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.