Beyoncé’s country-inspired album has caused a stir because the country music scene has a history of racial segregation that has erased its Black roots and gatekept it from Black artists.
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Articles on Country music
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To truly appreciate the track, it’s important to go beyond the long shadow of the Beatles’ version.
Confinement was the essence of Linda Martell’s brief career as a country star in the 1970s – and it’s the exact sort of fate that Beyoncé has sought to avoid.
Her new album, ‘Cowboy Carter,’ arrives at a moment when country music’s reputation as overwhelmingly white is finally starting to crack.
Country singer Jason Aldean’s hit song triggered renewed attention on vigilante justice, racism and urban America.
Canadian R&B artists, including Drake, have built lifestyle brands that simultaneously reinforce and challenge dominant beliefs about R&B music as Black and American, and Canadian identity as white.
Although its content is essentially libertarian, the No. 1 song of the summer in the U.S. resonates with both some Democratic supporters and those on the Trumpist right.
From the pre-Roe years to today, country musicians have written about the realities of life with restrictions on reproductive rights.
Her music can be found on dad rock compilations and on the set lists at drag nights.
Willie Nelson is an icon who rose to the top of an industry by challenging it – showing that you can be a counterculture figure and activist while remaining as American as apple pie.
Doc Watson’s popularity and influence came from his virtuosic guitar playing, powerful voice, broad musical taste, folksy storytelling and lack of pretense.
Through songs such as ‘The Pill,’ Lynn addressed issues confronting all women. The country star died on Oct. 4 at age 90.
The video for Lil Nas X’s latest track is provocative and erotic. It also fits into a tradition of turning the tables on those seeking to oppress marginalized groups through religious dogma.
While the genre is now overwhelming white, its roots are in Black music.
With his wonderful voice, fondness for strings and whistling and sad, beautiful stories, this American singer-songwriter lifts the spirits.
While some stereotype Alberta as a “conservative” province, the bucking and swift horses that typify the Calgary Stampede speak to a more complex spirit of risk seen in local musicians.
Why does Dolly Parton have such broad appeal, across lines of race, nationality, gender identity and sexual orientation?
Africa’s broadcasters have a large role to play to ensure that country and western grows to its full potential on the continent.
The singer was not ‘middle of the road’. He was a bridge across it.
For 50 years, country music executives in Nashville have tried to dilute the genre’s rich, diverse history.
Top contributors
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Professor of American Studies and English, Middlebury
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Adjunct Lecturer of American Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Director, Institute for Popular Music, University of Rochester
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Senior Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, Newcastle University
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Professor of American Studies, University College Dublin
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Lecturer in Anthropology, Catholic University of Malawi
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Reader in the Department of Music, University of Liverpool
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PhD Candidate/Teaching Fellow in Systematic Theology, Boston College
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Assistant Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
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Contract lecturer, Music section, Department of Philosophy, Toronto Metropolitan University
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Associate Professor of English, Texas State University
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Senior Lecturer of English, Texas State University
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Assistant Professor of Writing Studies, University of British Columbia
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Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities, School of Information Studies (Faculty of Arts), L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
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Associate Professor of Music, University at Buffalo
