The Black Country Bookshelf
Reading recommendations for this moment and beyond
Well, Act II: Cowboy Carter is here. We’ll have more to say about it and what’s it making us think about (and listen to). But, to commemorate the day, here’s a list of books and articles, plus a box set and a film, that we think you should check out to understand this moment, what’s come before, and what might be coming after. This list is surely about to be updated with more important writing and thinking, so we’ll revisit in the coming weeks in our weekly “Turn It Up” round-ups and in other posts.
-Tyina L. Steptoe’s book Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City and article “Beyoncé’s Western South Serenade”
-Francesca Royster’s book Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions
-Alice Randall’s forthcoming book My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future
-Pamela E. Foster’s book My Country, Too: The Other Black Music
-Diane Pecknold’s edited collection Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music and book The Selling Sound: The Rise of the Country Music Industry
-Dom Flemons’ book and album Black Cowboys
-Charles L. Hughes’ book Country Soul: Making Music in the American South and Oxford American article on Millie Jackson
-Stephanie Shonekan’s book Soul, Country, and the USA: Race and Identity in American Music Culture
-Karl Hagstrom Miller’s book Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk & Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow
-Cecelia Conway’s book African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions
-Chris Molanphy’s book Old Town Road
-David Cantwell and Bill Frisckics-Warren’s book Heartaches By The Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles
-Holly Gleason’s edited collection of essays Woman Walk The Line: How the Women in Country Music Changed Our Lives
-Evelyn McDonnell’s edited collection of essays Women Who Rock: Bessie To Beyonce. Girl Groups to Riot Grrrl
-The box set From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music, featuring liner notes by Claudia Perry and Ron Wynn
-Quia Torentino’s documentary project on her grandmother Linda Martell, Bad Case of the Country Blues
Plus, here are some more article recommendations for additional context and insight:
-Rissi Palmer on Black country traditions, for Oxford American
-Holly G on The Black Opry and belonging” and interview with Rissi Palmer and Miko Marks, both for No Depression
-Amanda Marie Martinez on what Beyoncé’s success on country radio might mean for other Black women, for NPR
-Jewly Hight on Beyonce and the Chicks in 2016, for NPR
-David Cantwell on what country music owes to Charley Pride, for New Yorker, and the cultural impact of Ray Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country andWestern Music, for Rolling Stone
-Jada Watson on race-based and gender-based “redlining” on country radio, for SongData
-Justin Hiltner on Beyoncé and Rhiannon Giddens, for The Bluegrass Situation
-Jake Blount on the problem with “Afro-Americana,” for Paste
-Taylor Crumpton on how and why Beyoncé has always been country, for Time, and on Cowboy Carter’s cover image, for Bloomberg
-Chris Willman on Beyoncé and country radio, for Variety
-Andrea Williams in 2020 on why country music hasn’t had a Black woman star for Nashville Scene, and this week on Beyoncé’s use of Black musicians and writers on the singles, for The Tennessean
-Rhiannon Giddens on the erasure and persistence of Black country music, for The Guardian
-Carl Wilson on country’s current crossover moment, for Slate
-Jon Caramanica on Beyoncé, country music, and asking the right questions, for New York Times
-Tressie McMillan Cottom on Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and the line between celebrity and politician, for New York Times
-Alaina Demopolous (with quotes from Francesca Royster and Marissa Moss) on Cowboy Carter’s cover image, for The Guardian
-Janell Hobson on Cowboy Carter’s cover image, for Ms. Magazine
-Adia Victoria on Cowboy Carter’s cover image, on Twitter
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