Country Music is Black Music.

Beyonce's 'COWBOY CARTER' is bringing Black country music to the front of the stage.

“Beyoncé’s upcoming country album ‘COWBOY CARTER’ has reignited a necessary, national conversation around the origins of country and folk music, particularly the foundation Black people set for the genres. The whitewashing of country has been no accident. A 2019 TIME article says it’s the result of a series of decisions by higher ups in the music industry. Because of the strategic, ongoing erasure, people guffaw at the thought of Black people making, and reclaiming, country. But we’ve been here all along.

The banjo, an instrument closely associated with country music, was inspired by West Africa’s lute. Additionally, country’s melodies were inspired by Black hymns, as documented by the Jacksonville Music Experience. They also note that on the song “Blue Yodel No. 9,” Jimmie Rogers, a white man called “The Father of Country Music” was accompanied by the great Louis Armstrong, who was not in the song’s credits.

Among the early, must-know names of country and folk music are DeFord Bailey (country’s first Black star and an early performer at the Grand Ole Opry), Chuck Berry (rock n’ roll visionary influenced by country music), Linda Martell (country’s first high-selling Black woman), Charley Pride (Country Music Hall of Fame inductee) and Odetta (a singer Martin Luther King dubbed “The Queen of Folk”). They paved the way for Black country artists, and set a standard for authentic storytelling—a fixture in the genres.

The pioneers endured racism, much like modern country performers. Gatekeepers sought to keep Black voices silenced and would even yell out during performances, in an attempt to discourage. “You’d be singing and they’d shout out names and you know the names they would call you,” Linda Martell said during a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone. Nevertheless, they persisted, inspiring a crop of artists.

Today’s big voices in country include acts like Tanner Adell, Willie Jones, RVSHVD, Brittney Spencer, among others. They stay true to its roots, while pushing country forward.”

— words by Brooklyn R. White