Heartland Rock - Characteristics

Characteristics

The term heartland rock was not coined to describe a clear genre until the 1980s. In terms of style it often uses straightforward rock and roll, sometimes with elements of Americana and country. Most artists avoided the synthezisers that dominated the electronic rock of the 1980s and placed an emphasis on guitars, with a basic rhythm and blues line-up of drums, keyboards and occasional horn section instruments like a saxophone. Lyrics are often presented in a style that is raspy and unpolished, adding a sense of "authenticity". It was most strongly influenced by American folk and folk rock acts such as Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Northern Irish but heavily American-influenced Van Morrison, as well as the basic rock of 1960s garage and the Rolling Stones.

Verses often outline narrative stories, particularly of people undergoing hard times and choruses are often anthemic in tone. It is associated with rural and blue-collar values, particularly those of the predominately white working-class regions of the Midwest and the rust belt. It has been characterized as a predominately romantic genre, celebrating "urban backstreets and rooftops", and its major themes have been listed as including "unemployment, small-town decline, disillusionment, limited opportunity and bitter nostalgia", as well as alienation and despair.