairie League is most famous for, 1975’s “Amie.” But this country rock band, which hailed from Ohio, landed 5 consecutive Top 40 albums in the ’70s and one more in the ’80s. Perhaps the most impressive part is that although the band’s lineup was fluid over the years — Vince Gill was a member at one point — they somehow maintained an incredible talent for harmony singing that Crosby, Stills & Nash would be proud of. Some other tracks we recommend checking out: “Two Lane Highway,” “Let Me Love You Tonight” and “Still Right Here in My Heart.”

5. Ry Cooder

It’s not easy to describe guitarist Ry Cooder’s exact style. The best we can come up with is something like a mix of country rock, folk, roots and blues. He is lauded in the music world for his talent on slide guitar, which has brought him collaborations with everyone from the Rolling Stones to Randy Newman. Below is a selection from Cooder’s 1970 debut self-titled album.

6. Blue Rodeo

Country rock but make it Canadian. That’s the vibe behind Blue Rodeo, who formed in 1984 in Toronto. Two years later, they joined forces with Rush producer Terry Brown to make their debut album, Outskirts, and developed a loyal following in Canada. “I’ve always thought we were a country rock band,” singer-songwriter Jim Cuddy said in a 1999 interview. “Country rock bands are historically rock bands who grew up on rock music and then discovered country… We had admiration for Kristofferson and some of the rock musicians who had gone through Nashville,Skyline for Bob Dylan and the Byrds and that kind of stuff. We started getting into that… It’s always been this bastardization of it that’s appealed to me.”

7. Nashville West

Before the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, there was Nashville West made up of Gene Parsons, Clarence White, Gib Guilbeau and Wayne Moore. This group was together for such a short amount of time that their one and only album — recorded during a 1968 club show — came out years after they’d already broken up. Parsons and White went on to be in the Byrds; then Parsons and Guilbeau were in the Flying Burrito Brothers.

8. Southern Pacific

Southern Pacific formed in 1983 with former Doobie Brothers members Keith Knudsen and John McFee plus bassist Jerry Scheff. They were together for less than a decade but managed to release four albums. In 1989 they landed a hit with “Any Way the Wind Blows,” which made a cameo in Pink Cadillac, starring Clint Eastwood.

9. Dr. Hook (& The Medicine Show)

Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show formed in New Jersey in 1969; before too long they started gathering Top 40 hits including but not limited to: “Sylvia’s Mother,” “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone,'” “Only Sixteen,” “Walk Right In” and “Sharing the Night Together.” By 1985 they were over.

10. Billy Craddock

Billy Craddock was an American singer who interestingly enough began earning popularity in Australia first. It took several years before he gained traction in the U.S., slowly but surely landing him the nickname “The King of Country Rock Music” with hits like “Rub It In,” “Broken Down in Tiny Pieces” and “Ruby Baby.”

11. Michael Martin Murphy

You can’t really talk about the history of country rock — more specifically cowboy songs — without mentioning Michael Martin Murphree who has six gold albums to his name. One look at his hits gives you insight into Murphree’s music: “Wildfire,” “Carolina in the Pines” and “Don’t Count the Rainy Days,” to name a few.

12. The International Submarine Band

Before leaning fully into music Gram Parsons was a theology student at Harvard University; however it didn’t take long for him to pursue his true calling. In 1965 he formed a group with John Nuese called The International Submarine Band drawn to country rock sound releasing one album called Safe at Home. Parsons went on to work with The Byrds; The Flying Burrito Brothers; Fallen Angels with Emmylou Harris.

13. Souther-Hillman-Furay Band

The only thing better than a good country rock group? A good country rock supergroup! Enter Souther–Hillman–Furay Band made up of Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield; Poco), Chris Hillman (the Byrds; Flying Burrito Brothers) and J.D. Souther (songwriter for Linda Ronstadt; Eagles). Together they released two albums: The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band(1974)and Trouble in Paradise(1975).

14.Michael Nesmith &The First National Band

Mike Nesmith is best known for being a member of The Monkees but after that he went on to form country rock group called First National Band releasing three albums.”Those were songs I started writing when I started writing,” Nesmith recalled to azcentral.com.”They play out my life way any early work persists nourishes way they nourish.First National Band was my private yacht take me shore.”

15.Eddie Rabbitt

Eddie Rabbitt was songwriter behind Elvis Presley’s Kentucky Rain as well as Ronnie Milsap’s Pure Love.That was just beginning Rabbitt who key figure ’80s far helping bring country music modern space songs like Suspicions I Love Rainy Night Every Which Way Loose.