October 2022 - Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
After a century of racist whitewashing, country music is finally reckoning with its relationship to Black people. In Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions, the first book on Black country music by a Black writer, Francesca Royster uncovers the Black performers and fans, including herself, who are exploring the pleasures and possibilities of the genre.
Informed by queer theory and Black feminist scholarship, Royster's book elucidates the roots of the current moment found in records like Tina Turner's first solo album, Tina Turns the Country On, Lil Nas X''s "Old Town Road" and Rhiannon Giddens and Our Native Daughter's Black banjo reclamation, Songs of Our Native Daughters.