Beyond Breaks Barriers: Unveiling the Erasure of Blackness in Country Music
With its stomping beat, “Texas Hold ‘Em” earned its place in Billboard and country music history. Though topping the charts and dominating the cultural zeitgeist is not unfamiliar to Beyoncé, this time she’s ready to unravel a history of modern country music that had been tightly closed and ripped away from its Black origin.
Beyoncé made history as the first Black woman to have a No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. With “Texas Hold ‘Em” also going No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, she also became the first Black woman to top the chart with a country song. Despite her shift to country in her upcoming album, Act II: Cowboy Carter, bringing more attention to Black country acts, Beyoncé faced a wave of backlash regarding her authenticity to the genre. From radio stations refusing to play her country music, to being compared to a show dog, the resistance to Beyoncé’s country shift exposed the thinly veiled role of racism in country music on a national scale.
There are questions of authenticity that have been directed at Beyoncé as a point to discredit her steps into country music. As many people will say, Beyonce is from Texas, a state rooted in Southern culture and country. Texas has produced many notable country music stars like Tanya Tucker, Willie Nelson, The Chicks and Kacey Musgraves. Her upbringing in a notable country atmosphere could be enough to explain how country music has weaved itself into her discography. Act II: Cowboy Carter wouldn’t be the first time that Beyoncé has centered country music in her discography. In 2007 at the American Music Awards, she performed a country version of “Irreplaceable” with country duo Sugarland, and most notably, “Daddy Lessons” from her 2016 album, Lemonade.
She is not the first non-country music artist to turn to country. Alternative artist Lana Del Rey is set to release her first country album Lasso in September of this year. If Beyoncé decided to not stick with country beyond “Cowboy Carter,” she wouldn’t be the first non-country artist to make a country album without tying their entire career to the genre.
The overlook of this context points directly to gatekeeping. Despite Beyoncé not being a country artist, she has brought more recognition to the genre. As a global star, she could easily draw international attention to the U.S. country music industry. Already, before the release of the album, Beyoncé’s country singles have already aided in boosting streams of Black female country artists. The backlash to Beyoncé making country music nearly contradicts the financial and cultural goals country music executives have. Confusion regarding this begs several questions about why Beyoncé is being posed as a threat to country music despite aiding in its relevance. Is the country music industry truly worried about non-country artists steering into the country genre without having a country background? Must the genre be solely rooted in traditional country themes and rhythms to be authentic? Or, is the backlash to Beyoncé more representative of country music’s history of excluding Black artists?
When speaking of country music it has a narrative and appearance that puts it in conjunction with whiteness. The gatekeepers of country music have reproduced the genre to become the sound of whiteness, representing American white identity and its culture. In that continued reiteration, it is projected as white, forging the narrative that country music is for and by white people while simultaneously denying a past rooted in Blackness. With its history of blacklisting The Chicks for decrying the Bush administration for its invasion of Iraq, the country music industry has crafted an idea that has been repeatedly propagated to erase the roots of Black people in the genre. In a 2006 interview, the former head of the Country Music Association, Tammy Genovese, was quoted saying, “The Black community's lifestyle is different from what we communicate with country music.” Genovese’s comment expresses a racial differentiation upheld in the country music industry–country music is incompatible with Black people.
The invention of the recording industry came during a time of Jim Crow and physical societal distinctions between white and Black people. On this, Tracey E.W. Laird writes that “Racism infused the organization of the recording industry and its products at a structural level.” Some of these products were music genres. The idea of the music genre was created to make money for the emerging recording industry. In the American South during the 1920s, Black and white musicians were largely creating the same music with the same instruments. However, in seeking to market music to specific racial groups, arbitrary ideas of genre were created. Ralph Peer, a record executive, sought to sell more records, and separating music racially was the way to do that. On this Elamin Abdelmahmoud writes:
“It didn’t matter that what he [Peer] found in the South were white and Black musicians recording the same songs and playing the same music with the same instruments. It didn’t matter that the boundaries between genres didn’t exist. It didn’t matter that Black musicians were teaching white musicians the art of the string band, and the white musicians were learning fast.”
Music created by Black people was called “race records.” White musicians were marketed to white audiences as “hillbilly music.” “Hillbilly music” would develop into what we now know as country music. Despite having the same musical roots, race would diverge music. Black performers that worked on early hillbilly records were removed from the new genre’s image. As hillbilly music became marketed as “an authentic return to the music of the idyllic rural white Mountain South,” Black artists in the genre were marginalized to the point of invisibility. Racial capitalism would restructure who got to be seen as a country musician. Creating music genres to separate racial groups plays a role in the musical color line, which Rebekah Hutten writes plays a role in how country music became nearly exclusively white. This racial split would racialize country music and cultivate the foundation for how whiteness became a core tenet of country music’s identity.
The creation of genre was not the only method by which country music was systemically whitened. Appropriating musical styles and instruments was another way this happened. In a TED Talk, musician Queen Esther asserts that Black Spirituals may have laid the foundation for the twang practiced in country music’s singing style. Such crucial details are left out of the narratives of modern country music. The story created about country music has erased the history of Black musicians in its creation. The Carter Family is known as the first family of music and the first country music stars. Coincidently, the Carter Family would be discovered by Ralph Peer. Maybelle Carter became known for a unique guitar picking style now known as the Carter Family picking. The picking style would revolutionize the role of the guitar in music because of its ability to engage rhythm, melody and bass on a singular guitar. However, this style was not solely Carter’s invention. Black musician Lesley Riddle taught Maybelle Carter the technique and played a large role in creating some of the songs the Carter Family would be known for. Riddle is only one example of the Black musicians who were instrumental in mentoring the white musicians that would define country music. The exploitation of Black musicians to build up white musicians and develop their style further elaborates how Black musicians became erased from country music’s narrative.
There are specific instruments that makeup country music. Examples include string instruments, a guitar, a percussion section, and, notably, the banjo. The banjo is an important instrument to focus on in country music because it is a staple of early bluegrass and folk music. It is an instrument crafted by Black people before being appropriated by white musicians. The banjo originated from African slaves and became associated with Black culture. As African slaves were stripped of their culture, the banjo was a central piece in preserving pieces of African culture. With the rise of blackface minstrel shows, Black music was mocked. These shows would be the way that the banjo was introduced to white people. The banjo would be utilized by white musicians and was an important aspect of bluegrass music. As elements of bluegrass became integrated into country music, the banjo would become a staple of modern country music, yet its creators were not given the same prominence.
With the extensive history of Blackness being erased from country music, Beyonce’s newfound prominence in the genre is a disruption. Charles Hughes addresses that modern country music has been marketed as the soundtrack of white America and white identity. Beyonce, a Black woman, would not fit into such categorization. The history and marketing of the country music industry point to how Beyonce joining the genre is not the issue, but rather how her race destabilizes a racial tenet found within country music. Rhiannon Giddens, who plays Banjo on “Texas Hold ‘Em” and is a prominent voice on reclaiming country’s Black roots, wrote an essay for The Guardian regarding race’s relationship to the Beyonce backlash. Giddens writes, “But let’s stop pretending that the outrage surrounding this latest single is about anything other than people trying to protect their nostalgia for a pure ethnically white tradition that never was.”
Race becomes a determiner of who gets to be embraced by the country music industry and gets to bend country music as a genre. In recent years, country artists have borrowed from hip-hop, a predominately Black genre, specifically in cadence, rhythm and instrumentals. These attributes have developed into a subgenre of country hip-hop, a subgenre that Lil Nas X was initially excluded from. In Mar. 2019, Lil Nas X’s debut single, “Old Town Road,” debuted on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Billboard then removed the song for not integrating enough musical elements of country music. The song was moved to the Hot Rap Songs chart. Lil Nas X considered the song to be “country trap,” a style of country hip hop that has been utilized by white country musicians like Florida-Georgia Line. Allegra Frank commented:
“The backlash was immediate, as many people criticized Billboard for feeding rigid ideas about who or what qualifies as country enough and argued that Lil Nas X’s race played a part in the song’s reclassification.”
This situation that happened to Lil Nas X is not unlike the rejection of Beyonce’s “Daddy Lessons” from the Grammys. Alice Randall, the first Black woman to have a writing credit on a country song, outlined that “Daddy Lessons” did meet the thematic requirements to be a country song. However, the song would be rejected by the Grammys’ country music committees. When “Daddy Lessons” was performed at the CMA Awards, Beyonce was met with a wave of racist backlash, a precursor to how her full-length country album would be received by country music.
The role of race in how Lil Nas X and Beyonce were received by their country singles showcases the country music industry’s bottom line: maintaining an indisputable level of whiteness. Hutten uses Diane Pecknold’s theorization to discuss how “racial crossover destabilizes the very concept of genre” as country music has become constructed as a white institution. Even with Black country artists like Mickey Guyton, there still seemed to be an uphill battle for these Black artists to find recognition in the country music industry. Since its conception in 1925, The Grand Ole Opry–a premier institution of country music–has only inducted three Black members. The induction years were 1926 for DeFord Bailey, 1993 for Charley Pride and most recently in 2012 with Darius Rucker. What does it say about the country music industry if their own artists who do abide by country tenets in their songs still struggle because of their race? If anything, it points to how the country music industry is focused on promoting the work of their white artists.
Act II: Cowboy Carter comes as a challenge to what modern country music has become. The album strongly asserts a genre where Blackness has been unwelcome and unveils the true histories that build country music. Alice Randall emphasizes that for country music to be country, “it requires African-American influences.” These are the influences that Beyonce seeks to bring into her album. Act II: Cowboy Carter is Beyonce’s second album in an album series, reclaiming the influence of Black people. From references that the album title is about the Carter Family to featuring a Black banjo player and centering herself in a genre that has already rejected her, Beyonce’s new album will be unwavering in referencing the Black people erased from country music. As illustrated by Rhiannon Giddens, Black people were the cornerstones to the development of modern country music. Without them, the genre wouldn’t be able to stand on the musical qualities that have defined it:
“Black musicians, along with their working-class white counterparts, were active participants and creators, not empty vessels with good rhythm. We would not have any of what we call country without the history of the Black string band musicians, who helped form the nexus of American music for 100 years or more before record players.”