‘Our Stories, Too’: Black country artists, songwriters break industry barriers
“Our Stories, Too” discusses how persons of color are breaking into an industry that has long lacked diversity.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Country music has long been criticized for its lack of diversity. In a music genre known for storytelling, what about the stories that have not yet been told?
In WSMV’s “Our Stories, Too,” a Black History Month special, Marius Payton and others try to answer this question.
History
Nashville is known as the Country Music Capitol of the World. It’s a place where three chords and the truth can be heard night after night on Broadway. The origins of that sound, the picking of the banjo, is what made Hillbilly music, or country music, what it is today.
“It was enslaved African Americans who really popularized the banjo in America. The banjo became very popular during the minstrel period in the 1800′s and you know the banjo is one of the most identifiable sounds in country music,” said Michael Gray, the Executive Senior Director of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
WSMV’s Marius Payton dove into the history of country music and how persons of color helped make it what it is today. Read the history here.
“Doesn’t sound country”
Perhaps one of the most common critiques heard by persons of color working within the country music genre is that music doesn’t sound country. But those Marius Payton spoke to said what’s accepted as country music today doesn’t sound like the country music of the past.
And that’s not a bad thing.
Breland is doing country his way, through social media and with a desire to be great. Read the full story here.
Darius Rucker: The Bridge Between New and Old
When you talk about African Americans in country music, Charley Pride paved the way, and with the likes of Breland, Mickey Guyton and Jimmie Allen, there is more diversity in the industry. But the bridge between the new and the old is Darius Rucker. Marius Payton sat down with Darius Rucker to discuss opening doors. Read the full story here.
Women in Country
Rucker has achieved one of the top honors in country music – membership in the Grand Ole Opry. That’s an achievement no woman of color has done – yet. Several artists, like Miko Marks, want to change that. Marks received a standing ovation from concertgoers at the Ryman Auditorium and has been named among CMT’s “Next Women of Country Music.” But Marks, after making her Grand Ole Opry debut, hopes to accomplish much more. Read her inspirational story here.
Brie Carter is another woman of color hoping to make it big. Carter said family and faith help fuel her dreams. Carter, a rising country music hopeful, sat down with WSMV 4′s Marius Payton to discuss the obstacles she faces as not only a woman in country music, but a woman of color in search of country music stardom. Read her story here.
Songwriters
It’s not just performers of country music that are trying to break barriers. It’s also the voices behind those voices: the songwriters. Cameron Bedell has called Nashville home for more than a decade. When he got to Nashville, he was told he wasn’t country. He has since changed some people’s minds, co-writing music with country stars like Jimmie Allen. Read here how songwriters of color say that change is happening and how they’re doing country music their way.
Executives
Part of the change artists and songwriters discussed with WSMV’s Marius Payton comes from within executive boardrooms at the top of country music labels. Payton sat down two executives of color to discuss how they are marketing music to a different crowd and embracing diversity. Read that story here.
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