Some believe that Bob Dylan was instrumental in defining the genre as well as the The Byrds. However, other artists contributed some classics including The Eagles, the Grateful Dead, George Harrison and even The Rolling Stones.
Of course, rock and roll itself was once a new genre having come out of country (which had already existed) fused with rhythm and blues. Rock musicians are still the ones that make country rock hits and the 60s decade and mainly to the 1970s are the most influential artists to make an impact. Even the Beatles made some distinctly country rock music, such as “I’ll Cry Instead” and “Baby’s in Black”.
When many artists became distracted with psychedelic rock, Dylan led a roots revival movement with his hit “Blonde on Blonde” and further country-fied the rock and roll style, and other artists experimented with adding blues and folk music to the same eclectic style.
If you’re looking for royalty free background music, country rock might be appropriate for films at certain highlight moments; such as the closing credits, an intro (if applicable to the setting of the film, and at intervals throughout the film if the song conveys an emotion or a thought to accompany the action. Even in documentary films, you might find country rock songs playing that fit the subject matter. Major narrative shifts in the overall story are a good place to put a particularly loud and memorable song with lyrics. However, sometimes incidental country rock music can be just electric guitar or guitar.
You can download mp3 wav files for your own personal projects and given your project a distinctive rural sound.