Image courtesy of elmoudjaweb.com.
If you picture a stereotypical country music band, you might call to mind a crew of musicians playing the banjo, a mandolin, the fiddle—maybe the harmonica, perhaps a pedal steel guitar—and someone on mic with a twangy Southern accent. While the specifics of your band may vary here or there, whether you realized it or not, your imaginary country band is most likely white. It is incontestable that the country music scene is a white space. The vast majority of top charting country singers now and throughout history are and have been white. Even for those who have a limited knowledge of country music—artists like Johnny Cash, Tim McGraw, and Carrie Underwood still come to the public mind—their commonality being whiteness. Of the one-hundred and forty-six members in the Country Music Hall of Fame, only three African-Americans have ever been inducted, the first being Charley Pride in 2000. There has been little uproar about this fact—most people have happily, perhaps unconsciously, digested the idea that country music is for white people. As consumers of the music industry in America, we let them have it.
In reality, just like most popular music genres, country music in the U.S. began with Black People. More specifically, the story of country begins with the banjo. The modern-day banjo is a descendant of a West African instrument, made from gourds, called the Akonting. When enslaved persons were taken from Africa to America, their instruments came with them. For four hundred years, enslaved people created their own music, hymns, spirituals, and field songs—all with roots in African music. Accordingly, in the 1840s, the banjo was seen as an exclusively Black instrument; it was unheard of for a white person to play the banjo.
In the 1850s, minstrel shows came into raging popularity. These shows were a terribly racist form of satirical entertainment in which white people would dress in Blackface to mock Black people and Black culture. Performing the music and dance of enslaved people, with instruments such as the aforementioned banjo, the shows portrayed African-Americans as lazy, stupid, and foolish—stereotypes that originated on the plantation and still linger as overarching prejudices towards Black People. Then, somewhat unintentionally, minstrel shows introduced the banjo to white audiences in a palatable way such that the banjo was quickly appropriated by white people. Thus, the minstrel show laid the groundwork for the rise of hillbilly music roughly around the 1920s.
Hillbilly music, which would later be renamed country, became the music of the south. Hillbilly music was not solely centered around the banjo; the first hillbilly artists drew inspiration from slave spirituals, field songs, hymns, and the blues, which itself has black origins. In the 1920s and 30s, despite America being a deeply segregated nation, both Black and white hillbilly artists collaborated on a number of popular tracks. According to Patrick Huber, a history professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology, “Nearly 50 African-American singers and musicians appeared on commercial hillbilly records between those years — because the music was not a white agrarian tradition, but a fluid phenomenon passed back and forth between the races.”
After World War I, hillbilly music was officially rebranded as country music and commercialized. Big record labels wanted to sell country music, but couldn’t do so if it was integrated. Thus, Black artists on previous famous records received no recognition, and the covers were sold with white stand-ins. Suddenly, country music became marketed as “white music.” White audiences then adopted country music as their own, and as they moved north, white southerners brought country with them, further spreading the notion that country was “white music.” Meanwhile, Black artists, musicians and their contributions were effectively erased, in the white mainstream, from their own genre.
Music is shaped by those who market it, make it, and consume it. For decades since, country music has been dominated by white artists, marketed by a white industry, performing to white audiences. But the Black artists that have been the foundation in making country music what it is today cannot be forgotten. To name a few, DeFord Bailey was the one of the first Black musicians to gain recognition and was the first to play the Grand Ole Opry—a big deal for country musicians. His harmonica playing style greatly influenced the country musicians that followed him. Succeeding Bailey was Charley Pride. As mentioned before, Pride was the first black artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and is often referred to as “country music’s first Black superstar.” He served as an inspiration for countless Black musicians. In their tow, Ray Charles was responsible for blending country with R&B and pop music in a way that would forever change the genre. His music also helped fuel the civil rights movement. Bailey, Pride, and Charles are three of the most recognizable Black names in country music, but there are many lesser known names that have also been critical in forming the genre. Gus Cannon was a Black musician who helped popularize jug bands (a precursor to country) in the 1920s and ended up teaching Johnny Cash, a world renowned white country singer. In addition, the guitar fingerpicking style that is largely used in country music today was developed by Black guitarist Leslie Riddle. The list of Black artists that have made incredible impacts on country music goes on, but many names remain unrecognized.
Today, Black artists still face a number of difficulties breaking into the industry. In 2019, Lil Nas X’s grammy winning country rap single, “Old Town Road” was listed on the Billboard country charts before it was soon after removed. Rolling Stone told Billboard, “it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.” Many have accepted this explanation, but it fails to acknowledge the country fans who accused Lil Nas X of “cultural appropriation” for wearing a cowboy hat; this only proves that country music has become so whitewashed that its history has essentially been erased. Similarly, when Beyonce released, “Daddy’s Lessons,” in 2016, she faced heavy backlash from the industry despite the fact that the hit single includes all the elements of traditional country music. Even when Beyonce performed “Daddy’s Lessons” at the 2016 Country Music Awards with The Chicks, country fans were enraged. She additionally submitted the record for a Grammy but was denied.
It is also essential to acknowledge that in the history of country music, Black women are nearly entirely left out. This is largely because Black women, facing both racism and sexism, were given no platform at all to break into the industry. The first Black woman to enter the country world and gain commercial success was Linda Martell, who released her first album, Color Me Country, in 1970. In the past decade, we have seen the number of Black female country artists grow, yet they still face discrimination.
In spite of the challenges, there are still many Black Women working to change the nature of the genre. Some Black female country artists gaining well-warranted notoriety today include Valerie June who combines folk, blues, and gospell into her music; Allison Russel who helped form the band Po’ Girl in the early 2000s and whose solo music career is taking off with three Grammy nominations following her 2021 album “Outside Child”; Brittney Spencer, an up-and-coming pop-country artist who was recently named one of “12 Black Artists Shaping Country Music’s Future” by USA Today; Amythyst Kiah, an incredibly powerful and soulful vocalist who plays both banjo and guitar; and Mickey Guyton who released “Black Like Me” in response to the death of George Floyd and recently sang the national anthem at the 2022 Super Bowl. “Black Like Me” was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance at the 2021 Grammy awards. The reality and profound depth of each of these artists' experiences as Black Women in America shows through in their music, all of which can be found on Spotify or Apple Music.
Country often gets dismissed as being simply and superficially about getting drunk, driving the truck or a scorned lover digging her “key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive.” Still, another common theme of country songs is to tell the story of the hardships of life; even Johnny Cash’s most popular song is titled “Hurt.” But what is overlooked by white Americans is that hardship is the core of the Black experience in the United States, feeding into the soul of country music, hence why the two are inextricably linked. Due to the fact that country music would not exist without the Black experience and the overlooked yet tireless work of Black musicians, it is crucial to advocate for, and legitimize, Black history. Black people are a central target of the United States’ oppressive structures, constantly told that so many pieces of American culture are not for them; both basic needs like healthy low-cost food, proper education, housing, affordable health care—but also the expressive disciplines that Black people have greatly contributed to like the arts, music, dance, entertainment, and so on—are often viewed as “white domain.” In reality, American culture was built off the backs of Black people. It’s time to properly recognize the history, give credit where it is due, and support Black country artists.