Black country music – It’s always been there

By David Winship Black country music – It’s always been there.  Like much of Black culture in a white-dominated country, it has been marginalized but it has persevered and even flourished as it has emerged within other forms. Whether it has been in the Black string bands in the coal fields of the southern Appalachians in the early twentieth century, in the gospel and the blues of the deep South and the Piedmont, Black traditional and roots music has been adopted and appropriated into the variety of old-time, bluegrass, rock ‘n’ roll and country music. The influencers have always been there – from the Black railroad workers working with Jimmie Rodgers singing the blues, Arnold Schultz showing Bill Monroe his styling, Lesley Riddle helping the Carter Family with song-catching and guitar techniques, and Leadbelly’s place in the folk revival of the 1960s. Charlie Pride and Ray Charles have been acknowledged as Black country artists. There have been and are more, as two recent books have shown as well as a new touring revue that brings back the old days of the country music package shows. Alice Randall’s “My Black Country” is subtitled “A Journey through Country Music’s Black Past, Present...