Distinctive “soft” rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s, embodied by bands like The Mamas and the Papas. Influenced by the new folk music of the 1950s and 1960s, their music was harmonyrich with complicated vocal arrangements that stood apart from hard rock, which features lead guitar and solo vocals. The sound, best heard in the song “California Dreaming,” came to represent the more mellow, melodic sounds of the 1960s.

Later, in the 1970s, with the Californian groups The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac—and vocalist Linda Ronstadt—the folk roots of the music gained a country influence.