Black American-Run Country Music Associations Needed to Make a Comeback—Here’s Why

Are predominantly white institutions (PWIs) the end-all, be-all answer to tackling the country Music diversity dilemma? I think not.

Written By: Johnaé De Felicis

Charley Pride

Becoming a trailblazing Country Music superstar was an improbable destiny for Charley Pride considering his humble beginnings as a sharecropper’s son on a cotton farm in Sledge, Mississippi. His unique journey to the top of the music charts includes a detour through the world of Negro league, minor league and semi-pro baseball as well as hard years of labor alongside the vulcanic fires of a smelter. But in the end, with boldness, perseverance and undeniable musical talent, he managed to parlay a series of fortuitous encounters with Nashville insiders into an amazing legacy of hit singles and tens of millions in record sales.

Growing up, Charley was exposed primarily to Blues, Gospel and Country music.

On the heels of Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” release, Black country artists had their mainstream moment amongst the genre’s fans. It was long overdue since it was us who helped create and pioneer country music, though racist industry politics have blocked most of our artists from shining in the big leagues. 

Reflecting on the genre’s beginnings, Indigenous pride comes to mind. Charley Pride, the first mainstream Black country artist, made big waves in this country music category. Yet, he experienced mislabeling in the same way that reclassified Indigenous Black Americans have in the U.S. “They used to ask me how it feels to be the ‘first colored country singer,‘ then it was ‘first Negro country singer,’ then the ‘first Black country singer.’ Now I’m the first African-American country singer.′ That’s about the only thing that’s changed,” he shared with The Dallas Morning News in 1992. 

Before Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter release, only a handful of Black country artists had achieved commercial recognition—Darius Rucker, Mickey Guyton, and Linda Martell, to name a few. Then you have accomplished artists like K-Michelle, who crossed over from R&B and other genres to country music, just to land back at square one and climb an uphill battle for a seat at the table. 

To date, only three Black country artists out of hundreds have been inducted into the Country Hall of Fame. And while Nashville’s Country Music Association claims to champion diversity and inclusion, I can’t help but think that it’s merely a performative response to societal pressure. Industry gatekeepers still don’t welcome Black country artists with open arms, no matter how talented they are. We saw that with Beyoncé.  Colonial-run institutions continue to move the line for what’s considered “country,” conveniently weaponizing this issue as an excuse to deny Black artists their deserved record deals and radio play. My observation of country music fans is that they don’t care if you’re black, white, yellow, purple, or blue. They just want damn good music. The institutions are guilty of rejecting many country artists of color by refusing to kick down their invisible white picket fence. Still, now that artists can directly reach their fans with social media, their “blessing” doesn’t matter anymore. It never did. 

As an artist and creative of color, I think I speak for us all when I say that we are past fighting for acceptance in predominantly white spaces. With the rise of emerging Black country artists, the case for Black American-run associations comes into play.

The History of Black Country Music Associations

Cleve Francis, M.D.

Singer, Songwriter, Performer and Physician (Photo by Rena Schild)

In 1995, a Black country artist collective aimed to ‘unblur’ the genre’s color lines. With that came the Black Country Music Association’s inception. Founded by country performer Cleve Francis, the Association challenged the status quo and the narrative of our musicians and our music. They went out of their way to ensure that the underdogs were given their flowers and considered as more than an afterthought, opening doors that they otherwise may not have been able to walk through themselves.  Francis departed from the organization in 1996, leaving country songwriter and performer Frankie Staton to become its frontrunner. The association cultivated a community amongst Black country artists magically. For example, they hosted their Black Country Music Showcase at Nashville’s famous Bluebird Cafe, a historic landmark and songwriter’s haven for testing new songs.

Thanks to the Black Country Music Association, ignored artists who needed a leg up in the business had an extra lifeline. The leaders, as country artists themselves, generously educated their successors on the industry’s ins and outs. 

The Black Country Music Association had an active presence in the late 1990s and early 2000s but has since dissolved. Yet, its legacy continues to live on. Two years ago, the Country Music Hall of Fame acknowledged the Association in their exhibit, American Currents: State of the Music. Today’s younger organizations, like the Black Opry and Nashville Music Equality, carry the torch in fighting for industry equity. 

From BCMA to Black Opry 

The Black Opry

Black Opry is home for Black artists, fans and industry professionals working in country, Americana, blues, folk and roots music.

In 2021, researchers from the University of Ottowa found that the 400 country artists in the US include only 1% who identify as Black and 3.2% who identify as BIPOC. Organizations like Black Opry, a modern-day twist on the Black Country Music Association, seek to change that. Its community of Black country, folk, blues, and Americana artists is boldly ushering in a new generation of Black country artists. Founder Holly G. started the Black Opry in April 2021 to advocate for country artists of color. What started as a community blog has since expanded to a huge movement of emerging Black country artists. The Black Opry comprises more than 90 musicians who have been featured in over 100 shows to date. Black Opry acts get ample stage time to sing and perform on their instruments, with other members doing backup vocals, giving them equal attention and visibility. I’m proud of this community for creating a safe space for marginalized country artists, ensuring that they go through the music journey as part of a supportive and active community of performers.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter release also opened the floodgates of widespread support for the Black Opry, as the album features members of the collective. The community exists as much for the fans as it does for the artists, further bridging the gap between the two groups. As a folk musician myself, I’ve come to realize that there’s an audience for everyone, regardless of skin color. 

Supporting The Future of Black Country Music

Linda Martell

A pioneering force hailed as the unsung hero of the genre, Linda Martell (82), was the first commercially successful Black female artist in country music. Martell had the highest peaking single on the Billboard Hot Country Singles (now Songs) chart at #22, “Color Him Father,” by a Black female country artist in the history of the genre in 1969, until Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ’Em” debuted at #1 on February 21st, 2024. Martell was notably the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry stage.

Black country pioneers who paved the way for today’s artists, from Charley Pride to Linda Martell, faced roadblocks that we likely couldn’t fathom. Today’s Black country music associations are in place to keep those following in their footsteps from experiencing similar obstacles. Thanks to technology and social media cutting out the middleman, opportunities in country music are now more accessible than ever.  Supporting each other also goes a long way. Cowboy Carter introduced us to some newer Black faces in country music who have been putting in work for years, like Tanner Adell and Reyna Roberts. And then you have hybrid artists like Shaboozey and Breland who are innovatively merging the worlds of country and hip-hop.  

These artists are what country music needs to evolve in a forward-moving direction. They’re pushing boundaries in a way that we haven’t seen before, and it’s a breath of fresh air. There’s no limit on how far these rising talents can go, especially with a strong, sustained community like ours backing them. 

And the Oscar Goes To…Blacks, the Academy, and Representation.

Written By: Aaron Whitlow

Back in 1939, Hattie McDaniel won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Gone With the Wind (1939).  McDaniel was only allowed into the venue with a strict “No Blacks” policy as a favor, and even then, she was segregated to her table in the very back of the room. No other blacks won that specific award again until Whoopie Goldberg did for her performance in the 1990 film Ghost. Mammy and Oda Mae Brown's differences are distinctive yet oddly similar. Mammy was a slave who took care of the needs of her white owners but still had enough independence to speak up to Scarlett when she started to get a little too out of sorts, and Oda Mae Brown was a con artist working as a psychic unknowing that she was actually a magical negro.  Brown had no problem speaking her mind, but it was still utilized to advance the story of the white characters much like Mammy.

Why are we often nominated and applauded for portraying characters that lean into stereotypes and tropes yet overlooked for strong characters?  Sidney Poitier was the first African American to be nominated and win the Best Actor award for his performance in Lilies of the Field (1963). For that time, it was amazing that Poitier did not play a thug, a slave, or a mentally challenged individual but a strong, knowledgeable, and skilled traveler.  Let’s fast forward to the next time an African American was nominated and won the Best Actor award. Denzel Washington played a street-wise yet corrupt cop in the 2001 film Training Day. No doubt about Washington’s ownership of such a flawed character, but one could easily argue he outworked himself when he played real-life Civil Rights activist Malcolm el Shabazz in Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X(1992). Washington did such a great job as the assassinated leader that it is still hard to buy anyone else portraying him.

I am not saying we have not won awards or been recognized for other types of characters because we have. From Jamie Fox as Ray Charles to Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin; we have enough talent to pull off any performance, however, we can’t ignore the performances and the type of characters played by Hallie Berry, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Will Smith.

Lastly, as we look forward to a year that showcases blacks nominated for Best Actor (Jeffrey Wright and Colman Domingo), Best Supporting Actor ( Sterling K. Brown), and Best Supporting Actress (Danielle Brooks and Da’Vine Joy Randolph) let us not forget that in 2023 we saw a look of defeat on the face of Angela Bassett when she lost to Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis’ win was dubbed long overdue, but the same can be said for Bassett, who had at that point turned in powerful performances in her long filmography that we all have loved, but at the end of the day, what’s love got to do with it?

Miss Mae Remembers

Written By: Douglas Curry

Design by: Xander Bowen

Miss Mae daydreams in the summer breeze
of some yesterdays long  ago although
they seem as clear today as one of those tv's;
pretty mens with their perfume and powder

not sissies, no;  loafers... sheiks
with their high-draped pants
and long-toed shoes... slicked down hair
gold-chained Elgins and polished nails

gettin' that Beale Street fast-track money
faster than they could spend it
pass a gal a sawbuck for a song
a gold toothed smile and a wink for a date.

She sees rough, beefy-faced bulls
watching with steely-eyed menace,
pistols tucked, billy clubs ready,
scarred and chipped... Saturday night law

beckoned to alleys by girls  for pleasure
living large on illicit treasure
the pimps' and bootleggers' bounty
costs of doing business, beneits of the job

Miss Mae remembers the small crowds
when you came in as Ma Rainey left town,
taking with her all their money and their hearts;
but huge crowds for her - and Bessie's - closing shows.

Country folk with brogan shoes;
bandy-legged gals with love for sale
musky mens tryin' a give it away
Sat'day night in Black Bottom

Miss Mae recalls...
Bessie, singing opera for a laugh,
and spirituals on Sunday mornings...
whilst her dykes, pimps, rounders...slept

And then there was a two week stint
When Mr Calloway needed a high yaller
to high-step and "Hi-de-Ho" at the Cotton Club
O' Harlem... how you jazz me; you do make me high...

Oh... the times... the parties, the crowds.
Gold-toothed blues singers dressing fine,
cool jazz cats in dark cars taking  dope,
passing reefers to a back seat full of 'ho's

Miss Mae smiles just to think...
of her big money sugar daddies;
there was at least one in every town
from Biddle Street to Lenox Avenue...

before the wars...
before so many started to move

George Karger/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

before the pickets, the marches, the riots
before things got so complicated

Sittling on a trash can top
watching the Harlem children
sprout, grow, disappear...
Miss Mae remembers her song...

"They call me Maybe Mae
and I just come to play
but, treat me right, Daddy
Maybe Mae might stay..." 

And the clouds blocking the restless sky
are as gray as Miss Mae's scattered braids
that hide the rememberings of an old woman
who no one knows now, her reverie lingers...

Struttin' her stuff, high steppin'
in those greasy, noisy joints
they were for 'colored only' then
and only for them, singing her blues.


Doug Curry
May 3, 2017

Lady A: Pacific NW Black Blues

By Nascha Jolie

Lady A Photo Credit Leo Gabriel

Lady A, aka Anita White and The Real Lady A, announces that she and the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum filed joint motions to dismiss the trademark infringement litigation pending in the U.S. District Courts for Tennessee and Washington.  The Parties have reached a confidential, mutually agreeable solution.

Lady A wants to thank all those that offered her encouragement, unconditional love, and support during this ordeal.  She is especially grateful for her Cooley LLP law team, Brendan Hughes, Joe Drayton, Judd Lauter, Jane van Benten, and Natalie Pike, her team at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP led by Junaid Odubeko, and for her Seattle producer and friend, 

John Oliver III “who suggested seeking pro bono assistance from Cooley.”

Lady A appreciates their transparent communication, integrity, diligence, and tireless efforts.  Their pro bono representation assisted Lady A, an independent musical artist, in protecting her name, amplifying her voice, and bringing awareness to the long history of Black artists being treated unfairly by those in the music industry.

Lady A’s ninth CD and latest offering entitled, Satisfyin’ is scheduled for release on February 7th, 2022 coinciding with Black History Month, Lady A is continuing to send out messages of hope and inspiration.  Gio Pilato of Bluebird Reviews describes Lady A’s album as “… an eclectic, highly pleasing combo of Soul, Blues, Fusion, R&B and Funk that lifts your spirit throughout the whole duration of the record.”  Please note the album can only be found by typing in the title of the CD, Satisfyin’ – Lady A.

With this chapter ending, and a new year upon us, Lady A -- The Real Lady A -- is grateful and excited about new opportunities the next chapter will bring.  She looks forward to continuing to share her love of music and passion for music education through her involvement with the Rhapsody Project and Northwest Blues in the Schools.  Her goal is to continue to uplift others and help to create positive changes for all those with whom she is honored to work in music and in her community.  Always living by her motto:  Be Blessed and Be A Blessing.  

Black Lives, Names, Experiences, Work, Art – They All Matter.
PRESS RELEASE
STATEMENT FROM Lady A – The Real Lady A 

The article and Interview start here

I reach Lady A on a Wednesday afternoon in early February at her home in Seattle. Despite  an on-going pandemic, she has been busy performing locally, completing a brand new album which will be released at press time; and most recently settled a lawsuit that placed the Original Lady A on the front page of the news across the nation. But this bright sunny winter afternoon, Lady A is catching her breathing. She’s been busy working and performing gigs with her band all week now that the Seattle area has been recovering from recent snow storms. 

“I’ve been gigging all through, COVID, it’s been wonderful,” she says. After the first few weeks of lock down so she and her producer came up with the idea to do pop-up performances around their city.

“You know, it was nice those first couple of weeks..you know, you got to work at home, but then it was like people were starting to go a little stir crazy. We had been working on a new CD, and everything kind of stopped, you know. So we started doing what was called pop-up concerts…We would just pop up in neighborhoods around the community and perform.”

Lady A says that the local storefront owners and food vendors supported their efforts by allowing them to either use their property or to set up in front of them. Before the mask mandates, the patrons could sit outside six feet apart and enjoy Lady A and her music while patronizing the local businesses. It became a great way to connect with the city, unite people during difficult times and to support the local economy.

Photo Credit: Dawn Johnson

From there, Lady A says that people would hire her and the band to play in their backyard for small private concerts. “Yeah, they sort of hired us to play in their back yard, just for a few people because you know, you couldn’t have a bunch of people…So we play for like 10 or 20 people depending on how big your backyard is. And that was fun and went on for a while.

“Then we did a lot of virtual concerts. I was very blessed to be able to do a lot of virtual concerts. And so I appreciate it. It really did work for me and my band. We did a lot of free things, but it didn’t matter for us…we called them unpaid rehearsals…”

Lady A says that she performed with variations of her band as well as in a duo with her good friend and song-writing partner, Roz, who also sings background for Lady A. 

“I like to do different things within the music,” Lady A says.  This variety is evident in her musical journey which began at home and blossomed in the church, like most blues singers. 

Born Anita White, Lady A says that her roots are in Louisiana where her family migrated from, but she and her siblings were born and raised in the Columbia City and Beacon Hill neighborhoods in Seattle. She says that her family is musical where her parents and siblings sang and also played instruments. “My father was a drummer and so is my brother…you know we sing, but we don’t sing in church.” 

Lady A began performing in the children’s choir at the age of five. She didn’t do any solo gigs until well into adulthood, but she continued performing in choirs at church all through her youth. At the age of sixteen, she became a choir director of her youth choir. “Our instrumentalists at the time..quit on us and it was the church’s anniversary…and I just got up and said, you know, we can sing by ourselves. I got up and taught the parts…”

Lady A says she continued directing her choir and others for years and got used to having her back to the audience. It took a good friend and the big karaoke scene in the 1980s for her to get used to performing in front of a big crowd. “…I was scared to death because I was always used to not having to look at the audience,” she says. Once over her fear, Lady A joined a Motown Revue and began performing as a background vocalist before making her way to the front of the stage through the years.

By the nineties, Lady A began fronting her own bands. She had her own band, Lady A and the Baby Blues Funk Band and she was also singing with many others. At some point, she was performing with a different band almost every night of the week except Sunday.  These days, not much has changed, Lady A regularly performs and her band has evolved alongside her music. 

What is the vibe of your new album, Satisfyin’?

“The vibe on this record is, because as I said music evolves, the vibe is Seattle’s soulful blues. So, when I grew up, my mother and grandmother listened to the blues and gospel. So I’ve always put a gospel song on every single album I’ve done, right.

“This album is an ode to the music that I remember, it’s the vibe that I remember when I was coming up. I was young and I was listening to the blues and none of my friends could understand why, but I did. But it’s also the soulful side of the blues. It’s that funky blues meets Kool and the Gang vibe.

“I still like the blues, so my blues is funky. This CD will give you a vibe if you want to play it in your car and turn it up loud!” 

Who are your musical influences?

 “Kool & The Gang, Bobby Rush, Millie Jackson, Mahalia Jackson, Johnnie Taylor, Earth Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Bobby “Blue” Bland and Aretha Franklin. 

“I love Aretha Franklin Sings the Blues album. That’s like my all time-favorite, besides her gospel stuff. She can really sing the blues. And Prince could sing the blues too, but you had to see him in concert.”

Where is your favorite place in Europe? What has been your most memorable concert or your favorite place to sing?

“Favorite location? That’s easy. I was so blessed to go on tour in my favorite place to go, Sweden. I’ve been to Sweden three times. I traveled to the Netherlands from there because it’s like going from Seattle to Portland. You can just get on a plane and hop over.

“I was doing a tour, the From The Soul Tour with the Top Dogs in Sweden..I was there for a month and it was during July which is also my birthday month. So, my birthday was right in the middle of this tour. I’ve played the Quantum Data Festival in the Netherlands. 

“Fran Case invited me to come to the Netherlands. And he said just get on a plane and..pop on over. I'm like Oh, okay. So I did and I spent my birthday in the Netherlands, with friends of his and he invited his entire family to come and watch me perform..It was beautiful. And then the band that I played with in the Netherlands, a couple of them came up and so we just played music and did that. I flew back to Sweden to finish the tour…That's my favorite memory of performing there.”

What is your contribution to the blues in terms of keeping the legacy alive? How do you feel about the history of the blues and sharing that legacy in and outside of your music?

“I work with Northwest Blues in the Schools right here in Seattle. And it's just started up again through the Rhapsody Project, Washington Society. 

“I am on the Board of Directors of the Rhapsody project, which is a music project for kids here in the Seattle area. I'm also a vocal coach and a mentor in that program. 

“I’m a culture bearer which means that I talk about race, I talk about appropriation. It's like history man. I talk about it all the time anyway, even when it's not black history. We’re in Black History Month, but right here that represents who we are. 

“Like history to me is about the shoulders that I stood on to get where I am, right? My ancestors my great grandmother, my great-great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother. They were important, are important people to me and my family.

“So I think that we have to remember that every decade or every generation has had to put up with something right? They help us get where we need to be. And sometimes we don't understand why they made the decisions that they did. Why they did what they did. 

“But as I've gotten older, I've started to realize why some of those things happen. And I think that that's what I try to teach the kids that I work with snap right. I know you think your parents are lame, I know you think you know better, but they really are trying to do the best they can for you with the best they had.

“I have emails that I send out all year long. I love our history, but let's not forget  [all parts of it]. We don't always have to talk about being slaves. Because we are no longer in the fields right now. We have progressed. We know we've progressed on our own right because we have to fight for everything that we had. So we don’t want to forge that, we want to celebrate our accomplishments.

“This year [in my diversity outreach], our theme is: Elevate and Celebrate, as we value our strengths. 

“In my community work, I want people to understand the legacy we come from and to know that we come from Kings and Queens.”

“So we don't want to forget that and we want to celebrate our accomplishments and so our theme this year is elevated and celebrate, as we value our strengths. So I constantly you know, I mean my community work, and I I want people to understand the legacy that we come from Kings and Queens.

How do you feel about the release of your new album? What do you plan to do to promote it? Are you doing more virtual concerts? Are you planning on touring during the Spring and Summer months?

“Oh, yeah, I already have some dates. You know festival dates in Europe, already. 

“I’m still going back to Sweden in April. The Blues Music Awards are coming up in Memphis, you know, so I’m going down to the Blues Foundation in Memphis. 

“But that's all according to what COVID does. Because I have an 85 year old mother that I still need to take care of. I have to be safe round. You know, I'm very cognizant of what's going on. You know, I'm vaccinated. I'm boosted and all that, but still, I'm taking still taking the precautions. Because I've been around my band. We keep each other safe. We all have families that we have to go back to.

“It's gonna take some time, but I think we'll come out of it. You know, I understand people want to get out and about how do I miss traveling, but I'm ready. I'm ready. 

“So I am looking forward to going on tour. And I'm still doing gigs.  I'm doing a video shoot this weekend for AARP. And people still ask me to do virtual shows which is good, right?”

What are you most excited about for 2022?

“My new CD, Satisfyin’. I'm so excited. We launched it in Europe first. It launched in Europe on October 22. 

“Oh, okay. Okay. So it's been out there and of course it gets leaked, you know, to the US so which is fine. But the so the DJs in in Europe have been playing it like crazy. And I am so grateful. And now the DJs here in the States are playing it because of course they've got it already through my publicist. 

“And I'm so excited about it coming out because I think people are going to enjoy the CD. 

“Every one of my CDs is a progression and growth. Okay. And when I'm doing absolutely it really is and I'm really like I still love my very first CD. I still love my very first CD blues in the key of me still love it to this day. Not saying I don't love the other ones, but I do but this one this particular one satisfying the last one I did I'm like Wow, is that me?”

What can listeners look forward to in this latest project? How have you progressed as an artist?

“I think I'm coming into my own on every CD that I'm doing and this one is going to be fun for the springtime when it comes out. 

Did you write any of the songs on this album?

“Yes, I wrote a good portion of it. I have. I've written like about five or six songs. I’ve co-written with my Seattle producer and play brother, John Oliver the Third. He's written some and I’ve co-written with my backgrounds there.”

Have you always written your own songs?

“On my first album, Bluez in the Key of Me, I wrote two songs on there. Back then, I think that I didn’t believe that I was a good writer. On my second album, How Did I Get Here, I wrote three songs on there, and John Oliver and the Third Group did the rest of them. But ever since those albums, I’ve been writing.

“Because when people write for you, you have to really feel that connection to what you’e saying on the song. When other people write for you, it’s great. It can be a great song, right? But if you don't identify with it, or if you don't feel it, it's really hard to sing it. I mean, it's great to sing other people’s songs but I really do enjoy writing my own songs.”

Are you glad that the legal matter is now over? What were the terms of your settlement? Are you still Lady A? Can you keep your stage name?

“I’m happy, I’m pleased with the outcome. Yes, I’m still Lady A. I can still use the name.

“I can’t speak about [the settlement] now, however, I have released a press statement. If you would print the statement in full, I would be so pleased. Other publications did not…”