The pointless, ignorant brouhaha over Beyoncé's “country” recording
Thoughts about country and Black music
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When superstars in the pop world do most anything it’s apparently newsworthy. Of special interest is any transgression they seem to have committed. And apparently the megastar Beyoncé has, to some, done something controversial by throwing on a cowboy hat and wading into the waters of the country idiom in her latest record.
I find any such reaction to this recording absolutely ludicrous. Although predictable. Let me count the ways—
—First of all, country music would not exist as we know it were it not for the African American influence. It's been there all along. Black music is a part of the Appalachian sound. The banjo was invented in Africa. Some of the rhythmic feel that defines Appalachian banjo and fiddle music derives directly from the rhythms of Congo square. The sound of Appalachian singing has always been Blues inflected. It's a fact that Bill Monroe was heavily influenced by a guitarist named Arnold Schultz in the formation of bluegrass. Schultz was born in 1886 in western Kentucky. According to the book “Hidden in the Mix, The African American Presence in Country Music,” Schultz, who was never recorded, “played straight old-time music, fingerstyle blues, jazzy dance band numbers, and bottleneck…he had a palette of chords he used to expand the bland harmonic structure of most popular music of the time… He would winter in New Orleans, and I'm sure he played music on the street, and of course this was the days of Jelly Roll Morton and his tremendous influence on all who heard him. Jelly Roll pioneered passing chords in ragtime, and you know Arnold could hear this… in the spring he would find a northbound boat, connect up the river to Evansville, and thence up Green River and come home through the woods stopping every once in a while to play some tunes in the breeze.”
In other words…he was eclectic. That’s what they call me…and they’re right. Except everyone is to some degree.
I could go on and on. The idea that there is a separation between blacks and whites in the formation of genres in American music is largely the invention of money-makers, fence-builders, bamboozlers, racists, and radio men.
By the way Beyonce doesn’t call this a “country record.” She calls it a Beyonce record. I think she’s making my point. Or I’m making hers.
—Let's jump ahead in time—where did the rock'n'roll rhythms that characterize modern country rhythm come from? The answer is almost too obvious to put on paper. Black music.
—Let's not forget that the sounds that white people made in the hills of Appalachia influenced black musicians as well. Pretending that there was some artificial barrier between people when it comes to music is absurd. Every musician from the beginning of time has reacted the same way to something that appealed to them. He or she has incorporated what they love into their sound.
—But all of this is a prologue to the real point. For the past 120 years white people have borrowed or stolen anything they wanted from the African American culture. How often did people question it or call it trangressive? Not often. If I were to sit here and list the pop stars that have derived a good portion of their style and sound and income from African American musicians I would be up all night.
—So are we to believe that when an incredibly talented, famous young woman, an excellent composer, decides she wants to experiment in another (bleached) format other than the one we're used to hearing her in, it’s shocking? No—it’s just plain righteous. To any yahoo in the country radio industry who worries his turf is in danger, I say “Grow up.”
—I’ve been working with country music (mostly the old stuff, Appalachian songs) in jazz for thirty years. At one point this may have seemed, even to me, novel. Now it’s just…another day making music. Hank Williams loved the blues, Merle Haggard loved Bob Wills, who was half made by jazz big bands. Charlie Parker liked country music, Gary Burton worked it into his jazz sound in 1968. Bill Frisell plays country songs. Rhiannon Giddens sings Dolly Parton. SO WHAT? It’s music. This is what we do. Judge it by its content, not its concept! Not it’s COLOR.
And to that point—
What I have heard from the Beyonce record is SO MUCH more interesting, expressive, creative, and imaginative than 99% of ‘Bro Country…well, adjectives fail me. It’s great!
This is just the beginning. Prediction: within ten years the monolithic whiteness of BIG country radio will begin to crumble. Black people, and others, will invade! God, I hope so.
Here is a brief playlist of great country sounds from Black folks.
Go here first
Ebony Hillbillies
https://www.africanbluegrass.com/media/28
Mickey Guyton: Black Like Me
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mickey+guyton+black+like+me
Charley Pride: It’s Gonna Take a Little Bit Longer
Rhiannon Giddens: If You Don’t Know How Sweet It Is
Ray Charles: Bye Bye Love
Well put Joel.
Hit it right on the nose! Don't like it? Don't listen!