In recent years, the country music genre has grown tremendously in popularity. The artists who have paved the way for new sub-genres, clothing trends and performance styles started in an industry that wouldn’t even let them claim the title of a country music star. Regardless, artists like Tracy Chapman, Darius Rucker and Chuck Berry have broken stereotypes and opened doors within an industry many would deem impossible.
The new faces of the country music industry have brought with them fresh, new ideas that are deeply rooted within their racial identities and culture. This exploration reveals the overlooked Black American roots of country music and cowboy culture.
Black Southern culture is rich in tradition, food and art. Jumping the broom, Sunday service and Juneteenth celebrations are just the tip of the iceberg that is Black Southern culture.
Pynk Beard is an artist that has traditional country music but has put a bit of a spin on some of his songs.
In one of his most recent sample releases, he combines hip-hop and country, showcasing an Alabamian accent not commonly heard within the country music genre. These artists present a Southern culture that many have not been exposed to. These new perspectives are changing the way people view country music while, simultaneously, opening people’s minds up to a variety of different American experiences.
Another artist to do this is Momo Boyd with her new single “American Love Song.” Boyd highlights an American experience that is often neglected and missing from mainstream media, the lives of Black American women. This song is a beautiful link between race and patriotism.
Lyrics like “If I wasn’t so American, I might love you more, but giving up my independence goes against my core,” pushes listeners to analyze the complex relationship Black women have with themselves and their culture, which is largely due to intersecting parts of their identities.
Racial identity is an important part of many Black American lives given that racism is an unfortunate reality for many citizens. Tanner Adell is a country music star whose recent single “Going Blonde” speaks about Adell’s complicated relationship with her grief journey and how she connects with her birth mother.
Beyoncé is a worldwide pop star. She started in an R&B group and soon shifted to pop and hip-hop. Her most recent album, “Cowboy Carter,” left many shocked by the fact that she seemingly switched from her R&B background to country out of nowhere. Beyoncé, on the other hand, did not see it that way.
She was simply getting back to her roots. “16 Carriages,” “American Requiem” and “This Ain’t Texas” are just a few of the songs on her album that highlight the hardship, as well as the beauty of Black Southern culture and Black Southern lives. Cowboy Carter showed a type of cowboy you don’t see too often and gave so many Black Americans the chance to see their culture celebrated and validated.
With all the newly gained popularity, it cannot go unnoticed that artists who are not White seem to go ignored and/or uncredited, and to top it off, are rarely if ever, considered for Country Music Awards (CMAs).
The erasure of Black Musicians from country music is nothing new; in fact, the action of doing so dates back to the mid-to-late 1920s. One of the most notable names in the country has been on the back burner for far too long.
It’s said that the title “Father of Country Music” goes to a man named Jimmie Rodgers. Despite country music already existing in many parts of the U.S. before his professional career, Rodgers earned the title through his vocal abilities and the style of country he performed.
His style at the time was fairly new and combined other genres of music, such as blues and folk. He is known as one of the most influential country singers of his time and heavily contributed to the popularization of country amongst the masses. This has landed him in The Country Music Hall of Fame, with Rodgers being one of the first inductees in 1961.
Lesley Riddle was an African American country musician. It is stated here that around 1927 and 1928, Alvin Pleasance Carter and Riddle met and soon after began working together. It’s said that the unique style that put Jimmie Rodgers on the map was taught to him and the Carter family by Riddle.
Riddle wrote the song “Lonesome For You” and is credited by Maybelle Carter as the creator of the famous guitar picking style known as the “Carter Scratch.” Riddle never performed with the Carter family due largely to the Jim Crow laws of the time. Riddle married and lived out the rest of his days in North Carolina where he grew up.
The influence and impact of Black contribution to American culture has been nullified in so many ways, but whenever I worry that parts of history will be erased and forgotten I remember that the truth will be fought for. I remember that change will come.