Americana

A broad term for American roots-based music that draws on folk, country, blues and rock without belonging strictly to any of them.

Americana is a marketing and radio category as much as a style, but the guitar playing it describes is consistent: acoustic and electric instruments together, open and alternate tunings, fingerpicked or hybrid-picked parts, and a preference for arranging a song around two chords and a good feel rather than a technical display. Its players are usually equally comfortable with a band and alone with a guitar. The looseness of the category is part of what makes it useful.

Example: A band with an acoustic guitar, an electric with tremolo, and a song drawing on folk and country roots is playing Americana.

Americana

See also