cowpunk

English

Etymology

Blend of cowboy +‎ punk, from 1979.

Noun

cowpunk (countable and uncountable, plural cowpunks)

1. (uncountable) A musical subgenre that combines punk rock with country music, folk music, and blues.

   Synonym: country punk

   • 1989 November 10, Bill Wyman, “Fetchin Bones”, in Chicago Reader‎^[1]:

     On that record, Bad Pumpkin, they romped around the fringes of hard rock, toying with cowpunk on one side and zanier stuff (a Television-at-the-beach instrumental) on the other.

   • 2004 September 3, Bob Mehr, “Chuck Prophet, Old 97's”, in Chicago Reader‎^[2]:

     At times the group's new album, Drag It Up, fights to find a middle ground between the surging cowpunk of 1997's Too Far to Care and the melodic pop of 2001's Satellite Rides.

   • 2022, Rich Weidman, Punk: The Definitive Guide to the Blank Generation and Beyond, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 80:

     Also known as country punk, cowpunk combines punk rock with folk, country, blues, and rockabilly influences. A wide range of punk bands have evidenced cowpunk tendencies, such as the Blasters, Meat Puppets, Violent Femmes, Social Distortion, the Beat Farmers […] and others.

2. (countable) A performer in this musical style.