MY BLACK COUNTRY A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future

A Black songwriting pioneer and Nashville insider, now a professor at Vanderbilt, is a tireless researcher into how Black musicians in the 1920s and '30s shaped the beginnings of what we now call country music. She says these men had no standing with that period's music gatekeepers and received no recognition, but they clearly influenced Jimmy Rogers, the Carter Family, and other pioneers of the genre. No one but Alice Randall could have performed this soothing rapprochement between today's decidedly White country music and its Black roots. Her engaging performance has vocal gravitas, a deep security about herself, and a potent message: Early country music and much of all popular music today is richer because of the traditions, ethos, and skills brought to this continent by African Americans. T.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2024]