Country music’s popularity is at an all-time high in America, with the genre boasting a more diverse audience base than ever before. But the marginalization of Black performers was once an institutional part of the business. For decades, artists of color in the Nashville-centered music world were largely excluded from popular venues and circuits, and labels divided their releases into records for white audiences and “race records” for nonwhite ones.
It’s a subject that Beyoncé delved into headlong with the release this past spring of Cowboy Carter, which pays tribute to some of the trailblazing Black women who have helped shape country music. Among them: Linda Martell, the first Black woman to perform at the Grand Ole Opry; author, educator, and award-winning song-writer Alice Randall, who released her memoir and accompanying…
You're reading a preview of
Harper's Bazaar (Digital) - 1 Issue, June/July 2024