In honor of black history month, we at the Trash Moon Collective wanted to shine a light on the lesser known roots of Country Music. Local SLC player and lover of bluegrass, old time, swing, and all things roots music, Tom Smart wrote the following for our community. He has about a dozen artist suggestions for you that we will share throughout the month as blog posts and on our Instagram and Facebook page. Let's learn to sing the true history of the music we love and call for a better, more equitable future.
"Country music can feel awfully white. Beyonce, arguably the world’s biggest pop star, devoted her entire album Cowboy Carter to reclaiming the contributions of Black people to country music. The hit single Texas Hold ‘Em even features banjo and fiddle. Music critics and fans adored the album. But the Country Music Association Awards completely ignored it, as did most country radio stations. Many online trolls reviled it.*
One such troll yelled at me that Jimmie Rodgers is the Father of Country Music; he was white; and therefore all real country music is white. But Jimmie Rodgers built his fame on being a white musician who sang the blues, a style he learned from Black gandy dancers while working on southern railroads. The Carter Family, enshrined alongside Rodgers as the First Family of Country Music, owed much of its success to Lesley Riddle, a Black man who composed several of their songs and helped A.P. Carter collect and rework many of the rest. The Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, credited the Black fiddler and guitarist Arnold Schultz for inspiring his blues-inflected style.
I’ve often heard it said that the fiddle tunes and country ballads we all enjoy were originally “brought here” by Irish, Scottish and European immigrants. And that’s not wrong, for a subset of tunes. But the country music melting pot is much bigger than that. Precursors of the modern banjo were “brought here” by enslaved people from West and Central Africa, who also brought their own fiddling traditions originally played on gourd instruments. The blue notes, syncopated rhythms, and many of the themes and stories heard in traditional country music are Black in origin.
Fans of traditional jazz and swing understand the contributions of Black artists, since many of the pioneers were widely recorded and celebrated (even if they did have to use the back entrance of the ballroom, were barred from the restaurant, and told to find lodging on the outskirts of town). Fans of early country music are less aware of the many Black string and jug bands that played alongside and interacted with their better-known white counterparts.
Sadly, these acts were criminally under-recorded, Most of the recordings they did make were marketed through “race” record catalogs to Black audiences. And when record producers thought white audiences might like a Black act, they would simply give it a white-sounding name and place the recordings in the “hillbilly” catalog.
Fortunately, many commercial and field recordings of Black country artists do exist. In honor of Black History Month, I’d like to share playlists featuring several of my personal favorites. For the older recordings, try to listen through the scratches and surface noise. The music is well worth it. If you can’t bear that, skip to the end for some more contemporary artists and recordings. If anything grabs your ear, I encourage you to listen to the whole album it’s taken from."
So, we encourage you to stay tuned for Tom's artist suggestions and deep dive! Our first blog post will feature harmonica player DeFord Bailey.
For another write up, read this article Repairing narratives: old-time and bluegrass music by Ami Worthen
*Just hours after this article was written, Beyonce won Grammys for best country album and album of the year. Tom says, 'Take note, CMA'
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