Black Country Music Stars on Diversifying The Genre

Our Body Politic

Diaspora Farms, LLC

News Commentary, Documentary, Society & Culture, Government, News

4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Our Body Politic, guest host Mara S. Campo looks at the foundational role of Black Americans in country music, and the barriers to entry that still exist. First we hear Mara’s conversation with professor Francesca Royster, author of “Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions.” Then Mara talks with country music singer Brittney Spencer who was one of Rolling Stone’s 25 artists to watch in 2023. We round out the show hearing grammy-nominated Mickey Guyton speak with Mara about paving the way for other Black women in country music.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey folks, we're so glad you're listening to Our Body Politics. If you haven't yet,
0:11.0	remember to follow this podcast on your podcatcher of choice, like Apple or Spotify, or wherever
0:16.1	you get your podcasts. And if you have time, please leave us a review. It helps other listeners find us and we read
0:22.8	them for your feedback. Here's what one of you had to say. Valuable and worthwhile content.
0:28.2	I greatly appreciate the diverse perspectives, thoughtful insight, and transparent news included
0:33.7	in this podcast. This is a very worthwhile listen and I recommend it to anyone who wants to be
0:39.1	informed. Thank you so much for the review. We're glad you enjoy the show. You can also reach out to us
0:45.1	on Instagram and X at Our Body Politics, where you can sign up for our newsletter. Just click on the
0:51.1	link in the bio. We're here for you, with you, and because of you, so keep
0:56.8	letting us know what's on your mind. Thanks for listening. This is Our Body Politic. I'm Mara
1:03.1	S. Campo, anchor and managing editor at Revolt Black News, sitting in for Farai Chodea. Black people were
1:09.9	foundational to country music's roots,
1:12.4	but you'd never know it from looking at the charts. While there are more black women on
1:17.8	country music radio since 2020, black women artists only saw 0.05% airplay over the next two years.
1:31.1	But there's a new wave of contemporary country artists making history both for the genre and for black women, including popular singer K. Michelle,
1:38.1	who announced her latest album, I'm the Problem, would be her last foray into R&B.
1:51.9	She's switching to country music, and this last R&B album includes her first solo country single, Tennessee.
1:55.5	We'll be talking to some other country musicians later in the show.
1:58.5	But first, we speak with Francesca Royster.
2:02.3	She's a professor of English at DePaul University, an author of the 2022 book Black Country Music, Listening for Revolutions. Francesca, thank you so much for joining me to set
2:09.1	the table for this show. Oh, thank you so much for having me, Mara. It's great to be here.
2:14.2	You are a black queer woman who describes yourself as being quite professorly. How did
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Diaspora Farms, LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Diaspora Farms, LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.