Maybe it's Dolly Parton belting Jolene or Tim McGraw's iconic Southern drawl.

Maybe it's something a little bit more modern, like Taylor Swift Love Story, which got a revival on ticks off this past summer.

Or maybe Gabby Barrett's top billboard country song, I hope or Maybe, Let's be honest, you just think of white people when you look at the country charts, black artists are far and few between, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

And actually, in many ways, black people in America have helped shape country music toe what it is today, even if they don't always get the recognition for it.

Yeah.

For many historians, the origins of modern day country music begin with bluegrass.

Bluegrass relies on the acoustic sounds of string instruments, and the banjo is a staple.

The banjo is a West African instrument brought over in the 16 hundreds via the transatlantic slave trade.

Theme instruments were originally made out of boards and have been popular in the region way before American slavery started.

Other instruments, like the fiddle and tambourines, were also integral to bluegrass and also had links to Africa now, as enslaved Africans were forced into the Americas.

They continued to make these instruments.

But black influence didn't stop their way.

Work calls and chance became lyrics to these sounds and thes chance, also known as spirituals.

Help to tell stories, keep the pace and secretly spread information.

For example, the songs of the Underground Railroad had secret coded directions to help slaves escape to the north.

Fast forward a few 100 years and take this lyrical storytelling element with this acoustic string sound, and you got the foundation of country music now, while these spirituals were essential toe a slaves, motivation, survival and possible freedom.

How did this music enter into mainstream white Southern culture?

Theo Answer.

Black Base By the 18 hundreds, music created by black people became popular within mainstream white music and minstrel shows helped bring these songs to the spotlight.

Well, sort of.

Well, let me explain.

You see, minstrel shows were like, oh G American Theater.

They usually would consist of variety comedy shows, think SNL, but like super racist.

Since black performers weren't allowed in white spaces, white performers would paint their faces black play the banjo, fiddle and other bluegrass instruments and performed satirical slave songs and dances.

They would do skits and speeches in exaggerated black Southern dialect.

So essentially they stripped African slaves of their tribal cultures, made it illegal for them to speak their native language, made a reading English punishable by lashing or worse, and then created a theatrical art form to make fun of them for the music and dialects they were forced to create for themselves.

Yep, that that's about right, Michelle shows help solidify, Ah, lot of negative black stereotypes, and it was still seen in film all the way up to the mid 20th century.

But despite the overall harm the satirical genre did for the black community, black music was starting to be taken seriously by white people for the first time and mainly because it was introduced to them in this non threatening way.

Unfortunately, there was no credit or representation given to the black artists that helped create the music.

Another precursor to modern day country music and a lot of other genres, was the Blues, which got its start in the 18 sixties as minstrel shows were starting to come down from their peak.

The sad, sultry minor tones within the slave spirituals made its way into the genre.

Good night.

Thes spirituals, call and response based lyrics were a way to create more unity and inclusion within the music experience and that carried over into blues as well.

Now there are tons and tons of black blues artists, but many of them didn't get white mainstream acceptance until the following century, and even then they weren't given the same performance privileges as their white counterparts.

And this inequality was the same in many other genres that were developing during the 20th century.

Like jazz, rock and yeah, country, there has been and continue to be black country artists.

Country music is a blend of many different cultures and genres, but history doesn't always reflect this.

Things get a little messy once you learn that these iconic white artists actually got their trade from other black artists.

Hank Williams was mentored by Rufus T.

Top Pain.

Johnny Cash was taught from an early age by Gus Cannon, and black guitar player Lesley Riddle was known as one of the pioneers of the finger picking guitar style favored by Maybelle Carter.

And while legal segregation has been outlawed in the United States since the 19 sixties, Americans still have trouble giving black artists credit within the country.

John we owe moving into the eighties nineties and two thousands black country artists weren't charting, and country music had been seen socially as a white genre, and internalized prejudice within music management didn't really help.

In 1998 General manager of Curb Records Dennis Hannon insisted that quote for country music to be more well rounded.

We would like to see more African American artists.

But he also said, if it is harder for African American artists to break into the industry, it's more of a lifestyle issue.

Likewise, in 2000 and six, Tammy Genovese of the Country Music Association rejected a reporter's suggestion that the industry had not attempted to gain black fans, telling the Guardian quote, The black communities.

Lifestyle is different from what we communicate with country music.

Black people have their own types of music that they listen thio be that jazz, hip hop or whatever country singers in Nashville form to create the Black Country Music Association in the mid 19 nineties in hopes of giving black artists and avenue into the genre country singer Cleve Francis was one of the founders and described the national country music industry as one based solely unquote permission.

When it came to the black artists there, Francis himself had suffered from racism in the industry, especially at the hands of those who were supposed to be in charge of marketing and managing his career.

Despite these attempts, that inclusion, the genre today still faces hardships when it comes to representation.

Atlanta rapper Little Nas X Shattered Records with his debut hit, Old Town Road, in 2019.

From the topic to the tiny tone it waas as his producer described a country rap song.

I got the horses in the bag or stock is attached at his Maddie Black Got the Bushes, Black Man, and at first Billboard agreed.

He was ranked on the Billboard country charts before Billboard decided to retract his ranking and exclude him from the category, Billboard told Rolling Stone quote.

While Old Town Road incorporate references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embracing the elements of today's country music to chart in its current version.

This was definitely not the first time a hip hop artist attempted to enter into country and was rejected.

Nelly and Tim McGraw, both Southern artists, made over and over in 2000 and four because its own it over and over.

It made not even a blip on the country charts Beyonce's Daddy Lessons on Lemonade with a textbook country Bob with his head held high.

His home.

The songs, dramatic storytelling and use of traditional country instrumentals fit well into the genre, which led her to performing the song at the 2016 C.

M s.

But country fans were pissed, according to the AP, Beyonce also tried to submit the record for a country Grammy, and submission was rejected.

But this sort of exclusion doesn't stop at hip hop or R and B artists attempting to enter into the country space.

Mickey Guidon arising black female country artists has commented both on the racism that faces black country artists and also the industry sexism.

Do you think we live in the land of the free?

You should try three that like she said, quote, I don't even realize how crazy what I'm doing is it really is hard for women to get played on country radio, period.

Do I face extra obstacles, absolutely.

From the slave trade to Beyonce, black people have been shaping and contributing to country music since the start.

And while the United States has made some progress in black representation in some genres of music and entertainment, it's important that history provides the holistic depiction off all of our contributions because black history is American history.

What?