ROOTSY

adjective (Music) (Youth Culture) (Of music) down-to-earth; in a rudimentary, uncommercialized style which allows traditional or ethnic roots to show through. Etymology: Formed by adding the adjectival suffix -y to roots. History and Usage: Rootsy shares its early history with roots above, but developed a rather broader meaning during the eighties, moving outside the narrow context of Black or West Indian cultural awareness. Any music (or sometimes another area of culture) can be described as rootsy if it has an authentic feel, without the rough edges having been smoothed off by commercialism. I'm not here to put any new innovations on you...I'm still using things that are already there: the basic American rootsy sound with country and blues and so forth. Los Angeles Times 21 May 1986, section 6, p. 2 He went from the depth-charged super-funk of 'Head', straight into the buoyant and rootsy pop of 'When You Were Mine'. The Times 26 July 1988, p. 14