Music Sound

Cowpunk or Country Punk is a subgenre of punk rock that began in southern California in the 1980s, especially Los Angeles. It tended to downplay the fashion elements associated with the musically similar British psychobilly movement, and grew directly out of the influence of bands like the Cramps and The Gun Club with few direct ties to the British movement. Bands associated with cowpunk include Blood On The Saddle, The Lazy Cowgirls, The Screamin' Sirens, Frank Black and the Catholics, Tex and the Horseheads, and others. Social Distortion, while initially a melodic hardcore punk band, had moved in a cowpunk direction in the late 1980s.

k.d. lang's earliest albums can also be characterized as cowpunk, although she gradually evolved toward a more traditional country style.

The influence of cowpunk today is most apparent in the work of Throw Rag, Reverend Horton Heat and The Supersuckers, and traces of its influence can be detected in some of the work of The White Stripes.

See also

• psychobilly
• punkabilly
• alternative country

Punk rock
Anarcho-punk - Anti-folk - Crust punk - Garage punk - Hardcore - Post-hardcore - Horror punk - New Wave - No Wave - Noise rock - Oi! - Pop punk - Post-punk - Psychobilly - Deathcountry - Riot grrrl - Ska punk - Streetpunk - Two Tone
Other topics
Protopunk