This week, the overwhelmingly white Country Music Association Awards Show was blessed by a very (pro) black, very non-country singer. Fans were livid, claiming their one safe haven, their one sacred oasis of whiteness was contaminated by a singer from Texas singing "with his right hand on his rifle, he swore it on the Bible, my daddy said shoot." Their epithets and curses were so grandiose that all evidence that Beyoncé had blessed the stage with the Dixie Chicks, another controversial group in country music, was eradicated. I mean that. Scroll through the Twitter of the CMAs and you wouldn't even think Beyoncé attended the awards. That itself is disgustingly problematic but the reactions of the fans to her performance were even more horrific.
Country music always seems to have been racialized in a "that's not black music" type of way. In fact, I guarantee you if you go up to a black person right now and ask them what type of music they listen to they'll say something along the lines of "anything except country or metal." Not because we are a monolith, only allowed to listen to a select handful of genres, but because these two particular genres seem to be exclusively white. Of course, many of us listen to a few country songs from a few country artists--Carrie Underwood gets every girl heated and ready to get revenge with "Before He Cheats"--but there is something starkly different about a Black Country music fan, a black person who actively and avidly listens to country. The difference is they are simply an anomaly. With so little black country musicians being able to cross over into the genre successfully, many listeners have simply come to believe that it's just not for us. It's just not our music. But like every other aspect of American culture, Black people helped create it. Country music is our music too and it should be acknowledged as such.
Country music began in the early twentieth century in the Southern region of the United States. Its roots stem from a synchronization of the folk music of European immigrants and blues, a genre created and upheld by African-Americans in the South. Instruments that were influential and integral to the creation of the genre were most notably the banjo, guitars, and the fiddle, among others. The banjo in itself is an instrument that was fashioned by enslaved African-Americans proving the very essence of Country music is rooted in Blackness. This can be heard in the song Beyoncé performed at the awards show, “Daddy Lessons,” which begins with a loud procession of horns. The instrumentals in this song are quite obviously drenched with the sound of southern Blackness, yet it is also quite obviously country. This genre is our genre. This music is our music. The problem, however, lies in the discrimination in the Country music genre, and the inherent racism disseminated within it.
How ironic is it that the Black roots of Country music grew into a tree lynching the very people who helped create it? The legacy of Country music and its listeners, despite the very Black roots, is one that clearly paints a racist picture of rural whites and anti-blackness. In the 60s, there were even popular songs with titles such as “Move Them N*ggers North” that included lyrics such as “our South has been invaded by trashy-lookin' crew, they'll change our ways and take our schools away from me and you.” This song, by Johnny Rebel, even went as far to say “they're trying to start trouble by mixing up the races…Oh, Martin Luther thinks it's his, I know he's wrong, don't you?” Songs like this paired with the inclination for many Country singers to broadcast their support for the confederate flag leads many Black people to believe that the genre is not only not for them, but that it detests them.
Where does this leave us? Does it leave us wondering if the legacy of Country music and the perpetual racism associated with it create a cognitive dissonance within our own Blackness? Despite the fact that Black people have been crucial to Country music in every stage? Despite the enduring association of Country music with racist and befuddled hillbillies, Country music is ours to claim. It is ours to enjoy. We have just as much of a right to listen to it, and we have just as much of a right to claim it as our white counterparts do.
Black people have been at the forefront of ingenuity since the beginning of time. We have been forerunners of fashion, music, hell, we’re the forerunners of life to many theorists! We have helped create even the “whitest” (or so people think) of music genres. The racism that many fans of Country music possess is misguided and uneducated—how would they react if they found out the very first person to be introduced on the Grand Ole Opry was a black man by the name of DeFord Bailey, the grandson of former slaves. The ignorance of their fans goes to show how little is known about the foundation of Country music. Beyoncé, a Texan woman performing a very distinctively country song, had every right to step foot on that stage. Just as many country artists crossed over to pop, Beyoncé has the right to cross over into country music. She has the right to partake in the genre that her people helped create, just as each any every Black person in America does. It is not some far stretch of the imagination. It is not a beguiled and ill-informed accusation of ownership. It is real. It is history. It is ours to be a part of.
