Traditional folk music and folk-inspired original compositions in traditional styles became popular during the 1950s and reached their peak in the mid-1960s. Amid great controversy, folk-singers and rock musicians came together and fused the two styles, performing more-or-less traditionally inspired melodies with lyrics about contemporary social issues on amplified instruments backed by a rock drum kit. Folk rock also had links with country rock and psychedelic rock, as exemplified by the music of the early Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

Folk rock first came to wider attention with Bob Dylan's famous double set (first half acoustic, second half electric) at the Newport Festival in 1965, and subsequent "electric" tour. As Dylan's hostile reception indicated, such innovations were not always welcomed by folk purists. Leading folk rock exponents included The Byrds and The Loving Spoonful in the US, and Lindisfarne, Steeleye Span, Pentangle, and Fairport Convetion in the UK. The Byrds' "Mr Tambourine Man" (1966) is regarded as the archetypal folk rock record. The genre has lived on in the guitar-based sound of much mainstream rock music since the 1980s, often blended with country rock, and in alternative bands such as R.E.M.