Rewriting Country Music’s Racist History

August 29, 2020 11:18 AM

Rewriting Country Music’s Racist History (Rolling Stone) - Artists like Yola and Rhiannon Giddens are blowing up what Giddens calls a “manufactured image of country music being white and being poor”: At some point, it became an accepted cultural narrative that country music is the domain of white people. This has never been the case, but more to the point, it has never been further from the truth than right now. The myth persists while a number of black artists are challenging its foundation, hiding in plain sight on the country charts or on tours or on the radio. They don’t care much for that myth. They tell a different story. And they tell it damn well.

Artists mentioned in the article (all links to Youtube):

Lesley Riddle
Step By Step
Red River blues
(More on Lesley Riddle)

Charlie Pride
Kiss an Angel Good Morning
"Is Anybody Goin' To San Antone?"
All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)
Standing in My Way
I Can't Believe That You've Stopped Loving Me

Rhiannon Giddens
Live at the Grand Ole Opry2 (She's Got You)
Rhiannon Giddens featuring Yo-Yo Ma - "Build A House"
Wayfaring Stranger
I'm On My Way
NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
Black Is the Color
"Julie" | Austin City Limits Web Exclusive

Yola
Walk Through Fire [Live From Easy Eye studio]
Ride Out In The Country
"Faraway Look" | 2020 GRAMMYs Performance
It Ain't Easier
Love All Night (Work All Day)
I Don't Wanna Lie
Full Session (Live at The Current Day Party)

Darius Rucker
Don't Think I Don't Think About It
If I Told You
It Won't Be Like This For Long
Alright

Mickey Guyton
Better Than You Left Me
Sister
Black Like Me
What Are You Gonna Tell Her? (Live From The Ryman)

Kane Brown
What Ifs ft. Lauren Alaina
Used to Love You Sober
Heaven
Lose It

Jimmie Allen
Best Shot
Boy Gets A Truck
"Warrior"
Back Of Your Mind

posted by not_the_water (15 comments total)

Love this. I'm down for it if people want to link a bunch more artists, too. I'll start: Valerie June.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:48 AM on August 29, 2020 [6 favorites]

Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons, and Charles Hughes talked about this on NPR's 1A (The Long Ride To ‘Old Town Road’: Black Artists And Their Contributions To Country Music) last August, and it's a really interesting conversation.

not_the_water, thanks so much for this post and especially for all of the links!
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:58 AM on August 29, 2020

This is great. Love Giddens and will be checking out these other artists.
posted by octothorpe at 2:14 PM on August 29, 2020

This FPP is fantastic!

And for anyone who is curious, I highly recommend this banger by Yola. I caught it randomly on the radio in 2017 and it was one of those holy-shit-who-IS-that? moments.

Fly Away - spotify | youtube | live at The Lion's Den
posted by minervous at 4:14 PM on August 29, 2020 [5 favorites]

This is all so great, thank you!
posted by Dip Flash at 5:57 PM on August 29, 2020

African bluegrass tries to identify some of the vast influences of African and African-American cultures on bluegrass.

Billboard has an occasional article
7 Black Country Artists Who Pushed the Genre Forward
What It's Like To Be Black in Country Now

Essence's 18 Black Country Singers You Need To Know
posted by blob at 8:23 PM on August 29, 2020 [7 favorites]

wow, this is so cool. i decided to click on rhiannon gidden's stuff first, and the npr tiny desk one rly sounded so similar to ghazal music (which is what i'm familiar with, growing up). that banjo player would not be out of place.
posted by cendawanita at 11:25 PM on August 29, 2020

I'm not sure if Ken Burns' history of country music is streaming anywhere. It was a very interesting look. Spotify used to have a channel for the music from the series, though I'm not sure if that's still available.
posted by kathrynm at 7:55 AM on August 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

My favorite Rhiannon Giddens is actually S’iomadh Rid (The Dhith Om / Ciamar A Ni Mi) .
posted by gudrun at 9:47 AM on August 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

If songs were conscious entities, they would long for Rhiannon Giddens to sing them.
posted by jamjam at 2:13 PM on August 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

It seems like "Black folks make and enjoy country music, too" is one of those stories that comes around periodically - not unlike "jazz is dead," in some ways - and people then are reminded of some of the relevant history and current developments.

This is not a criticism of this post or anything connected with it, just an observation. Personally, I enjoy revisiting the subject, in part because it's an opportunity to mention Herb Jeffries, aka "The Bronze Buckaroo," who starred in all-Black westerns, sang with Duke Ellington, and yes, recorded some country music.

(Interestingly, Jeffries actually was not African-American - his mom was Irish, and his dad was "mixed Sicilian, French, Italian and Moorish" - but he "passed" as Black for his movie and music careers. A fascinating character in many ways...)

Also perhaps of some relevance: Rhythm, Country and Blues, a 1994 album featuring an all-star cast of country, soul and blues singers teaming up on well-known standards. The version of Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" by Al Green and Lyle Lovett is worth the price all by itself, but you also get Little Richard + Tanya Tucker, Vince Gill + Gladys Knight, and much more.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 3:59 PM on August 30, 2020 [4 favorites]

that is a wonderful album indeed
posted by thelonius at 4:03 PM on August 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Layla McCalla is noted in the article as a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and is currently 1/4th of Our Native Daughters (both alongside Rhiannon Giddons). The first song of hers that I ever heard was this haunting earworm Day for the Hunter, Day for the Prey.
posted by minervous at 4:40 PM on August 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Rhiannon Giddens is indeed wonderful, but I wanted to send some love Yola's way as well. I read this article when it came out and then went and streamed Yola's album 'Walk though Fire'. And then bought it, because it's awesome.

The album doesn't sound like modern country to me (because modern country in my opinion has a manufactured, plastic sound all its very unpleasant own) but it does remind me of 70s and 80s country. Yola's vocals are just great. I could flail more but really I just want to recommend that you listen to her album and maybe buy it because it's awesome.
posted by librarylis at 6:32 PM on August 31, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yola is fabulous.

I couldn't believe the great force of emotion with perfect vocal control she so effortlessly achieved in It Ain't Easier linked in the FPP — and I couldn't help laughing at the reverential looks on the faces of her white male backup musicians because I was feeling it too.
posted by jamjam at 12:04 AM on September 1, 2020