Fantastic article by Rhiannon Giddens. Also, a song, because I always include songs.

[The Polack MSgt]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/27/black-artistry-is-woven-into-the-fabric-of-country-music-it-belongs-to-everyone-beyonce-texas-hold-em-rhiannon-giddens

What is country music? Who is allowed to play it? Whenever a Black artist puts out a country song the judgment, comments, and opinions come thick and fast. “That’s not real country!” “That’s cultural appropriation.” “She needs to stay in her lane.” Or, as Dukes of Hazzard actor John Schneider so charmingly stated in a discussion earlier this month: “You know, every dog has to mark every tree, right?”

In four days after release, Beyoncé’s latest song, Texas Hold ‘Em, was streamed 19.2m times and downloaded 39,000 times in the US.

All of these comments, which range from simply ignorant to downright misogynoir, presuppose that commercial country music – a music of guitars, banjos, and fiddles; of pick-up trucks, heartbreak and that down-home lonesome sound – is a legacy that belongs only to white, rural southerners. And that supposition is just plain wrong.

Real history is messy and complicated. To get to the truth we need to rewind back to centuries before Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash – to the music created by enslaved people and a recording industry set upon segregation. Enslaved people of the African diaspora created the banjo in the Caribbean in the 1600s. This is historical fact. They also played other stringed instruments (such as the violin) and, whether enslaved or free, Black string bands became the de facto entertainment and dance bands of European societies from Barbados to Monticello to Rhode Island; from balls to banquets to political rallies. These musicians mixed with poor people of all colors and ethnicities who brought their own musical traditions into the mix over generations to create a truly American folk music.

Rhiannon is best known for her Folk/Americana work starting with the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

I picked a song that's completely different than that.

https://music.

&si=FTJ31qxgo82uEnjn

[cilla4progress]

1. Bookmarking.

She's a treasure.

[stopdiggin]

2. and way, way smarter (and educated) than a big slice

of either the industry, the musicians, or the fans.

And, by the way - truth is, the 'not really country' thing has fallen pretty flat - even among the country demographic.

[The Polack MSgt]

3. The songs are good, and even racist pricks realize how stupid they look denigrating 'em

If it's hokey contrived bullshit, THAT'S WHEN IT MUST BE WHITE DUDES making it. They'll support shitty white performers.