Black Opry Amplifying Black Voices in Country Music

BIPOC
By
Olivia Abercrombie
February 21, 2024
Paste Magazine
Article

However, hidden behind the industry giants is a community of Black musicians quietly bringing their talents and perspectives to the genre. Many Black country music fans, like Black Opry founder Holly G., historically haven’t been able to enjoy their favorite musicians because of the genre’s unsafe and unwelcoming environment made up of majority white conservative fans. Following the summer of 2020 and the growing Black Lives Matter social justice movement, Holly began to dive into other people’s work on creating space for Black artists in the country music community and was inspired to amplify them herself.

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Group of Black Opry performers on exit / in stage
Photo Credit:
Gabriel Baretto

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Country Universe

The longest-running country music blog, Country Universe was founded on and remains committed to the fact-based notion that country music has never been the exclusive purview of artists who are straight, white, Christian, Southern, and (mostly) men. When focusing on either the genre's history or its present, CU takes a "big tent" approach to the broader country universe and believes that a foundation of empathy makes country music an essential part of our shared popular culture.

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The SongData Project explores the potential of using discographic and biographic data to learn more about how popular music genres form, develop, and evolve over time. 

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