4 Classics from British Invasion Legends That Sound Like Americana

The music genre we now call Americana didn’t truly come into focus until after the turn of the millennium. And when we talk about the artists who helped jump-start the genre into existence, we often look to American acts as the main early influences.

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How then to explain these four songs? They come from the four most decorated acts of the first wave of the British Invasion. And they all sound like prototypes for Americana as we now know it.

“Mother Nature’s Son” by The Beatles

When you hear “Mother Nature’s Son”, one of the most unheralded tracks on The White Album, you can discern the intense love of a bucolic setting. That’s the kind of vibe that Americana music tends to do better than any other. Of course, Paul McCartney didn’t have American land on his mind when writing the song. Instead, he was envisioning his beloved Scottish farm, the place where he went to get away from it all. The melody, amplified by the brass score around it, is simply exquisite. You don’t even need to focus on the words to enjoy the song. Just listen to McCartney’s humming and his “doo-doo” vocals, and you’ll get the idyllic feel.

“Dead Flowers” by The Rolling Stones

But they possessed a kind of cheat code when it came to them being able to evoke rootsy American music. The band befriended Gram Parsons at the start of the 70s. Parsons, of course, was one of the first artists to meld country songcraft with rocking rhythms as a member of a variety of bands in that era. When The Stones started to include country textures on albums like Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St., Parsons influenced those moves to a great degree. “Dead Flowers” stands out as one of their finest Americana-leaning songs. Mick Jagger’s vocals take on just a bit of a twang, while Keith Richards and Mick Taylor trade chiming guitar licks.

“Muswell Hillbilly” by The Kinks

Much like Paul McCartney, Ray Davies of The Kinks ended up writing a bunch of vaguely Americana-sounding songs while talking about a place thousands of miles from the US. The Kinks’ 1971 album Muswell Hillbillies contains several songs that could have fit this category. For example, there’s the ballad “Oklahoma U.S.A.”, although that’s more about the musical Oklahoma than the actual location. Meanwhile, “Muswell Hillbilly” refers to the suburb where Ray and his brother Dave grew up. As Dave lays down some Nashville-style licks on guitar, Ray bemoans the fact that the modern way of life is removing the charm from his childhood environment.

“Squeeze Box” by The Who

When they started out in the 60s, The Who delivered a great deal of whimsy on singles like “Happy Jack” and “Pictures Of Lily”. They mostly pushed that side of themselves to the background, at least when it came to singles, as they released landmark albums like Tommy and Who’s Next. Perhaps that turn toward the serious is why Pete Townshend didn’t think much of “Squeeze Box” after he composed it on an accordion, which was fitting considering the title. All the sneaky sexual innuendos seemed to give permission to the band to sound lighter than they had in years.  And it resulted in a surprising US hit single as well.

Photo by David Redfern/Redferns