Country music is a popular genre of music in the south. The genre has a long history that inspired many great artists, but often this history is forgotten, leaving POC out of the genre.
How it Started
Country music is the product of the working class of the Appalachians. It was first recorded in the early 1920s as a combination of folk songs and regional music of immigrants in the area. Initially, it was called hillbilly music. In 1923 John Carson recorded country musics’ first hit record. In 1927 DeFord Bailey became the first ever country singer to be introduced on the Grand Ole Opry, the world’s longest-running radio show.
However, come to the Great Depression, country music started to vary from its folk origins and adapt characteristics of blues and gospel music. This is the country music that quickly became popular and is what is often referred to as “real country music.”
How It’s Changed
Country music started as the music of working-class Appalachian immigrants. Still, the country music many people recognize today was inspired by blues, gospel music, and POC artists of the time.
During the Great Depression, when many southern rural immigrants moved to cities in search of jobs, their music was influenced by the gospel and blues music they were exposed to. This introduced many great POC country artists. While POC country artists were involved in the genre from the beginning, such as DeFord Bailey, they became more prevalent in the genre after the Great Depression. These artists include iconic singers such as Charley Pride, Darius Rucker, and Ray Charles.
Starting in the 1970s, and becoming more common in the 2000s, was the integration of pop music into the country. This is the style of country that many Gen Z recognizes, with artists such as Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, and Brad Paisley. This new era of country music has caused some controversy among older fans. Country music has also changed not just in style but also in the type of artists.
In recent years the majority of country artists that are played the most on the radio are white. With the development of country pop, POC artists have been slowly pushed out of the genre they helped create. At the 2022 America Country Music Awards, in the artist’s categories, there were not any POC artists that won, and only one was nominated; Jammie Allen, who was nominated for male artist of the year. Of the top 50 country artists of 2021 two were POC, Nelly, and Kane Brown. There are many great POC country artists, but they aren’t as well known.
Artists Spotlight
While country pop has created many great POC artists that have gotten quite popular, such as Darius Rucker and Cowboy Troy, many other great POC artists aren’t as well known despite their many accomplishments.
Willie Jones is a country singer from Shreveport, Louisiana. He auditioned for the X-Factor in 2012 and has written several songs about racial injustice. He released his album “Right Now” in 2021, which included songs such as “American Dream” and “Back Porch.”
Mickey Guyton is from Guyton, Texas. She was nominated for New Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2016 ACM Awards. Her 2021 song “Black Like Me” was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance.
The War and Treaty is a duo of the couple Tanta Blount-Trotter and Michael Trotter. They made their debut as a duo in 2017 with their album “Down to the River.” They have opened for John Legends on tour and performed at the ACM awards and the Grand Ole Opry. They have released albums such as “Hearts Town” and “Healing Tide.”
tmc.cci@telus.net Is there any good reference sources for County Music Las Angeles [1950] i was theer in the mid 50’s and the city had more country music venues than nashville and many of the performers and personalities later moved to Nashville, i would like to do some research and need some starting points thankyou
I have the rights to some wonderful “0original songs” that under normal circumstances would become blockbusters as far as success, followings and sales are concerned!
I’ve been told that way too many songs are sent to the artists instead of their managers and NO ONE ( especially the artist) has the time to listen to every song someone sends them!! As a novice as far as this business is concerned, I’m wondering if sending CDs to the artists managers is the correct procedure…. and if so, which makes sense to me🤷🏽♂️……. How does one find the correct managers of Artists??
They called the new country music.No way
Dear Author. You totally minimized the true roots and evolution of Country music. The roots of Country music were appropriated from the African/Black experience, as was all commercial
music as we know if now. Country music is story telling with unique instrumentation. The instruments used came from African roots including the banjo. Please research deeper. It did not come from Appalachia the emphasis and credit needs to mention the appropriation. It was not simply influenced by blues and gospel. Black people were not allowed in spaces even as entertainers, hence white performers popularized the idiom for an audience and not only that, benefitted financially from publishing, but also the melodies and sometimes stories were not theirs. This pattern of shuttling out Black artists from Country music carries on today which is ridiculous since they were the originators. Please keep these facts in the forefront.
I agree country music has changed, and not for the better! I still like gene watson, web pierce. Even Roy acuff, bill monrow, Waylon j, Willy nelson, one old person, how he joined the grand old opre, I’ll never know. Jimmy dickins! He can’t sing worth a dang. Of course, that is my opinion. Some, country music buffs will disagree, yes, my age is showing, I’m 90. Thank you all for reading my likes and dislikes!