Black country music 'renaissance' forces genre to reckon with racial history

The growing popularity of Black country artists, spurred in part by Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” has sparked a conversation around the history of the genre and the past and present racial tensions surrounding it.

Beyoncé, who has spoken out about the hostile response she received after performing at the Country Music Awards (CMAs) in 2016, made headlines this year when she became the first Black woman to top the Hot Country Songs chart on Billboard.

On Wednesday, she performed a medley of her new country-inspired songs during halftime of the Christmas Day NFL matchup between the Houston Texans and the Baltimore Ravens. The performance featured Black cowboys, two-stepping and the first Black rodeo queen.  

“There is a Black country renaissance going on … that has been a long time coming, and ‘Cowboy Carter’ is very big part of that, but not remotely the only part,” award-winning songwriter producer and novelist Alice Randall told The Hill.  

Since the album’s release, musicians and historians have highlighted how signature instruments in country, such as the banjo, are derived from African instruments brought to the North American colonies by those who were enslaved.  

Randall’s own research has found that Black cowboys were critical in the creation of cowboy songs sung on the range. She found that when cowboy Jack Thorpe began to compile his collection of cowboy songs, which would eventually be turned into a book, the first camp he encountered was for Black cowboys.  

“This type of renaissance is a good time to remember that Black people didn't just show up in country music now,” said Randall. “Black people have been in country music for almost 400 years.” 

But Black country artists are now making history.  

Virginia native Shaboozey, who is featured on Beyonce’s album, made history with “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” when it became the first ever single to reach the top 10 on all four of the Country Airplay, Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and Rhythmic Airplay charts and only the second ever single by a Black artist to top both the Billboard Hot 100 and Country Songs Charts. His reign knocked down artist Morgan Wallen — something advocates celebrated as Wallen, a white artist, came under fire after video surfaced of him using the N-word. 

Shaboozey also headlined a holiday NFL halftime show, performing Thanksgiving during the game between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears.

Beyonce’s album also led to Linda Martell, the first Black woman to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, to receive her first Grammy nomination — 50 years after she carved a path for Black artists in the genre.  

“The more people understand how much Black people have contributed to country music, the more people will understand how much Black people have contributed of American society,” said Randall. 

But Black Americans have long struggled to be embraced by the larger country music community.  

In 2019, Billboard removed Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” from its Hot Country Songs for not embracing “enough” country elements. Actor Anthony Mackie, an avid country music fan, battled racist remarks for co-hosting the 2022 CMT Awards.  

More recently, Shaboozey’s name was repeatedly mocked at this year’s CMAs in what critics called racist microaggressions. And Beyoncé was criticized by artists including Luke Bryan, who co-hosted the CMAs, for not spending time in Nashville ahead of “Cowboy Carter’s” release despite the racist viewer reception to when she performed at the awards.  Bryan later clarified that his comments were not meant to be negative.

But the backlash to Black Americans in the genre isn’t new, said Michael Gray, vice president of museum services for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. 

"The conversation regarding race and country music has been ongoing, but there's always these inflection points,” said Gray. “When somebody like Beyoncé, one of the biggest stars in the world, puts out a country-influenced album like ‘Cowboy Carter,’ it just rekindles the discussion about who belongs in country music. And, of course, the culture belongs to all of us.” 

But despite the deep connection between Black people and country music, Francesca Royster, a professor at DePaul University, said the backlash should be unsurprising.  

“In some ways, it's the genre where there is, to me, the most protection of a narrative of white originality,” Royster said. “The narrative of originality is partly connected to the way that country and western and hillbilly music was formulated as a genre that was aimed at white audiences, and also that reflected the racial segregation of the Jim Crow South.” 

Royster points to vaudeville and minstrel shows, where white musicians performing in Blackface would take the music of enslaved people and strip it of its creativity and agency in an effort to dehumanize the Black artists that created it.  

As observers fight to determine which artists can — and can’t — claim country music, the audience of the genre has also been divided. 

“There is a kind of cultural shame for Black audience members, partly connected to the way that country music has become, for some Black people, kind of a code for white segregationist thinking and conservative thinking and racism,” said Royster. 

But as modern country artists have begun to re-embrace Southern music, they’ve also begun to mix genres. 

Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” had heavy rap influence, as does “Cowboy Carter” song “Spaghetti,” which some have perceived as a “Black sound,” Royster said. 

“But hip hop and even trap sounds are also part of mainstream country music as well,” she added, pointing to country artist Wallen, whose music is heavily influenced by hip hop styles. 

Black artists have also started increasingly telling Black stories and reckoning with Black history through country. 

Willie Jones’s “American Dream” speaks of being proud to be a Black man and an American while drawing attention to the racial disparities, sacrifices and violence Black Americans face.  

Randall believes the ongoing discussion can lead to real change.  

“I always say art takes what is too hard to bear in turns it into beauty that makes the hard bearable,” she said. “That's what country songs do. The best of these songs will make the world a better place.”