I always thought that "Country Rock" was actually the original template

[The Polack MSgt]

Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee were all hicks playing R&B with country voices and hillbilly licks.

Artists like Ike Turner, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino were black performers from the country doing similar mixing from the opposite side of the equation.

Then when Elvis exploded and later when English kids began playing with American Black music - folks lost sight of that dynamic - Especially when guitar distortion took over as the sound of "Rock"

But the Byrds went back to early country, often stripping the melodies down to a C&W that Ernest Tubbs would've sang

My personal favorites now a days are Steve Earl, Marshall Tucker and of course these dudes