It started with an article in Marie Claire:
https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/country-music-black-women-roundtable/
I had been thinking about Black people in country music since Country Carter was released and "Fast Car" won a Grammy. This article gave me several examples of people to listen to and a book to read.
The initial article didn't quite give me 30 days of music. I did some other searches, but this article was a great starting place. There were two important things about it.
First of all there was the mention of DeFord Bailey as the earliest Grand Ole Opry star. My previous knowledge only went back as far as Charley Pride, decades later.
It also ended up pointing me to Alice Randall's book, My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future.
That gave me a lot more knowledge. If I had read it sooner, it might have changed some of the songs I picked, but I am okay with the songs I picked.
If I have one regret, I suppose it was using "Old Town Road" in February. It made sense at the time, but I had not known that this was going to happen. I don't like repeating, but it felt like "Old Town Road" was so significant that it needed to be included again.
I am including release dates, and ended up going in chronological order.
Well, there are several in the same years; I did not check specific release dates in that case. Regardless, you may notice that the numbers of songs go up between "Old Town Road" and "TEXAS HOLD 'EM".
That is partly because the Marie Claire article was focusing on what is current, and most of my listening pool came from there. It does also seem like there may be some barriers being removed. I hope so. Country music isn't my thing, but diversity, equity, and inclusion is. Representation is important to me, as is ending erasure.
Many of these influences did not get enough recognition, or they were recognized but then erased.
One of the worst things from Randall's book was about DeFord Bailey. Relocating to Nashville, she was told at least twice -- by white men -- that the reason he faded into obscurity was that he got too lazy to write new songs.
Talking to a Black politician, Bailey had written a jingle for him later, and was still doing things in the community. Did that community work specifically get him shunned, or was laziness just the easiest explanation to put on it? It isn't always possible to piece everything together, but there are reasons to be skeptical of white people blaming a lack of success on Black pathology.
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2024/06/final-thoughts-black-history-month-2024.html
About those barriers... one thing I admire about Beyoncé is that she seems to be very thoughtful and deliberate about what she does. As I looked up these various artists, a lot of them were getting recent plays on songs off of Cowboy Carter where they played a role.
She didn't only use Black artists -- there are appearances by Dolly Parter, Willie Nelson, and Miley Cyrus -- but they are all also really famous. I suspect it was a pretty big boost for people like Tanner Adell, Reyna Roberts, and Tiera Kennedy.
I remember reading in Legends, Icons, & Rebels (from the Robbie Robertson spotlight) that Patsy Cline made a point of mentoring other women coming up in country, most notably Loretta Lynn. There is a little homage to Cline on Cowboy Carter, but there may be a bigger one in working to raise the profile of other artists.
For additional reading on Black Country artists, My Black Country may be your best bet, but here are some other articles I used:
https://www.billboard.com/music/country/black-pioneers-country-music-grand-ole-opry-9433530/
https://briefly.co.za/facts-lifehacks/top/165926-top-black-country-singers/
https://www.wideopencountry.com/6-african-american-country-singers/
Related posts:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2024/02/fast-car-discourse.html
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2024/03/daily-songs-february.html
And -- of course -- the songs:
6/1 “Muscle Shoals Blues” by DeFord Bailey (~ 1932)
6/2 “Bad Case of the Blues” by Linda Martell (1970)
6/3 “Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone” by Charley Pride (1970)
6/4 “Fairytale” by The Pointer Sisters (1975)
6/5 “Green Eyes (Cryin' Those Blue Tears)” by Dona Mason with Danny Davis & The Nashville Brass (1987)
6/6 “You Do My Heart Good” by Cleve Francis (1992)
6/7 “Movin' On” by Po' Girl (2004)
6/8 “Country Girl” by Rissi Palmer (2007)
6/9 “My Heart” by Lizz Wright (2012)
6/10 “Wagon Wheel” by Darius Rucker (2013)
6/11 “What Ifs” by Kane Brown ft. Lauren Alaina (2016)
6/12 “Moonlight” by Rhiannon Giddens (2018)
6/13 “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus (2019)
6/14 “Good Times Roll” by Jimmie Allen & Nelly (2020)
6/15 “Nobody's More Country” by Blanco Brown (2021)
6/16 “Stand For Myself” by Yola (2021)
6/17 “Good Love” by Shy Carter (2021)
6/18 “Raised Right” by Reyna Roberts (2021)
6/19 “Wild Turkey” by Amythyst Kiah (2021)
6/20 “Nightflyer” by Allison Russell (2021)
6/21 “Tall Boy” by Shaboozey (2022)
6/22 “Highways” by Denitia (2022)
6/23 “Praise the Lord” by Breland ft. Thomas Rhett (2022)
6/24 “Alabama Nights” by Tiera Kennedy (2022)
6/25 “Something to Dance To” by Willie Jones (2023)
6/26 “Nothing Compares To You” by Mickey Guyton ft. Kane Brown (2023)
6/27 “Love You A Little Bit” by Tanner Adell (2023)
6/28 “Blank Page” by The War and Treaty (2023)
6/29 “Bigger Than The Song” by Brittney Spencer (2024)
6/30 “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” by Beyoncé
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