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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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(birds chirping)
(light music)

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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- [Participant] Life itself,

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down to a cellular level.

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Everything about it is
to protect our being

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and push us further.

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Nature is about pushing further
and adding and multiplying.

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And healing.

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(calming music)

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A farmer can sow good seeds.

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A farmer can sow bad seeds.

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'Cause a farmer is not a perfect person.

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(calming music)

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However, whatever you do plant,

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the soil will return to you good and bad,

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and everything that's against
that is just against nature.

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(calming music)

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(television static)

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- [Reporter] Despite
playing an integral part

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in the origins of country music,

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black artists have been pushed
to the margins of the genre.

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A new crop of artists are
seeking to change that

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and reclaim their place on
the country music charts.

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(calming music)

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- But as Amna Nawaz reports,

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a number of black women are starting

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to gain traction in the genre.

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(calming music)

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- [Interviewer] Congratulations
on going platinum,

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first of all.

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- Thank you so much.
- Yeah.

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- Thank you.

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Yeah, it definitely tripped me out.

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I'm still like in that moment where

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I haven't really grasped it all,

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but I know that it is is
reality and I'm not dreaming.

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(calming music)

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- And last September, the Texas native

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continued to make history

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when she became the
first black female artist

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to perform her song at the
Academy of Country Music Awards.

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(calming music)

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- You're a history maker,
man, like first black artist

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to debut at number one.

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(calming music)

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- [Reporter] Since then,
Spencer's song "Compassion,"

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which tackles issues of racial justice,

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has been streamed more than
three and a half million times.

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- [Brittney] It's been such a wild ride.

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(calming music)

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- Our first guest has
been named one of CMT's

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2021 Next Women of Country.

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She's been praised by Rolling Stone,

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Billboard, and the New York Times

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and could very well be this
year's breakout superstar.

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- Things are changing.

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You know, people wanna
see a different Nashville.

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(calming music)

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♪ Oh sisters let's go down ♪

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♪ Let's go down come on down ♪

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♪ Oh sisters let's go down ♪

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♪ Down to the river ♪

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♪ As I went down to the river to pray ♪

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♪ Studying about that good old way ♪

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♪ And who shall wear the starry crown ♪

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♪ Good lord show me the way ♪

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♪ Oh sister let's go down ♪

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♪ Let's go down ♪

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♪ Come on down ♪

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- I haven't done a whole
lotta things right,

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but I can do some music (chuckling).

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(gentle music)

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My mom, she was just on board
with it from the very start.

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She always told me that God told her

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that I wasn't gonna be with her

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in Baltimore for a long time,

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and she knew it long before I did.

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So, I just wanted to do country music.

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I fell in love with it

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when my friend Keisha down in Baltimore,

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my hometown, found me a CD to listen to.

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She was like, you need
to check out The Chicks.

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Back then they were the Dixie Chicks.

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And I just fell in love,

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went on this whole rabbit hole,

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watchin' all the music videos

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and listenin' to country radio.

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I remember watching documentaries

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on Taylor Swift and Reba,

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and they always said the same thing.

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You just have to move to Nashville.

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When you realize that you have
a passion for country music,

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you just gotta get to
where the country music is.

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(gentle music)

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I finally got the nerve and moved here,

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and it's been eight years.

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(gentle music)

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I remember feeling discouraged

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because my sound was different.

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I sound like I'm from Baltimore.

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I don't hide that.

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I don't got a twang, but
I got a Baltimore accent.

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And I bring all of that with me,

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because the thing that
I've always wanted to do

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is just make the music
I wish I heard as a kid.

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When I started listening to country music

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when I was 14 or 15 years old,

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I quickly realized it wasn't
anybody that looked like me.

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And I realized there wasn't anyone

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bringing in a lot of the sounds

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that I heard throughout
my life, my childhood.

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R&B, gospel, I mean even classical.

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I love that, rock.

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I wasn't hearing that all the time,

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and so it may made me feel like an other,

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listening to someone else's music.

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(gentle music)

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- Honestly, the thing that
brought me to Nashville

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was the people.

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When I started meeting
people from Nashville,

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I could tell that,

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kinda the thing that
people always talk about,

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that country music was a community.

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Nashville is just this
little scene unto its own.

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There's this thing where
country music singers,

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they go to the grocery store,

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they go to the same bars as you,

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they go to the same whatever.

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So there's this closeness,

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this community that really exists.

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I think that it speaks to
the culture of country music

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in a good way and a bad way,

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because there is a level of

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nobody wants to shake any feathers

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because everything is calm and
everything is kinda the same

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and everything has existed in
this way for such a long time.

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(scenery whooshing)

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(television popping)

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- If we understand the
history of this genre,

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of this sound, and understand that

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it is as much a part of black tradition

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as it is white tradition,

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and if we understand black
people have always been here

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and have always been a fan of this music,

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have always created this music.

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But, I think when you're an
artist and you're comin' in,

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like it takes a certain kinda mindset,

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a special kinda mindset to be like,

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I'm gonna start from scratch,

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and I'm gonna do that on my own.

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(curtain creaking)
(haunting music)

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- I think that sometimes you
feel led to do something,

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but you might be scared,
'cause nobody has done it.

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Or very few people have done it.

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I just had to make a pathway for myself.

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I started makin' music

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when I was probably like 11 years old.

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My uncle bought me a keyboard.

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By the time I was about 16,

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I was workin' at Sears
in the mall in Memphis,

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and I met this guy named
Chris who had tracks.

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He said, "Come over here."

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And I made my first song,

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and that's when I knew for real,

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like I knew I had to
pursue this as a career.

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I would always go to LA or
Houston or Atlanta, New York.

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I met a guy named Courtney Benson,

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and I knew the Nelly song.

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♪ I'm getting pages outta
New Jersey from Courtney B ♪

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♪ Talkin' about a party up in NYC ♪

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♪ And can I make it ♪

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♪ Damn right, I be on the next flight ♪

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♪ Payin' cash, first class ♪

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♪ Sittin' next to Vanna White ♪

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- And I was like, you
Courtney B. from the song.

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Courtney was the one
that really helped me.

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That's how I got in the
game was just doin' tracks

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and singin' hooks for Nelly and Ashanti

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and Chingy or Youngbloods.

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I grew up in Memphis where Three 6 Mafia

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was always in everybody's car.

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And that was startin' to be the sound

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of all rap music to me.

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(muffled music)

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And I was completely tired of
it (laughing) at that point.

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I listened to it my whole upbringing.

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I was livin' in Atlanta,

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and I was comin' up to Nashville a lot,

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and I was hearin' country music,

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and I was really startin' to like it.

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I was hearin' things like Zac Brown Band,

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records that sounded different

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than the country music I grew up on.

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So now I'm listenin' to this music

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that has this whole band,
guitars, and strings and steel.

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Whenever something's bendin'
like the steel guitar,

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bendin', it's soul to me.

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So I'm like, this has
got soul music to it.

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And then I started
diggin' into older songs,

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like realizing Dolly Parton
songs were so beautiful

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and Patsy Cline songs
that had jazz influence

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and all these different influences.

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I was like,

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the music that I love is all right here.

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♪ I could call you a taxi ♪

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♪ We could just call it quits ♪

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♪ We could just throw
our hands in the air ♪

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♪ Act like we don't care ♪

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♪ Say it is what it is ♪

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♪ Say I can't forgive you ♪

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♪ And I never will ♪

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♪ Or we could let another
sun come up on our love ♪

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♪ And see what time might heal ♪

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♪ It's gonna be hard on my heart ♪

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♪ It's gonna be hard on my pride ♪

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♪ So can we please try
a little bit harder ♪

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♪ While we're still here tonight ♪

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♪ It's gonna be hard to let you go ♪

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♪ Hard not having you around ♪

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♪ It's gonna be harder ♪

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♪ Harder than we know ♪

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♪ If we take the easy way out ♪

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♪ If we take the easy way out girl ♪

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♪ Please ♪

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♪ It's gonna be hard baby ♪

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Yow.

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(Scenery whooshing)

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- Country music.

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Well, country music was
somethin' always been here.

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So when I think, when I stepped out,

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outside the household,
country music's what we heard.

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It's country music city here.

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- When you listen to the songs
and just some of the things,

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the struggles, 'cause a
lot of that country music,

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if you listen to the
word and they struggle,

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and they're just tryin'
to put that perspective

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on what they went through,

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relationship, with marriages,

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all that's tied up with country music,

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'cause mostly what they're singin' about,

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the past and the present

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and how they was able to get out of it.

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So my perspective on country music,

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I enjoy listenin' to country music,

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but I listen to a lot of the words

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when I do listen to the songs.

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- Music is the thing for me that

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levels the playing field.

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Initially I wanted to be an artist.

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♪ My savior all the day long ♪

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♪ This is my story ♪

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I started doing YouTube
throughout high school.

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It didn't really do much.

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00:14:03,970 --> 00:14:06,962
♪ All the day long ♪

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I eventually had a couple
videos that had done well,

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but just not anything enough on YouTube

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to really push the needle professionally.

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And some people were like,

260
00:14:18,769 --> 00:14:20,198
"You could write songs

261
00:14:20,198 --> 00:14:22,184
"and potentially you could
write songs for people."

262
00:14:22,184 --> 00:14:23,394
I was like, okay, cool.

263
00:14:23,394 --> 00:14:24,227
Like I'm into that.

264
00:14:24,227 --> 00:14:25,244
Let me see what I can do.

265
00:14:25,244 --> 00:14:27,760
And so I ended up going out to Atlanta,

266
00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,086
just kinda shadowed some producers.

267
00:14:30,086 --> 00:14:33,386
And that was kind of how
I started to level up

268
00:14:33,386 --> 00:14:36,124
even more as a songwriter.

269
00:14:36,124 --> 00:14:37,988
It was primarily R&B and hip hop,

270
00:14:37,988 --> 00:14:39,316
just 'cause I was in Atlanta,

271
00:14:39,316 --> 00:14:41,276
and those were kinda the
opportunities that I had

272
00:14:41,276 --> 00:14:44,118
based on producers and writers
that I was working with.

273
00:14:44,118 --> 00:14:46,838
But there were some people
within country music

274
00:14:46,838 --> 00:14:49,472
that I felt like were
making progressive stuff

275
00:14:49,472 --> 00:14:50,816
than the country music that I was

276
00:14:50,816 --> 00:14:53,468
being put onto in high school and college.

277
00:14:53,468 --> 00:14:55,408
I liked a lotta Sam Hunt stuff.

278
00:14:55,408 --> 00:14:58,246
I was listenin' to some Kane Brown stuff.

279
00:14:58,246 --> 00:15:01,556
The genre has come a long way quickly.

280
00:15:01,556 --> 00:15:04,194
So I was like, this is a good time for me

281
00:15:04,194 --> 00:15:07,468
to bring some of the influences
and experience that I have

282
00:15:07,468 --> 00:15:10,024
from living in Atlanta
for the past few years

283
00:15:10,024 --> 00:15:13,941
and try to incorporate
it into what's going on.

284
00:15:16,836 --> 00:15:20,184
So I was like, I need to go to Nashville

285
00:15:20,184 --> 00:15:24,012
and see what is really
going on within the genre.

286
00:15:24,012 --> 00:15:27,179
'Cause I'm an outsider in this moment.

287
00:15:29,664 --> 00:15:33,364
So I came out to Nashville
and then I realized,

288
00:15:33,364 --> 00:15:34,874
they're basically writing the same way

289
00:15:34,874 --> 00:15:36,746
that I typically write.

290
00:15:36,746 --> 00:15:38,922
They're just doing it with
some different phrases

291
00:15:38,922 --> 00:15:40,912
and they're doing it with
some different instruments,

292
00:15:40,912 --> 00:15:44,208
but the same stuff that
I would do, my process,

293
00:15:44,208 --> 00:15:46,875
in Atlanta was pretty similar to

294
00:15:47,912 --> 00:15:49,802
what they were doing in Nashville.

295
00:15:49,802 --> 00:15:51,348
So I was like, okay.

296
00:15:51,348 --> 00:15:52,402
This is dope.

297
00:15:52,402 --> 00:15:55,474
I don't have to relearn anything, really.

298
00:15:55,474 --> 00:15:57,807
I was like, I just,
they're just writing songs

299
00:15:57,807 --> 00:15:59,640
based around concepts.

300
00:16:01,906 --> 00:16:03,063
Like there's no nothing that

301
00:16:03,063 --> 00:16:06,967
would allow you to write an R&B
song that would preclude you

302
00:16:06,967 --> 00:16:09,368
from being able to write
a good country song,

303
00:16:09,368 --> 00:16:11,390
because the best versions
of both of those things

304
00:16:11,390 --> 00:16:12,681
are pretty similar.

305
00:16:12,681 --> 00:16:15,348
(gentle music)

306
00:16:17,222 --> 00:16:21,106
- I think it probably
speaks to the storytelling,

307
00:16:21,106 --> 00:16:22,523
the instrumentation.

308
00:16:22,523 --> 00:16:25,039
Country music is a genre that,

309
00:16:25,039 --> 00:16:27,401
even as it's gotten more popular,

310
00:16:27,401 --> 00:16:31,327
has still maintained this sense of purity.

311
00:16:31,327 --> 00:16:33,571
There's still live guitar.

312
00:16:33,571 --> 00:16:34,810
There's still live drums.

313
00:16:34,810 --> 00:16:36,748
Even now, again, as we get to this hip hop

314
00:16:36,748 --> 00:16:38,843
where there are these country artists

315
00:16:38,843 --> 00:16:42,819
that really incorporate a
lot of these R&B influences

316
00:16:42,819 --> 00:16:45,349
or a lot of these hip hop influences,

317
00:16:45,349 --> 00:16:47,953
you're still probably gonna
put some pedal still over it.

318
00:16:47,953 --> 00:16:50,775
And music is such a wonderful art form

319
00:16:50,775 --> 00:16:54,942
in that it's always pulling
from different spaces.

320
00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,590
(birds chirping)

321
00:17:05,004 --> 00:17:09,948
- My earliest memory of music
is hearing my mom's voice

322
00:17:09,948 --> 00:17:11,781
and hearing her piano.

323
00:17:14,932 --> 00:17:18,550
She couldn't express
her love with her words

324
00:17:18,550 --> 00:17:20,800
or with physical affection,

325
00:17:22,290 --> 00:17:25,790
but I could hear it in the way she played.

326
00:17:29,226 --> 00:17:30,096
One of my earliest memories

327
00:17:30,096 --> 00:17:33,360
is crawling under the
piano while she played.

328
00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:36,142
When she was very upset
about things, she would play.

329
00:17:36,142 --> 00:17:39,014
And I loved to hear her, so I would,

330
00:17:39,014 --> 00:17:40,714
I remember seeing her feet on the pedals

331
00:17:40,714 --> 00:17:42,636
and I could see the edge of her wrists

332
00:17:42,636 --> 00:17:44,719
and the edge of her hand.

333
00:17:46,018 --> 00:17:47,921
And that's where I would feel moments

334
00:17:47,921 --> 00:17:50,184
of connection and safety with her

335
00:17:50,184 --> 00:17:51,698
was when I could hear her play.

336
00:17:51,698 --> 00:17:54,781
(gentle banjo music)

337
00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:00,554
My mom says I was humming
before I could speak.

338
00:18:00,554 --> 00:18:02,152
And if she was playing the piano,

339
00:18:02,152 --> 00:18:05,319
I would hum with her in the right key,

340
00:18:08,562 --> 00:18:11,024
And I remember humming and singing

341
00:18:11,024 --> 00:18:13,746
to make myself feel less scared.

342
00:18:13,746 --> 00:18:17,312
And that is something that I feel like

343
00:18:17,312 --> 00:18:21,645
connects me really directly
with the black diaspora.

344
00:18:23,196 --> 00:18:25,196
♪ Mmmm ♪

345
00:18:27,852 --> 00:18:32,852
I got myself a secondhand banjo
at a pawn shop in Vancouver.

346
00:18:33,239 --> 00:18:36,882
That kind of opened a whole world to me.

347
00:18:36,882 --> 00:18:38,768
I loved the sound of it,

348
00:18:38,768 --> 00:18:40,636
and I didn't know anything about it,

349
00:18:40,636 --> 00:18:45,303
but I just knew it resonated
for me in this special way.

350
00:19:00,954 --> 00:19:03,860
♪ Hush now don't you wake up ♪

351
00:19:03,860 --> 00:19:07,174
♪ We'll be leavin' that first night ♪

352
00:19:07,174 --> 00:19:10,624
♪ Mama's buyin' you a mockin' bird ♪

353
00:19:10,624 --> 00:19:15,062
♪ To lull you through the night ♪

354
00:19:15,062 --> 00:19:17,895
- I met Rhiannon Giddens in 2006.

355
00:19:19,092 --> 00:19:20,674
She was in the Chocolate Drops.

356
00:19:20,674 --> 00:19:22,542
They were one year in.

357
00:19:22,542 --> 00:19:25,176
And I remember just
being like thunderstruck

358
00:19:25,176 --> 00:19:27,388
when I saw these three
beautiful black people

359
00:19:27,388 --> 00:19:32,302
playing fiddle and banjos
and singing these old time.

360
00:19:32,302 --> 00:19:35,090
♪ And I can't tell my daughters ♪

361
00:19:35,090 --> 00:19:39,454
♪ All the things that I've said ♪

362
00:19:39,454 --> 00:19:42,125
- [Allyson] It was revelatory
for me to hear black women

363
00:19:42,125 --> 00:19:43,706
singing their own experiences.

364
00:19:43,706 --> 00:19:48,706
♪ Afraid of that bright glory up above ♪

365
00:19:49,068 --> 00:19:50,010
- [Allyson] I understood that music

366
00:19:50,010 --> 00:19:51,134
has always been the thing

367
00:19:51,134 --> 00:19:53,967
that helped people survive trauma.

368
00:19:56,475 --> 00:19:57,754
That's how I know how to do it,

369
00:19:57,754 --> 00:20:01,870
is through writing songs
and singing them for people

370
00:20:01,870 --> 00:20:05,120
and trying to connect as much as I can.

371
00:20:14,588 --> 00:20:17,338
(birds chirping)

372
00:20:20,346 --> 00:20:25,013
- Growin' up I was a big
Charley Pride fan, Matchbox 20,

373
00:20:26,126 --> 00:20:29,459
Tupac, Sevendust, Prince, Brooks & Dunn,

374
00:20:31,647 --> 00:20:33,480
kinda just everything.

375
00:20:36,204 --> 00:20:38,734
My music, kind of the stories
I tell through the songs

376
00:20:38,734 --> 00:20:41,304
and kinda how I grew up, where I grew up,

377
00:20:41,304 --> 00:20:45,471
what I liked to wear,
country music fit me better.

378
00:20:49,700 --> 00:20:52,117
I moved to Nashville in 2007.

379
00:20:54,170 --> 00:20:55,003
And 2007

380
00:20:57,284 --> 00:21:00,451
country was still pretty traditional.

381
00:21:01,686 --> 00:21:04,266
Of course I had a few people
at different labels saying,

382
00:21:04,266 --> 00:21:06,066
"Well it wouldn't work."

383
00:21:06,066 --> 00:21:09,113
'Cause I was black or I had
this one dude at a label,

384
00:21:09,113 --> 00:21:11,493
I won't say his name, but he was like,

385
00:21:11,493 --> 00:21:13,274
"Yeah man, I like you, you're a good guy,

386
00:21:13,274 --> 00:21:16,253
"but I'm not sure about
how country music fans

387
00:21:16,253 --> 00:21:18,543
"would feel about your people."

388
00:21:18,543 --> 00:21:20,460
And I was like, "What?"

389
00:21:22,404 --> 00:21:23,237
I ain't.

390
00:21:26,181 --> 00:21:28,066
I remember after I signed with Broken Bow

391
00:21:28,066 --> 00:21:29,558
my first single went
number one, he emails me.

392
00:21:29,558 --> 00:21:31,046
He said, "Dude, congrats, man.

393
00:21:31,046 --> 00:21:33,815
"I always knew you'd make it."

394
00:21:33,815 --> 00:21:35,262
I'm a straight shooter,

395
00:21:35,262 --> 00:21:37,054
so I emailed him back,
said, "Don't lie to me, bro.

396
00:21:37,054 --> 00:21:37,913
"You told me it wouldn't do.

397
00:21:37,913 --> 00:21:38,837
"You ain't gotta lie.

398
00:21:38,837 --> 00:21:43,837
"You coulda just said
congratulations and kept it at that."

399
00:21:44,123 --> 00:21:45,923
But I feel like it's our job to realize

400
00:21:45,923 --> 00:21:48,588
that there are certain
barriers that are there,

401
00:21:48,588 --> 00:21:51,757
certain obstacles that are there.

402
00:21:51,757 --> 00:21:53,303
And we have to get past that.

403
00:21:53,303 --> 00:21:57,973
And the one way to always
get past it is great music.

404
00:21:57,973 --> 00:21:59,248
If your music's trash, it's trash.

405
00:21:59,248 --> 00:22:00,810
That's just facts.

406
00:22:00,810 --> 00:22:03,643
No matter what your skin color is.

407
00:22:06,337 --> 00:22:08,340
We can only control who we are,

408
00:22:08,340 --> 00:22:11,351
what we do, and the quality
of music we put out.

409
00:22:11,351 --> 00:22:14,018
(gentle music)

410
00:22:33,283 --> 00:22:35,033
- I grew up in Texas.

411
00:22:38,209 --> 00:22:42,876
My church drove us to see a
Texas Rangers baseball game.

412
00:22:44,584 --> 00:22:46,679
I was in the nosebleed section,

413
00:22:46,679 --> 00:22:49,104
and the announcer says,

414
00:22:49,104 --> 00:22:51,181
"Please rise as 10-year-old LeAnn Rimes

415
00:22:51,181 --> 00:22:52,790
"sings the National Anthem."

416
00:22:52,790 --> 00:22:55,540
(crowd cheering)

417
00:22:56,376 --> 00:22:59,622
When I heard her sing,
that's when I was like,

418
00:22:59,622 --> 00:23:00,955
I wanna do that.

419
00:23:04,615 --> 00:23:08,354
My grandmother lived
in a really tiny shack

420
00:23:08,354 --> 00:23:09,592
in Riesel, Texas,

421
00:23:09,592 --> 00:23:11,532
and when I would go over to her house,

422
00:23:11,532 --> 00:23:14,098
she would have hanging
on the back of her door

423
00:23:14,098 --> 00:23:17,720
all these VHS tapes of Dolly
Parton and Kenny Rogers

424
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,470
and "Steel Magnolias"
and any Southern movie.

425
00:23:22,748 --> 00:23:24,961
So I wanted to do country music.

426
00:23:24,961 --> 00:23:27,878
(curtain clicking)

427
00:23:31,564 --> 00:23:33,350
Hey, y'all, it's Mickey Guyton here.

428
00:23:33,350 --> 00:23:35,612
I hope you guys are having
an amazing CMA Fest.

429
00:23:35,612 --> 00:23:39,544
This is my first CMA Fest,
and I'm so excited to be here.

430
00:23:39,544 --> 00:23:42,454
- Hey guys, I'm Erica Grace
Powell hangin' out at CMA Fest.

431
00:23:42,454 --> 00:23:44,784
One of my favorite girls in country music,

432
00:23:44,784 --> 00:23:47,330
Miss Mickey Guyton, is here with us today.

433
00:23:47,330 --> 00:23:49,162
How are you?
- I am so good.

434
00:23:49,162 --> 00:23:50,690
I'm just obsessed with you.

435
00:23:50,690 --> 00:23:51,857
Hey, y'all I'm Mickey Guyton,

436
00:23:51,857 --> 00:23:55,584
and I am so excited to
be hosting the red carpet

437
00:23:55,584 --> 00:23:58,173
with the ACM Awards with
Sounds Like Nashville.

438
00:23:58,173 --> 00:24:00,840
(gentle music)

439
00:24:02,630 --> 00:24:07,630
I jumped in blindly, but when
I signed to Capitol Records,

440
00:24:07,662 --> 00:24:10,228
Mike Duncan did call me.

441
00:24:10,228 --> 00:24:14,978
He said that it's going to be
really difficult for women.

442
00:24:16,180 --> 00:24:20,122
He didn't even mention people of color.

443
00:24:20,122 --> 00:24:23,539
And I was thinking, it can't be that bad.

444
00:24:24,399 --> 00:24:25,283
We'll be fine.

445
00:24:25,283 --> 00:24:26,136
I'll be fine.

446
00:24:26,136 --> 00:24:27,609
I've got a great label.

447
00:24:27,609 --> 00:24:28,784
I've got great management.

448
00:24:28,784 --> 00:24:31,201
Like this is going to happen.

449
00:24:32,373 --> 00:24:34,540
And then, reality sets in.

450
00:24:35,433 --> 00:24:38,016
(somber music)

451
00:24:38,901 --> 00:24:41,484
I got questioned at every turn.

452
00:24:43,303 --> 00:24:45,173
It was like you've gotta make sure

453
00:24:45,173 --> 00:24:46,585
that you're really country,

454
00:24:46,585 --> 00:24:48,931
'cause people are gonna think
that you're disingenuous.

455
00:24:48,931 --> 00:24:52,432
And I'm thinking to myself,
I grew up in Crawford, Texas.

456
00:24:52,432 --> 00:24:54,523
It doesn't get much countrier than that.

457
00:24:54,523 --> 00:24:57,106
(somber music)

458
00:24:58,875 --> 00:25:02,708
I was signed because
people loved my artistry.

459
00:25:04,197 --> 00:25:06,645
And it was like they
tried to change everything

460
00:25:06,645 --> 00:25:10,676
and wash everything that made me me away

461
00:25:10,676 --> 00:25:13,926
and put this other person on top of me.

462
00:25:17,834 --> 00:25:22,167
There's this formula on how
to make it in Nashville.

463
00:25:24,022 --> 00:25:28,355
I've followed the Nashville
way for almost 10 years.

464
00:25:30,155 --> 00:25:32,488
It does not work for anybody

465
00:25:34,339 --> 00:25:37,172
unless you are a white, tall male.

466
00:25:39,403 --> 00:25:41,170
Like it is golden for you.

467
00:25:41,170 --> 00:25:42,277
You just follow that formula,

468
00:25:42,277 --> 00:25:44,843
you're gonna have like 10 number ones

469
00:25:44,843 --> 00:25:48,787
and a ranch and your own
label and a bar on Broadway,

470
00:25:48,787 --> 00:25:50,704
like all of the things.

471
00:25:55,352 --> 00:25:56,199
Which is crazy,

472
00:25:56,199 --> 00:25:59,500
'cause there's so many
different people in the world,

473
00:25:59,500 --> 00:26:00,452
and you could be shutting off

474
00:26:00,452 --> 00:26:03,119
so many opportunities like that.

475
00:26:06,454 --> 00:26:09,371
It doesn't just have to be one way.

476
00:26:12,465 --> 00:26:15,132
(gentle music)

477
00:26:21,082 --> 00:26:24,669
- I had went as far as I
could go in my hometown,

478
00:26:24,669 --> 00:26:26,366
which is High Point, North Carolina.

479
00:26:26,366 --> 00:26:29,217
(gentle music)

480
00:26:29,217 --> 00:26:31,143
- [Announcer] Please
welcome Frankie Staton.

481
00:26:31,143 --> 00:26:33,893
(crowd cheering)

482
00:26:36,341 --> 00:26:40,255
- I would just like to say
that I wrote this song because

483
00:26:40,255 --> 00:26:42,771
at the heart of everybody,

484
00:26:42,771 --> 00:26:44,683
they wanna be loved for who they are.

485
00:26:44,683 --> 00:26:47,183
(piano music)

486
00:26:53,101 --> 00:26:58,101
My wish for you all is that
you find that in your life.

487
00:26:58,115 --> 00:27:00,412
I was playin' for the
International Furniture Markets,

488
00:27:00,412 --> 00:27:03,329
which was the industry of our city.

489
00:27:05,093 --> 00:27:09,498
And I would play for people
from all over the world.

490
00:27:09,498 --> 00:27:12,304
Every now and then I'd slip
one of my own original songs in

491
00:27:12,304 --> 00:27:14,140
and they would say, "Did
you really write that?

492
00:27:14,140 --> 00:27:14,973
"Is that your music?"

493
00:27:14,973 --> 00:27:17,306
♪ Oooh yeah ♪

494
00:27:20,713 --> 00:27:21,565
And they would say,

495
00:27:21,565 --> 00:27:26,148
"You need to go somewhere
where somebody can hear you."

496
00:27:27,209 --> 00:27:29,383
Being a Southern girl

497
00:27:29,383 --> 00:27:31,729
and having a love of all kinds of music

498
00:27:31,729 --> 00:27:34,807
and especially country music,

499
00:27:34,807 --> 00:27:37,474
I thought, I'll go to Nashville.

500
00:27:40,842 --> 00:27:42,663
I was always about the talent

501
00:27:42,663 --> 00:27:45,128
and the music and the creativity.

502
00:27:45,128 --> 00:27:49,380
So at that point I had already been around

503
00:27:49,380 --> 00:27:52,916
all kinds of people from everywhere,

504
00:27:52,916 --> 00:27:55,006
and they seemed to enjoy what I did.

505
00:27:55,006 --> 00:27:58,220
So I didn't look at it
like, oh, I'm a black woman.

506
00:27:58,220 --> 00:28:00,887
(gentle music)

507
00:28:02,146 --> 00:28:05,650
Nashville taught me that
I was a black woman.

508
00:28:05,650 --> 00:28:07,078
They made me know that.

509
00:28:07,078 --> 00:28:09,524
(gentle music)

510
00:28:09,524 --> 00:28:12,802
They made me know that my
blackness made me different.

511
00:28:12,802 --> 00:28:15,469
(gentle music)

512
00:28:29,110 --> 00:28:30,841
- [Participant] I do
pose a question a lot,

513
00:28:30,841 --> 00:28:32,066
just to get people to think,

514
00:28:32,066 --> 00:28:34,483
and it's who built Nashville?

515
00:28:41,876 --> 00:28:44,126
Like, who built this place?

516
00:29:06,064 --> 00:29:07,216
- I mean, Nashville's a lot different

517
00:29:07,216 --> 00:29:09,728
than what it used to be
when I was growin' up.

518
00:29:09,728 --> 00:29:11,728
But to me, this is home.

519
00:29:15,864 --> 00:29:19,720
There's very few of us
left, original Nashvillians,

520
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,302
kids that went to Metro, MMPS
schools, and stuff like that.

521
00:29:23,302 --> 00:29:26,552
So to me, this is always gonna be home.

522
00:29:29,540 --> 00:29:31,158
If I close my eyes and think about it,

523
00:29:31,158 --> 00:29:34,250
the first thing I'm gonna
see is Jefferson Street.

524
00:29:34,250 --> 00:29:35,083
You know what I'm sayin'?

525
00:29:35,083 --> 00:29:36,472
The first thing I'm gonna taste is

526
00:29:36,472 --> 00:29:39,139
the biscuits at Knock-Out Wings.

527
00:29:40,584 --> 00:29:42,501
My sister went to Fisk.

528
00:29:43,712 --> 00:29:45,430
I went to TSU right up the street.

529
00:29:45,430 --> 00:29:48,097
(intense music)

530
00:29:55,798 --> 00:29:59,234
(gentle gospel music)

531
00:29:59,234 --> 00:30:00,680
A big part of music growing up

532
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:02,702
in Nashville was going to church,

533
00:30:02,702 --> 00:30:04,878
and the choir was so incredible.

534
00:30:04,878 --> 00:30:07,598
You would have these different musicians

535
00:30:07,598 --> 00:30:11,560
that were just world class
musicians playin' gospel music.

536
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:12,834
And at the time I didn't really have

537
00:30:12,834 --> 00:30:14,208
the same appreciation
'cause there wasn't nobody

538
00:30:14,208 --> 00:30:16,860
tryin' to listen to no gospel
music for real like that.

539
00:30:16,860 --> 00:30:18,307
I'd rather be listening to Ludacris

540
00:30:18,307 --> 00:30:20,786
or somethin' like that, but,

541
00:30:20,786 --> 00:30:21,974
when I look going it,

542
00:30:21,974 --> 00:30:24,440
I realized how much of
an impact it had on me

543
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:26,762
and how much I value

544
00:30:26,762 --> 00:30:29,257
black music and black
musicians in Nashville.

545
00:30:29,257 --> 00:30:31,924
(gentle music)

546
00:30:43,046 --> 00:30:44,764
- Me and my father,

547
00:30:44,764 --> 00:30:48,503
we moved from Chattanooga
to Johnson City, Tennessee

548
00:30:48,503 --> 00:30:49,586
back in 2006.

549
00:30:52,905 --> 00:30:55,589
My mother passed away when I was 17,

550
00:30:55,589 --> 00:30:57,672
and we pretty much, just,

551
00:30:58,682 --> 00:31:00,128
we needed to like start over,

552
00:31:00,128 --> 00:31:03,461
have a fresh start in a different place.

553
00:31:04,718 --> 00:31:06,932
I kinda felt this sense of in betweeness

554
00:31:06,932 --> 00:31:09,826
because I was a black girl

555
00:31:09,826 --> 00:31:13,593
growin' up in very
conservative white suburbia,

556
00:31:13,593 --> 00:31:17,760
also dealing with like my
gender and my sexuality.

557
00:31:20,004 --> 00:31:22,637
I was going to East
Tennessee State University.

558
00:31:22,637 --> 00:31:23,825
I was looking through the catalog book

559
00:31:23,825 --> 00:31:28,242
and I came across this class
called Bluegrass Guitar.

560
00:31:29,133 --> 00:31:33,789
And that's when I really
started to understand

561
00:31:33,789 --> 00:31:38,789
my place musically and how
I can contribute to music.

562
00:31:38,975 --> 00:31:40,818
And the fact that my ancestors

563
00:31:40,818 --> 00:31:44,697
were such a pivotal and important part

564
00:31:44,697 --> 00:31:46,780
of country and bluegrass.

565
00:31:49,825 --> 00:31:52,477
Like these are all things
I had no idea of because,

566
00:31:52,477 --> 00:31:54,685
for me, I didn't know if I wanted

567
00:31:54,685 --> 00:31:59,259
to be part of a music
community that, on the surface,

568
00:31:59,259 --> 00:32:03,017
didn't seem to recognize
me as a valid participant

569
00:32:03,017 --> 00:32:05,378
because I was black.

570
00:32:05,378 --> 00:32:08,461
(gentle banjo music)

571
00:32:18,743 --> 00:32:21,102
- Country music is the music of the South.

572
00:32:21,102 --> 00:32:23,852
It is Southern musical tradition.

573
00:32:27,311 --> 00:32:30,281
And when you think about
the American South,

574
00:32:30,281 --> 00:32:33,781
you gotta think about black people period.

575
00:32:38,221 --> 00:32:40,212
And all of these things that we hear

576
00:32:40,212 --> 00:32:43,459
that we associate with whiteness

577
00:32:43,459 --> 00:32:45,821
were absolutely being done

578
00:32:45,821 --> 00:32:49,725
and really being revolutionized really,

579
00:32:49,725 --> 00:32:53,296
like black people were really
innovating in this space.

580
00:32:53,296 --> 00:32:56,379
(gentle banjo music)

581
00:33:02,391 --> 00:33:05,092
- [Amythyst] There were
times where whites and blacks

582
00:33:05,092 --> 00:33:08,342
would both learn music from each other.

583
00:33:09,985 --> 00:33:10,839
There was like a trade

584
00:33:10,839 --> 00:33:14,509
between the banjo and
the fiddle, for instance.

585
00:33:14,509 --> 00:33:16,195
The banjo coming from West Africa.

586
00:33:16,195 --> 00:33:19,362
(gentle banjo music)

587
00:33:21,837 --> 00:33:26,171
Adding that rhythmic playing,
which we call claw hammer,

588
00:33:26,171 --> 00:33:30,014
you're playing melody and
rhythm at the same time.

589
00:33:30,014 --> 00:33:32,823
So that going underneath
these fiddle tunes

590
00:33:32,823 --> 00:33:34,740
created this new sound.

591
00:33:37,924 --> 00:33:41,091
("Eighth of January")

592
00:33:49,970 --> 00:33:51,294
- We've got black string bands

593
00:33:51,294 --> 00:33:52,636
along with white string bands,

594
00:33:52,636 --> 00:33:55,320
but white people were put in this bucket

595
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:56,920
where they create hillbilly music

596
00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:00,098
and black people are over
here creating race records.

597
00:34:00,098 --> 00:34:03,098
("Warm Wipe Stomp")

598
00:34:12,017 --> 00:34:14,434
The music itself is the same.

599
00:34:16,465 --> 00:34:20,410
The genres are really
just marketing categories.

600
00:34:20,410 --> 00:34:24,280
How do we get music in
the hands of these people?

601
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,950
♪ Warm wipe stomp ♪

602
00:34:26,950 --> 00:34:30,708
- And it really is the
commercial music industry,

603
00:34:30,708 --> 00:34:33,818
this idea that now we're
gonna make money off of this

604
00:34:33,818 --> 00:34:36,985
that starts to create that separation.

605
00:34:40,314 --> 00:34:44,308
- Once more white people started
learning how to play banjo,

606
00:34:44,308 --> 00:34:46,506
there was this thing
that started happening

607
00:34:46,506 --> 00:34:48,818
in the early 20th century.

608
00:34:48,818 --> 00:34:49,937
The blackface minstrel shows.

609
00:34:49,937 --> 00:34:52,687
(intense music)

610
00:34:56,157 --> 00:34:58,720
And people from all over the country

611
00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:01,479
would go and see these shows.

612
00:35:01,479 --> 00:35:02,767
That's how popular it was.

613
00:35:02,767 --> 00:35:05,517
(intense music)

614
00:35:06,385 --> 00:35:09,968
When you're faced with
being a black person

615
00:35:10,939 --> 00:35:14,785
during Segregation and
trying to find opportunities

616
00:35:14,785 --> 00:35:19,785
to just have some sense of
dignity in greater society.

617
00:35:20,089 --> 00:35:23,797
You are not gonna gravitate
toward banjo or a fiddle

618
00:35:23,797 --> 00:35:26,958
because you're seeing yourself
portrayed so negatively.

619
00:35:26,958 --> 00:35:29,931
Why would you wanna grab a banjo?

620
00:35:29,931 --> 00:35:33,708
If anything, it's let's create
jazz, let's create blue.

621
00:35:33,708 --> 00:35:36,360
Let's create some other music now

622
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:38,110
that we can have that's our own,

623
00:35:38,110 --> 00:35:41,110
because we can't touch this anymore.

624
00:35:43,700 --> 00:35:46,509
- A lotta times, even as
the music starts to shift,

625
00:35:46,509 --> 00:35:48,904
as we see more blues coming to the fore,

626
00:35:48,904 --> 00:35:50,078
they don't even want black people

627
00:35:50,078 --> 00:35:52,590
doing this other stuff anymore.

628
00:35:52,590 --> 00:35:54,186
They don't want the black string bands

629
00:35:54,186 --> 00:35:58,603
because that has been clearly
defined as white music.

630
00:35:59,709 --> 00:36:03,112
So over time we lose the
roots, which is that,

631
00:36:03,112 --> 00:36:04,400
yeah, white people were doin' it,

632
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,920
but black people were doin' it, too.

633
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,406
(gentle banjo music)

634
00:36:10,406 --> 00:36:13,323
- Every single bit of modern music,

635
00:36:15,284 --> 00:36:19,450
black roots music is foundational
to every single bit of it.

636
00:36:19,450 --> 00:36:22,783
And just as black innovation, creativity

637
00:36:23,694 --> 00:36:26,317
is foundational to blues,

638
00:36:26,317 --> 00:36:27,648
it's just as much so to country.

639
00:36:27,648 --> 00:36:29,262
It's just as much so to folk,

640
00:36:29,262 --> 00:36:32,287
it's just as much so to
any kind of pop music,

641
00:36:32,287 --> 00:36:36,466
any kind of, obviously jazz,
obviously rock and roll.

642
00:36:36,466 --> 00:36:38,788
Like, there's no Elvis
without Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

643
00:36:38,788 --> 00:36:40,609
There's no Hank Williams
without Lead Belly.

644
00:36:40,609 --> 00:36:44,088
There's no, it's like, it's foundational.

645
00:36:44,088 --> 00:36:46,626
And that's the part that
I started to realize.

646
00:36:46,626 --> 00:36:51,382
I don't need to apologize
for being in any space.

647
00:36:51,382 --> 00:36:54,549
I belong here just as much as anybody.

648
00:36:56,944 --> 00:37:00,040
♪ I don't pass the test of the paper bag ♪

649
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,118
♪ 'Cause I'm black myself ♪

650
00:37:03,118 --> 00:37:06,432
♪ I picked the banjo up
and they snare at me ♪

651
00:37:06,432 --> 00:37:09,520
♪ 'Cause I'm black myself ♪

652
00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:12,634
♪ You better lock your
doors when I walk by ♪

653
00:37:12,634 --> 00:37:15,730
♪ 'Cause I'm black myself ♪

654
00:37:15,730 --> 00:37:18,840
♪ You look me in my eyes
but you don't see me ♪

655
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:22,036
♪ 'Cause I'm black myself ♪

656
00:37:22,036 --> 00:37:25,164
♪ Is you washed in the
blood of your chattel ♪

657
00:37:25,164 --> 00:37:28,241
♪ 'Cause the lambs rotted away ♪

658
00:37:28,241 --> 00:37:31,198
♪ When they stop shippin' work horses ♪

659
00:37:31,198 --> 00:37:33,973
♪ They bet they own anyway ♪

660
00:37:33,973 --> 00:37:37,948
♪ Ooo ♪

661
00:37:37,948 --> 00:37:40,909
♪ 'Cause I'm black myself ♪

662
00:37:40,909 --> 00:37:44,136
♪ Ooh ♪

663
00:37:44,136 --> 00:37:47,214
♪ 'Cause I'm black myself ♪

664
00:37:47,214 --> 00:37:49,014
♪ 'Cause I'm black myself ♪

665
00:37:49,014 --> 00:37:52,364
♪ Black myself, black
myself, black myself ♪

666
00:37:52,364 --> 00:37:56,870
♪ Black myself, black myself ♪

667
00:37:56,870 --> 00:37:59,622
♪ Black myself ♪

668
00:37:59,622 --> 00:38:01,490
♪ 'Cause I'm black my ♪

669
00:38:01,490 --> 00:38:02,955
♪ Black my ♪

670
00:38:02,955 --> 00:38:05,538
♪ Black myself ♪

671
00:38:13,087 --> 00:38:15,587
(city noises)

672
00:38:22,471 --> 00:38:24,830
- [Amanda] Country music
is unique in that it is

673
00:38:24,830 --> 00:38:27,663
associated with a city, Nashville.

674
00:38:28,944 --> 00:38:31,120
And that's something you
don't see in other genres.

675
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,703
(somber music)

676
00:38:36,257 --> 00:38:37,122
People come here,

677
00:38:37,122 --> 00:38:40,955
they have a certain idea
of what Nashville is.

678
00:38:41,882 --> 00:38:43,438
They come with their cowboy
hats and their fringe

679
00:38:43,438 --> 00:38:44,771
and their boots.

680
00:38:46,328 --> 00:38:47,892
And they think that that's
how people live here

681
00:38:47,892 --> 00:38:51,059
and that it's a completely white city,

682
00:38:53,587 --> 00:38:57,170
when that has not been
the case in reality.

683
00:38:58,463 --> 00:39:01,046
(somber music)

684
00:39:06,391 --> 00:39:09,224
(people giggling)

685
00:39:12,034 --> 00:39:13,784
- [Kid] Bubble power.

686
00:39:15,163 --> 00:39:16,655
- No.
- That was a huge one.

687
00:39:16,655 --> 00:39:19,488
(voices muffling)

688
00:39:21,637 --> 00:39:24,883
- Try not to shake it, though.

689
00:39:24,883 --> 00:39:28,550
I remember when I was
probably like 12 or 13

690
00:39:29,387 --> 00:39:30,476
the "Achy Breaky Heart."

691
00:39:30,476 --> 00:39:31,733
(Niema laughing)

692
00:39:31,733 --> 00:39:32,685
It was the music.

693
00:39:32,685 --> 00:39:33,861
It was the tune that caught me,

694
00:39:33,861 --> 00:39:36,497
and I've always cherished the song.

695
00:39:36,497 --> 00:39:38,080
So Billy Ray Cyrus,

696
00:39:39,859 --> 00:39:41,597
I was a fan of his, when I was younger.

697
00:39:41,597 --> 00:39:44,162
I'm not afraid to say that now,

698
00:39:44,162 --> 00:39:47,395
but I've always loved country music.

699
00:39:47,395 --> 00:39:48,873
I've barely scratched the surface,

700
00:39:48,873 --> 00:39:52,427
but I'm always in the
mood to hear a good song.

701
00:39:52,427 --> 00:39:53,750
- Pop.
- Oh,

702
00:39:53,750 --> 00:39:55,160
- Oh, baba.

703
00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:56,272
- How you feel about it?

704
00:39:56,272 --> 00:39:57,940
(Niema laughing)

705
00:39:57,940 --> 00:40:00,852
- You took my song, but yeah, I was in,

706
00:40:00,852 --> 00:40:02,720
I think second or third grade

707
00:40:02,720 --> 00:40:05,470
when I heard "Achy Breaky Heart."

708
00:40:07,208 --> 00:40:09,420
I mean, I didn't know at the
time that it was country,

709
00:40:09,420 --> 00:40:10,983
because of being so young,

710
00:40:10,983 --> 00:40:13,414
you really don't separate
genres and everything.

711
00:40:13,414 --> 00:40:15,200
But, to this day,

712
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,650
I do know that that twang and that guitar

713
00:40:18,650 --> 00:40:20,894
and the way that he was sayin' his words

714
00:40:20,894 --> 00:40:22,446
were definitely unforgettable,

715
00:40:22,446 --> 00:40:24,348
and that's country in a nutshell.

716
00:40:24,348 --> 00:40:26,931
(gentle music)

717
00:40:28,108 --> 00:40:32,941
I think country, for me
personally, me being a black male,

718
00:40:33,813 --> 00:40:37,646
it doesn't really call
out to me, I would say.

719
00:40:38,659 --> 00:40:39,492
It doesn't call out to me.

720
00:40:39,492 --> 00:40:41,407
It doesn't ask me to listen to it, per se,

721
00:40:41,407 --> 00:40:45,759
because I think that a
lot of the years over time

722
00:40:45,759 --> 00:40:48,806
have been catered to
another type of people.

723
00:40:48,806 --> 00:40:51,473
(gentle music)

724
00:41:01,775 --> 00:41:04,223
- It's tough because country music,

725
00:41:04,223 --> 00:41:08,439
when it strikes the ear it
don't sound like black music.

726
00:41:08,439 --> 00:41:09,272
You know what I'm saying?

727
00:41:09,272 --> 00:41:11,953
A lot of the iconography
surrounding country music,

728
00:41:11,953 --> 00:41:13,990
it's not how we dress,
it's not what we look like,

729
00:41:13,990 --> 00:41:16,240
it's not what we talk like.

730
00:41:18,073 --> 00:41:20,162
We didn't listen to country
music growing up in my house.

731
00:41:20,162 --> 00:41:23,451
We was a jazz and gospel house.

732
00:41:23,451 --> 00:41:24,762
So it was just so strange,

733
00:41:24,762 --> 00:41:27,904
and it's like, everywhere
you go you're inundated with

734
00:41:27,904 --> 00:41:30,288
a ton of country music, and there's no,

735
00:41:30,288 --> 00:41:32,155
there was nothing else playing.

736
00:41:32,155 --> 00:41:34,380
If you're goin' to the gas
station, country music;

737
00:41:34,380 --> 00:41:35,537
you go to the mall, country music;

738
00:41:35,537 --> 00:41:38,090
you go to a store, country music.

739
00:41:38,090 --> 00:41:42,257
Everywhere you go it was
country music everywhere.

740
00:41:44,803 --> 00:41:47,319
- If you look at the
scholarship on country music,

741
00:41:47,319 --> 00:41:51,652
it's very well established
how country became white.

742
00:41:52,660 --> 00:41:54,904
But my question was really, okay,

743
00:41:54,904 --> 00:41:56,905
we know how it became white,

744
00:41:56,905 --> 00:41:59,797
but how has that
whiteness been maintained?

745
00:41:59,797 --> 00:42:02,258
Because here we are 100 years later,

746
00:42:02,258 --> 00:42:05,454
and we still think of
country music as white,

747
00:42:05,454 --> 00:42:09,704
probably even more white
than we did 100 years ago.

748
00:42:13,718 --> 00:42:16,420
Historically the country music industry

749
00:42:16,420 --> 00:42:18,121
has really capitalized

750
00:42:18,121 --> 00:42:22,288
on finding a base audience
of white conservatives.

751
00:42:23,375 --> 00:42:26,757
And that is a pocket of consumers

752
00:42:26,757 --> 00:42:29,513
that doesn't exist across
the board elsewhere.

753
00:42:29,513 --> 00:42:32,180
(gentle music)

754
00:42:36,177 --> 00:42:38,978
By the late 1970s, as a nation,

755
00:42:38,978 --> 00:42:41,395
the U.S. really took a conservative turn.

756
00:42:41,395 --> 00:42:44,690
(gentle music)

757
00:42:44,690 --> 00:42:47,357
The cowboy came back in fashion.

758
00:42:48,562 --> 00:42:51,079
And this was coupled with Ronald Reagan

759
00:42:51,079 --> 00:42:53,141
assuming the presidency in 1980,

760
00:42:53,141 --> 00:42:56,559
and he sold himself as a cowboy.

761
00:42:56,559 --> 00:42:58,921
And in turn, the country music industry,

762
00:42:58,921 --> 00:43:00,435
and the CMA in particular,

763
00:43:00,435 --> 00:43:03,602
really leaned into those associations.

764
00:43:06,208 --> 00:43:08,958
(crowd cheering)

765
00:43:16,408 --> 00:43:17,512
- And I don't know about our opponents,

766
00:43:17,512 --> 00:43:20,030
but there's an old
Country and Western song

767
00:43:20,030 --> 00:43:22,769
called "Home on the Range,"

768
00:43:22,769 --> 00:43:25,978
where seldom is heard a discouragin' word.

769
00:43:25,978 --> 00:43:27,729
I guess they haven't campaigned there yet.

770
00:43:27,729 --> 00:43:29,955
(audience laughing)

771
00:43:29,955 --> 00:43:32,205
You could invite them here.

772
00:43:33,047 --> 00:43:34,443
If you don't, that's just as well.

773
00:43:34,443 --> 00:43:38,526
(audience laughing and cheering)

774
00:43:46,136 --> 00:43:47,263
But they probably couldn't,

775
00:43:47,263 --> 00:43:49,332
they couldn't perform here anyway,

776
00:43:49,332 --> 00:43:51,139
because all they do is sing the blues.

777
00:43:51,139 --> 00:43:53,773
(audience laughing)

778
00:43:53,773 --> 00:43:56,440
(intense music)

779
00:44:00,029 --> 00:44:02,377
- [Amanda] By the 1990s, country music

780
00:44:02,377 --> 00:44:05,460
was the most popular format on radio.

781
00:44:08,646 --> 00:44:11,878
And of course it all
funnels back to radio,

782
00:44:11,878 --> 00:44:14,916
because radio is the
most influential force

783
00:44:14,916 --> 00:44:17,749
within the country music business.

784
00:44:19,785 --> 00:44:21,467
It's across the board,

785
00:44:21,467 --> 00:44:23,349
within the country music industry

786
00:44:23,349 --> 00:44:24,695
for the past several decades

787
00:44:24,695 --> 00:44:27,061
where every pocket of the industry

788
00:44:27,061 --> 00:44:30,561
is invested in a certain type of listener.

789
00:44:33,657 --> 00:44:35,910
It's building on
generations and generations

790
00:44:35,910 --> 00:44:38,498
of only selling country music as a product

791
00:44:38,498 --> 00:44:40,435
by and for white people.

792
00:44:40,435 --> 00:44:43,768
(gentle intense music)

793
00:44:48,989 --> 00:44:51,433
- Part of the big reason why
country music is the way it is,

794
00:44:51,433 --> 00:44:55,510
is because of the fan,
the culture around it.

795
00:44:55,510 --> 00:44:57,722
- [Reporter] Controversy
over the Confederate flag

796
00:44:57,722 --> 00:44:59,676
hits home here in Connecticut.

797
00:44:59,676 --> 00:45:01,956
- [Andrea] You cultivate
whiteness for a very long time,

798
00:45:01,956 --> 00:45:05,234
you're gonna get a certain
demographic of people.

799
00:45:05,234 --> 00:45:06,894
- I think individual freedoms,

800
00:45:06,894 --> 00:45:07,789
you don't wanna tramp on that.

801
00:45:07,789 --> 00:45:08,791
Don't tread on me.

802
00:45:08,791 --> 00:45:11,791
(television static)

803
00:45:17,227 --> 00:45:22,037
- There's no denying the
tying in of Southern heritage

804
00:45:22,037 --> 00:45:25,620
to what traditional
country music has been.

805
00:45:27,817 --> 00:45:30,841
I was a day-to-day manager
for a couple country artists

806
00:45:30,841 --> 00:45:32,591
for about nine years.

807
00:45:33,955 --> 00:45:36,199
I mean, I remember goin' to concerts.

808
00:45:36,199 --> 00:45:37,233
You pull in the parking lot

809
00:45:37,233 --> 00:45:39,463
and you see all the Confederate flags,

810
00:45:39,463 --> 00:45:43,757
and those people might
not be actively racist,

811
00:45:43,757 --> 00:45:45,570
but they're at a country music show,

812
00:45:45,570 --> 00:45:46,681
and they feel like that means

813
00:45:46,681 --> 00:45:49,383
that they should fly the Confederate flag.

814
00:45:49,383 --> 00:45:52,460
(gentle music)

815
00:45:52,460 --> 00:45:54,161
If you're not workin'
in the music industry

816
00:45:54,161 --> 00:45:56,337
or you don't have a
real reason to be there,

817
00:45:56,337 --> 00:46:01,337
you're only gonna put yourself
through that experience once.

818
00:46:02,797 --> 00:46:06,158
I think all of it
together has just sort of

819
00:46:06,158 --> 00:46:10,325
made this not so welcoming
space for black people.

820
00:46:12,843 --> 00:46:14,883
And so I think that's
why it hurts even more,

821
00:46:14,883 --> 00:46:17,431
'cause it's hard to see
this thing that you love

822
00:46:17,431 --> 00:46:19,407
and work so hard for,

823
00:46:19,407 --> 00:46:21,766
it's hard to feel like
it doesn't love you back.

824
00:46:21,766 --> 00:46:24,349
(gentle music)

825
00:46:28,111 --> 00:46:30,253
- [Andrea] Even as it sits in the heart

826
00:46:30,253 --> 00:46:35,086
of this very diverse city, the
city that is a third black,

827
00:46:36,661 --> 00:46:40,494
this city with this rich
civil rights history,

828
00:46:41,499 --> 00:46:44,166
Where the freedom riots started.

829
00:46:45,313 --> 00:46:48,549
Where you've got Alexander
Looby's house is bombed

830
00:46:48,549 --> 00:46:51,312
because of the work he's
doing to desegregate schools

831
00:46:51,312 --> 00:46:54,895
to fight for civil
rights for black people.

832
00:46:56,440 --> 00:46:59,027
Where there are four HBCUs in town.

833
00:46:59,027 --> 00:47:01,694
(gentle music)

834
00:47:03,950 --> 00:47:07,799
There has been this
constant shift away from

835
00:47:07,799 --> 00:47:11,092
or avoidance of or just really clear lines

836
00:47:11,092 --> 00:47:15,837
between this industry and the
black community that's here.

837
00:47:15,837 --> 00:47:18,504
(gentle music)

838
00:47:29,828 --> 00:47:34,411
- I am a lifelong resident,
69 years here in Nashville.

839
00:47:38,685 --> 00:47:40,439
I grew up listening to country music.

840
00:47:40,439 --> 00:47:43,209
My mother was a choreographer,

841
00:47:43,209 --> 00:47:45,468
so she always listened to music,

842
00:47:45,468 --> 00:47:49,208
and having grown up
basically on a big farm

843
00:47:49,208 --> 00:47:51,979
and going to hoedowns and square dancing,

844
00:47:51,979 --> 00:47:54,740
I still have the silver dollars that I won

845
00:47:54,740 --> 00:47:57,789
in the square dancing contest
when I was a little boy.

846
00:47:57,789 --> 00:48:01,625
So, country music, two
step, square dancing,

847
00:48:01,625 --> 00:48:04,292
it's what I've done all my life.

848
00:48:07,496 --> 00:48:09,079
I was born in 1952.

849
00:48:11,467 --> 00:48:14,800
Of course, it was a different Nashville.

850
00:48:16,345 --> 00:48:19,229
My first time going to the Grand Ole Opry,

851
00:48:19,229 --> 00:48:23,749
I had to sit up in the top
because it was segregated.

852
00:48:23,749 --> 00:48:26,332
(somber music)

853
00:48:33,079 --> 00:48:37,412
So I never felt that country
music was welcoming me.

854
00:48:40,201 --> 00:48:42,237
And so if I didn't feel
it was welcoming me,

855
00:48:42,237 --> 00:48:46,049
and I've been loving it all my life,

856
00:48:46,049 --> 00:48:47,824
then I can only imagine how people

857
00:48:47,824 --> 00:48:49,514
who don't have any connection

858
00:48:49,514 --> 00:48:51,467
or people who even were trying to get

859
00:48:51,467 --> 00:48:53,879
in the business would feel,
because they weren't there.

860
00:48:53,879 --> 00:48:56,462
(somber music)

861
00:49:00,103 --> 00:49:03,535
So it caused me to dig a little deeper,

862
00:49:03,535 --> 00:49:06,618
to try to get a better understanding.

863
00:49:07,991 --> 00:49:09,846
And the fact is that,

864
00:49:09,846 --> 00:49:13,763
as Nashville was not
welcoming back in the day,

865
00:49:15,199 --> 00:49:16,759
country music wasn't either.

866
00:49:16,759 --> 00:49:19,426
(gentle music)

867
00:49:21,270 --> 00:49:23,770
(dog barking)

868
00:49:28,287 --> 00:49:30,821
- When I moved here, it was 1981,

869
00:49:30,821 --> 00:49:33,821
and it was quite different than now.

870
00:49:35,210 --> 00:49:37,590
There were tour buses everywhere.

871
00:49:37,590 --> 00:49:39,779
Busloads of people would come

872
00:49:39,779 --> 00:49:43,333
into these different clubs or restaurants,

873
00:49:43,333 --> 00:49:45,559
and they would have these jam sessions,

874
00:49:45,559 --> 00:49:48,247
and everybody wanted to get up

875
00:49:48,247 --> 00:49:52,019
and have a picture made singing
on a stage in Nashville.

876
00:49:52,019 --> 00:49:55,214
There was one particular jam
session I was interested in,

877
00:49:55,214 --> 00:49:57,464
was in the Captain's Table.

878
00:49:58,508 --> 00:50:00,266
I studied the marquee and it said

879
00:50:00,266 --> 00:50:03,190
Sammy Davis Jr. had performed there,

880
00:50:03,190 --> 00:50:05,440
and I love Sammy Davis, Jr.

881
00:50:06,367 --> 00:50:09,903
And so I said, I'm gonna be
clean when I walk up in there.

882
00:50:09,903 --> 00:50:12,570
(gentle music)

883
00:50:17,382 --> 00:50:20,425
So I come down Church Street one night

884
00:50:20,425 --> 00:50:25,083
in my evening gown with my
little fake rhinestones on,

885
00:50:25,083 --> 00:50:28,631
and the cops stopped me and
said, "Where you goin'?"

886
00:50:28,631 --> 00:50:31,623
I said, "I'm going to the jam session

887
00:50:31,623 --> 00:50:34,229
"at the Captain's Table."

888
00:50:34,229 --> 00:50:35,791
And he said, "To do what?"

889
00:50:35,791 --> 00:50:37,493
I said, "I'm singin' Loretta Lynn."

890
00:50:37,493 --> 00:50:39,891
He said, "Oh, really?

891
00:50:39,891 --> 00:50:40,739
"I'm going with you."

892
00:50:40,739 --> 00:50:42,271
I said, "You wanna hear it?

893
00:50:42,271 --> 00:50:43,104
"Come on."

894
00:50:44,361 --> 00:50:48,861
So my entree into the jam
session was with the police.

895
00:50:50,752 --> 00:50:52,331
And I was the first one there.

896
00:50:52,331 --> 00:50:54,115
I signed up at 11:30 at night.

897
00:50:54,115 --> 00:50:56,032
It started at midnight.

898
00:50:56,872 --> 00:50:59,131
And he just kinda hung
around a few minutes

899
00:50:59,131 --> 00:51:00,918
and gave his card to the manager, said,

900
00:51:00,918 --> 00:51:03,842
"If you have any problems
with her, let me know."

901
00:51:03,842 --> 00:51:06,598
I thought, why would they
have any problems with me?

902
00:51:06,598 --> 00:51:09,045
I'm just here for the music.

903
00:51:09,045 --> 00:51:10,573
I was drinkin' black coffee.

904
00:51:10,573 --> 00:51:13,648
I was the first one to sign up.

905
00:51:13,648 --> 00:51:16,866
And busloads of people came and went,

906
00:51:16,866 --> 00:51:18,684
and they got all them up to sing.

907
00:51:18,684 --> 00:51:21,364
They wouldn't get me up, and
I thought, I'm not leavin'.

908
00:51:21,364 --> 00:51:22,828
I'm staying.

909
00:51:22,828 --> 00:51:25,466
If we have to have a sunrise service here,

910
00:51:25,466 --> 00:51:27,728
I'm stayin' till the sun comes up.

911
00:51:27,728 --> 00:51:30,395
(gentle music)

912
00:51:32,961 --> 00:51:34,120
And so I just sat there,

913
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:37,037
and 2:30 in the morning, they said,

914
00:51:38,948 --> 00:51:41,948
"You know, we don't know this woman,

915
00:51:42,871 --> 00:51:46,900
"but this is a jam session
that's open to the public.

916
00:51:46,900 --> 00:51:50,626
"So we're gonna get
her up to sing a song."

917
00:51:50,626 --> 00:51:52,645
"And her name is Frankie Stratton."

918
00:51:52,645 --> 00:51:55,966
I said, "My name is Frankie Staton."

919
00:51:55,966 --> 00:51:57,203
And I go up there and I say,

920
00:51:57,203 --> 00:52:01,837
"I'm doin' the 'Coal Miner's
Daughter' in the key of D."

921
00:52:01,837 --> 00:52:03,672
And I turn around and tell the audience,

922
00:52:03,672 --> 00:52:06,905
and the place is still packed
at 2:30 in the mornin',

923
00:52:06,905 --> 00:52:09,217
that I came to Nashville
because of this movie,

924
00:52:09,217 --> 00:52:10,269
"The Coal Miner's Daughter."

925
00:52:10,269 --> 00:52:12,173
I love Loretta Lynn.

926
00:52:12,173 --> 00:52:16,375
And I start singin' this song, and people,

927
00:52:16,375 --> 00:52:17,289
I gotta standin' ovation.

928
00:52:17,289 --> 00:52:18,483
They said, "Well, sing another song."

929
00:52:18,483 --> 00:52:20,588
And I sang another song.

930
00:52:20,588 --> 00:52:23,017
And they said, "Well, sing another song."

931
00:52:23,017 --> 00:52:27,413
They came down and said, "Can
you audition tomorrow night?"

932
00:52:27,413 --> 00:52:28,859
And I auditioned the next night.

933
00:52:28,859 --> 00:52:31,266
And the next night, my
name was on the marquee.

934
00:52:31,266 --> 00:52:35,124
♪ Where have you been ♪

935
00:52:35,124 --> 00:52:38,357
♪ What did you do ♪

936
00:52:38,357 --> 00:52:43,357
♪ Did you know I was here
patiently waiting for you ♪

937
00:52:45,850 --> 00:52:48,108
Sometimes you have to stay

938
00:52:48,108 --> 00:52:50,108
when you don't want to.

939
00:52:52,289 --> 00:52:55,248
And I've learned to stay a lot.

940
00:52:55,248 --> 00:52:57,596
♪ I missed you so much ♪

941
00:52:57,596 --> 00:53:00,366
♪ Where have you been ♪

942
00:53:00,366 --> 00:53:03,871
♪ I'm your dream ♪

943
00:53:03,871 --> 00:53:07,964
♪ I'll never give up on you ♪

944
00:53:07,964 --> 00:53:11,994
♪ I'll always be here ♪

945
00:53:11,994 --> 00:53:15,549
♪ I'm with you no matter ♪

946
00:53:15,549 --> 00:53:19,987
♪ if you're happy or full of fear ♪

947
00:53:19,987 --> 00:53:24,987
♪ can we start working on tomorrow today ♪

948
00:53:26,583 --> 00:53:31,583
♪ Never give up again and
please don't walk away ♪

949
00:53:32,839 --> 00:53:36,579
♪ I'm gonna be here with you ♪

950
00:53:36,579 --> 00:53:40,350
♪ 'Til the bitter end ♪

951
00:53:40,350 --> 00:53:43,855
♪ I love you with all my heart ♪

952
00:53:43,855 --> 00:53:46,605
♪ I'm your dream ♪

953
00:53:48,356 --> 00:53:50,111
- Everybody say hello to Charley Pride.

954
00:53:50,111 --> 00:53:53,830
Charley.
(audience applauding)

955
00:53:53,830 --> 00:53:56,262
Welcome, thank you for coming.

956
00:53:56,262 --> 00:53:57,387
You know, Charley,

957
00:53:57,387 --> 00:53:59,032
I always wanted to get
a chance to talk to you.

958
00:53:59,032 --> 00:54:01,411
When I was small my mom and
dad were in the music business,

959
00:54:01,411 --> 00:54:02,858
and I just kinda grew up in it.

960
00:54:02,858 --> 00:54:05,170
But did you always wanna be a singer

961
00:54:05,170 --> 00:54:06,240
from the time you were a little boy?

962
00:54:06,240 --> 00:54:07,116
Or did you just kind of-

963
00:54:07,116 --> 00:54:08,220
- I've sang all my life,

964
00:54:08,220 --> 00:54:10,027
but I wanted to be a
great baseball player.

965
00:54:10,027 --> 00:54:11,328
(audience laughing)

966
00:54:11,328 --> 00:54:12,201
- You didn't make it?

967
00:54:12,201 --> 00:54:13,780
- No, just in the door.

968
00:54:13,780 --> 00:54:15,059
Got-
(host laughing)

969
00:54:15,059 --> 00:54:17,005
- You made it in the
music business anyway.

970
00:54:17,005 --> 00:54:18,804
I think you're the only
man in country music

971
00:54:18,804 --> 00:54:20,590
that's got four gold albums.

972
00:54:20,590 --> 00:54:21,592
Is that right?

973
00:54:21,592 --> 00:54:23,075
- Well, I don't know, but I have 'em,

974
00:54:23,075 --> 00:54:25,264
and I'm proud of 'em.
- He's got four gold albums.

975
00:54:25,264 --> 00:54:26,417
I think that's great.

976
00:54:26,417 --> 00:54:30,197
(audience applauding)

977
00:54:30,197 --> 00:54:32,781
- [Participant] Yeah, Charley Pride, man.

978
00:54:32,781 --> 00:54:35,528
Charley Pride started it all.

979
00:54:35,528 --> 00:54:37,246
♪ Tomorrow ♪
- Charley Pride

980
00:54:37,246 --> 00:54:38,690
was the first black artist signed

981
00:54:38,690 --> 00:54:41,920
to a major country record label in 1965.

982
00:54:41,920 --> 00:54:44,146
And he became a huge star.

983
00:54:44,146 --> 00:54:47,088
- [Andrea] Like this
guy was not just, okay.

984
00:54:47,088 --> 00:54:48,590
He was a massive success.

985
00:54:48,590 --> 00:54:53,464
♪ You stopped loving me ♪
- And he just did his thing.

986
00:54:53,464 --> 00:54:56,066
He didn't let anything get in his way

987
00:54:56,066 --> 00:54:58,650
of bein' what he wanted to be,

988
00:54:58,650 --> 00:55:00,096
to be a country artist

989
00:55:00,096 --> 00:55:02,780
when there was no people
of color doin' it.

990
00:55:02,780 --> 00:55:04,526
- And you know, it's a
strange thing on the radio,

991
00:55:04,526 --> 00:55:05,717
you just hear this voice,

992
00:55:05,717 --> 00:55:08,098
and I associate with voices,
and you'd never think

993
00:55:08,098 --> 00:55:10,515
that there was a black man
would be singing country.

994
00:55:10,515 --> 00:55:12,722
What happened the first
time you walked out

995
00:55:12,722 --> 00:55:14,242
and was introduced at the country fair?

996
00:55:14,242 --> 00:55:19,075
- Well, it was actually, Ben,
it was in Detroit, Michigan,

997
00:55:19,998 --> 00:55:21,454
and I had 10 minutes on the show.

998
00:55:21,454 --> 00:55:23,298
I drove all the way from Montana,

999
00:55:23,298 --> 00:55:25,340
and I walked and I'm down in
the shadows, and they said,

1000
00:55:25,340 --> 00:55:26,536
"Ladies and gentlemen,

1001
00:55:26,536 --> 00:55:29,150
"how about it now for RCAs Charley Pride?"

1002
00:55:29,150 --> 00:55:30,383
It was like (imitating a drum roll).

1003
00:55:30,383 --> 00:55:31,722
Big applaud, and I come outta those lights

1004
00:55:31,722 --> 00:55:32,555
up in the shadows.

1005
00:55:32,555 --> 00:55:34,061
I mean, out of the shadows,
up in those lights.

1006
00:55:34,061 --> 00:55:36,082
And they said (imitating drum roll).

1007
00:55:36,082 --> 00:55:38,688
(hosts laughing)

1008
00:55:38,688 --> 00:55:40,882
- They didn't stop applaudin'.

1009
00:55:40,882 --> 00:55:42,161
They just like turned the volume down.

1010
00:55:42,161 --> 00:55:44,791
(audience laughing)
- Put on the gloves.

1011
00:55:44,791 --> 00:55:46,053
- No, the whisperers came up.

1012
00:55:46,053 --> 00:55:47,457
(voices muffling)

1013
00:55:47,457 --> 00:55:48,290
- I had this little spiel.

1014
00:55:48,290 --> 00:55:49,388
I didn't have but 10 minutes.

1015
00:55:49,388 --> 00:55:51,071
I had to have somethin'
quick to loose 'em up.

1016
00:55:51,071 --> 00:55:52,403
They're sittin' there goin'
(imitating whispering).

1017
00:55:52,403 --> 00:55:53,495
I said, "Ladies and gentlemen,

1018
00:55:53,495 --> 00:55:55,277
"I realize it's a little unique,

1019
00:55:55,277 --> 00:55:56,969
"me comin' out here on
a country music show

1020
00:55:56,969 --> 00:55:58,221
"wearin' this permanent tan."

1021
00:55:58,221 --> 00:56:00,405
So I said, "I'm gonna do
the three songs I have,

1022
00:56:00,405 --> 00:56:03,226
"and then the ones I've
been doin' all my life

1023
00:56:03,226 --> 00:56:04,839
"before I had my three,
and I hope you enjoy it."

1024
00:56:04,839 --> 00:56:05,672
And I hit it.

1025
00:56:05,672 --> 00:56:07,841
And when I came off it
was a three o'clock show

1026
00:56:07,841 --> 00:56:08,701
and an eight o'clock show,

1027
00:56:08,701 --> 00:56:12,620
I sang from that show until
the next one at eight o'clock.

1028
00:56:12,620 --> 00:56:15,168
(audience applauding)

1029
00:56:15,168 --> 00:56:18,168
(television static)

1030
00:56:23,005 --> 00:56:26,870
♪ (voice muffling) my
whole life for this ♪

1031
00:56:26,870 --> 00:56:31,870
♪ Few acres on the outside of town ♪

1032
00:56:32,111 --> 00:56:36,366
♪ I've always pictured this moment ♪

1033
00:56:36,366 --> 00:56:41,366
♪ This mornin' they're gonna
start breakin' ground ♪

1034
00:56:41,651 --> 00:56:44,131
♪ If this is gonna be ♪

1035
00:56:44,131 --> 00:56:46,362
♪ Where we're gonna be ♪

1036
00:56:46,362 --> 00:56:50,047
♪ Let me drop down to my knees right now ♪

1037
00:56:50,047 --> 00:56:52,563
Charley Pride, man, it's still crazy

1038
00:56:52,563 --> 00:56:54,453
gettin' to say that he was a friend.

1039
00:56:54,453 --> 00:56:56,018
The last two and a half years

1040
00:56:56,018 --> 00:56:59,363
we talked on the phone every other Sunday

1041
00:56:59,363 --> 00:57:01,247
for an hour or two.

1042
00:57:01,247 --> 00:57:03,696
And he told me a lot about

1043
00:57:03,696 --> 00:57:05,869
how to handle yourself
in certain situations,

1044
00:57:05,869 --> 00:57:07,391
to where you handle yourself with grace.

1045
00:57:07,391 --> 00:57:08,304
But at the same time,

1046
00:57:08,304 --> 00:57:12,622
you don't shy away from issues
that you need to address.

1047
00:57:12,622 --> 00:57:17,622
♪ Turn this house into a home sweet home ♪

1048
00:57:17,731 --> 00:57:22,645
♪ Paint some memories on these walls ♪

1049
00:57:22,645 --> 00:57:25,254
♪ And keep this family together ♪

1050
00:57:25,254 --> 00:57:28,817
♪ Forever and ever I know ♪

1051
00:57:28,817 --> 00:57:33,283
♪ The prayer it works ♪

1052
00:57:33,283 --> 00:57:36,616
♪ So God bless this day ♪

1053
00:57:37,972 --> 00:57:41,027
I feel like Charley did his part.

1054
00:57:41,027 --> 00:57:43,127
Charley came into the genre in a time

1055
00:57:43,127 --> 00:57:43,960
when they were still hangin'

1056
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:45,647
and hosin' black peoples in the streets,

1057
00:57:45,647 --> 00:57:47,230
in the 60s and 70s.

1058
00:57:48,284 --> 00:57:49,117
And he was there.

1059
00:57:49,117 --> 00:57:52,091
He was there for a long
time at a high level.

1060
00:57:52,091 --> 00:57:55,260
He showed that it could be done.

1061
00:57:55,260 --> 00:57:59,406
♪ And prayer it works yeah ♪

1062
00:57:59,406 --> 00:58:02,739
♪ So God bless this day ♪

1063
00:58:13,777 --> 00:58:16,277
(city noises)

1064
00:58:18,722 --> 00:58:21,719
- We've seen throughout
history that representation

1065
00:58:21,719 --> 00:58:23,494
in and of itself is not enough,

1066
00:58:23,494 --> 00:58:27,065
or Charley Pride would
have fixed everything.

1067
00:58:27,065 --> 00:58:28,824
There have always been moments

1068
00:58:28,824 --> 00:58:32,027
where you see this kind
of push of black artists

1069
00:58:32,027 --> 00:58:36,776
trying to get in, but then
ultimately being shut out.

1070
00:58:36,776 --> 00:58:38,824
Charley Pride becomes
this massive success.

1071
00:58:38,824 --> 00:58:40,091
Of course other black people

1072
00:58:40,091 --> 00:58:42,761
think that this is my opportunity,

1073
00:58:42,761 --> 00:58:45,228
but the walls came down pretty quickly

1074
00:58:45,228 --> 00:58:47,095
because there could only be one.

1075
00:58:47,095 --> 00:58:50,395
(intense music)

1076
00:58:50,395 --> 00:58:53,895
- Everyone told us to go to Charley Pride.

1077
00:58:55,525 --> 00:58:56,666
Oh, you wanna get a
break in country music?

1078
00:58:56,666 --> 00:58:57,627
Go to Charley Pride.

1079
00:58:57,627 --> 00:59:01,467
And I never could understand
why they did that.

1080
00:59:01,467 --> 00:59:04,859
But basically it was to
get us out of their face.

1081
00:59:04,859 --> 00:59:08,460
You're black in the country,
oh go find Charley Pride.

1082
00:59:08,460 --> 00:59:09,443
Well, why, did he have they label?

1083
00:59:09,443 --> 00:59:10,708
Was he lookin' for talent?

1084
00:59:10,708 --> 00:59:12,180
No.

1085
00:59:12,180 --> 00:59:13,597
You're the label.

1086
00:59:15,171 --> 00:59:17,838
It solidified the powers that be

1087
00:59:21,076 --> 00:59:24,067
the ability to say, "We're not prejudice.

1088
00:59:24,067 --> 00:59:25,206
"We have a Charley Pride.

1089
00:59:25,206 --> 00:59:28,671
"We have a black man in country music."

1090
00:59:28,671 --> 00:59:32,502
Now I'm gonna quote Dr.
Cleve Francis on this.

1091
00:59:32,502 --> 00:59:35,971
He said, "What 30 some
million black people

1092
00:59:35,971 --> 00:59:37,477
"shook the country music tree

1093
00:59:37,477 --> 00:59:40,560
"and one brother fell out in 75 years

1094
00:59:42,742 --> 00:59:46,915
"when I know there were many more trying."

1095
00:59:46,915 --> 00:59:49,998
(low rumbling music)

1096
01:00:07,539 --> 01:00:10,659
- I'm a member of a oratorical people.

1097
01:00:10,659 --> 01:00:14,659
We tell stories from the
beginning through song,

1098
01:00:16,197 --> 01:00:20,864
through poem, and I think
our story's gotta be honored.

1099
01:00:22,230 --> 01:00:25,955
It's kinda hard to find country music

1100
01:00:25,955 --> 01:00:30,853
from black artists in Nashville
that are from Nashville,

1101
01:00:30,853 --> 01:00:32,186
that are really,

1102
01:00:33,042 --> 01:00:34,341
that are really reflecting who we are.

1103
01:00:34,341 --> 01:00:37,285
And I feel like if there was more that

1104
01:00:37,285 --> 01:00:41,702
it would totally change my
perspective of the music.

1105
01:00:42,819 --> 01:00:44,113
Our story's gotta be honored,

1106
01:00:44,113 --> 01:00:46,030
and it's gotta be held,

1107
01:00:46,900 --> 01:00:50,900
held with the degree of
authenticity and respect

1108
01:00:52,034 --> 01:00:55,909
in order for it to
resonate with the people.

1109
01:00:55,909 --> 01:00:58,909
(light banjo music)

1110
01:01:06,371 --> 01:01:07,381
- Places like these are important,

1111
01:01:07,381 --> 01:01:09,171
because this is really where we start

1112
01:01:09,171 --> 01:01:11,921
to see the music merged together,

1113
01:01:12,852 --> 01:01:14,867
black musicians, white musicians,

1114
01:01:14,867 --> 01:01:17,123
like you see a lotta old pictures

1115
01:01:17,123 --> 01:01:18,966
where you got guys that
are playin' the banjo,

1116
01:01:18,966 --> 01:01:21,590
black musicians, they're
doing it in these settings.

1117
01:01:21,590 --> 01:01:23,475
They're entertaining white crowds.

1118
01:01:23,475 --> 01:01:26,070
(gentle banjo music)

1119
01:01:26,070 --> 01:01:27,497
These settings are so indicative

1120
01:01:27,497 --> 01:01:29,389
of what is happening in country music,

1121
01:01:29,389 --> 01:01:31,023
what has been happening country music,

1122
01:01:31,023 --> 01:01:34,957
because we're standing on
a place of stolen labor.

1123
01:01:34,957 --> 01:01:36,766
We look at the industry
now that is birthed

1124
01:01:36,766 --> 01:01:39,356
out of these black genres,
these black musical traditions,

1125
01:01:39,356 --> 01:01:41,724
and it's really stolen from our people,

1126
01:01:41,724 --> 01:01:43,789
because they don't get to participate

1127
01:01:43,789 --> 01:01:47,693
in the wealth that's being built here now.

1128
01:01:47,693 --> 01:01:50,223
And you can't separate the industry

1129
01:01:50,223 --> 01:01:51,853
that comes out of this place

1130
01:01:51,853 --> 01:01:54,925
without talking about the
ugliness of this place.

1131
01:01:54,925 --> 01:01:58,008
(gentle banjo music)

1132
01:01:59,244 --> 01:02:01,116
- I had always been apologizing, almost,

1133
01:02:01,116 --> 01:02:02,413
for being in these spaces,

1134
01:02:02,413 --> 01:02:04,074
where I was always the one black person

1135
01:02:04,074 --> 01:02:05,613
in these very white...

1136
01:02:05,613 --> 01:02:09,200
And people like, "Why
aren't you singin' jazz?"

1137
01:02:09,200 --> 01:02:11,302
I was constantly being
asked to explain myself,

1138
01:02:11,302 --> 01:02:13,302
"Why are you doing this?

1139
01:02:14,420 --> 01:02:17,003
"Why are you doing this music."

1140
01:02:18,093 --> 01:02:18,926
- First and foremost,

1141
01:02:18,926 --> 01:02:21,282
music is about how it makes you feel,

1142
01:02:21,282 --> 01:02:25,573
regardless of what you look
like or where you grew up.

1143
01:02:25,573 --> 01:02:30,573
For me as a kid, I really
struggled with feeling in between.

1144
01:02:31,301 --> 01:02:34,884
I'm either not white,
I'm not black enough.

1145
01:02:35,992 --> 01:02:37,430
I'm in the middle of all of this,

1146
01:02:37,430 --> 01:02:38,582
tryin' to figure out who I am,

1147
01:02:38,582 --> 01:02:41,573
and when I discovered this
history and this music,

1148
01:02:41,573 --> 01:02:46,406
that's when I was like, this
is what makes me an American.

1149
01:02:53,159 --> 01:02:56,346
♪ Quasheba, Quasheba ♪

1150
01:02:56,346 --> 01:02:59,795
♪ You're free now, you're free now ♪

1151
01:02:59,795 --> 01:03:03,462
♪ How does your spirit fly ♪

1152
01:03:05,785 --> 01:03:08,456
- I've had very academic discussions

1153
01:03:08,456 --> 01:03:11,592
about the transatlantic slave trade.

1154
01:03:11,592 --> 01:03:13,030
You can't just sit down

1155
01:03:13,030 --> 01:03:14,530
and just start talking
about that with people,

1156
01:03:14,530 --> 01:03:17,908
because we're still healing from it.

1157
01:03:17,908 --> 01:03:22,532
Black people and white people
are still healing from this.

1158
01:03:22,532 --> 01:03:26,323
A song and music has this
way of disarming people.

1159
01:03:26,323 --> 01:03:30,139
It takes a story or an
idea and makes it to where

1160
01:03:30,139 --> 01:03:33,576
the person kinda has to hear it.

1161
01:03:33,576 --> 01:03:36,833
♪ Blood of your blood ♪

1162
01:03:36,833 --> 01:03:38,882
♪ Bone of your bone ♪

1163
01:03:38,882 --> 01:03:43,882
♪ By the grace of your
strength we have life ♪

1164
01:03:45,783 --> 01:03:47,893
I believe that's how we break these cycles

1165
01:03:47,893 --> 01:03:49,606
of bigotry and violence.

1166
01:03:49,606 --> 01:03:52,266
♪ From the Golden Coast of Ghana ♪

1167
01:03:52,266 --> 01:03:56,023
♪ To the bondage of Grenada ♪

1168
01:03:56,023 --> 01:03:57,403
We can't do any of it,

1169
01:03:57,403 --> 01:03:59,801
if we can't face that they're happening.

1170
01:03:59,801 --> 01:04:04,134
And if we can't talk about
that they're happening...

1171
01:04:05,021 --> 01:04:08,649
The white policeman
assaulting me when I was 12,

1172
01:04:08,649 --> 01:04:13,313
the white guy spitting on me
in the street when I was 15,

1173
01:04:13,313 --> 01:04:15,248
the white woman who told me
I couldn't use the bathroom

1174
01:04:15,248 --> 01:04:19,901
after my entire band had,
because they didn't have one.

1175
01:04:19,901 --> 01:04:22,026
♪ You're free now, you're free now ♪

1176
01:04:22,026 --> 01:04:26,443
I have to talk about these
things to be able to live,

1177
01:04:28,206 --> 01:04:30,284
to be able to survive.

1178
01:04:30,284 --> 01:04:33,468
♪ Blood of your blood ♪

1179
01:04:33,468 --> 01:04:35,241
♪ Bone of your bone ♪

1180
01:04:35,241 --> 01:04:40,241
♪ By the grace of your
strength we have life ♪

1181
01:04:46,462 --> 01:04:51,462
♪ You were forgotten, almost forsaken ♪

1182
01:04:52,798 --> 01:04:57,798
♪ But your children founded generations ♪

1183
01:04:59,454 --> 01:05:02,718
♪ Your strength sustained them ♪

1184
01:05:02,718 --> 01:05:06,250
♪ They won their freedom ♪

1185
01:05:06,250 --> 01:05:11,250
♪ Traced our roots to find you waitin' ♪

1186
01:05:12,571 --> 01:05:15,630
♪ Quasheba, Quasheba ♪

1187
01:05:15,630 --> 01:05:19,005
♪ You're free now you're free now ♪

1188
01:05:19,005 --> 01:05:24,005
♪ How does your spirit fly ♪

1189
01:05:25,516 --> 01:05:29,066
♪ Blood of your blood ♪

1190
01:05:29,066 --> 01:05:30,956
♪ Bone of your bone ♪

1191
01:05:30,956 --> 01:05:35,956
♪ By the grace of your
strength we have life ♪

1192
01:05:38,567 --> 01:05:41,787
♪ Quasheba, Quasheba ♪

1193
01:05:41,787 --> 01:05:45,021
♪ You're free now, you're free now ♪

1194
01:05:45,021 --> 01:05:50,021
♪ How far your spirit's flown ♪

1195
01:05:51,726 --> 01:05:55,091
♪ Blood of your blood ♪

1196
01:05:55,091 --> 01:05:56,849
♪ Bone of your bone ♪

1197
01:05:56,849 --> 01:06:01,849
♪ By the grace of your
strength we are home ♪

1198
01:06:03,297 --> 01:06:08,297
♪ By the grace of your
strength we are home ♪

1199
01:06:10,003 --> 01:06:13,297
♪ We are home ♪

1200
01:06:13,297 --> 01:06:17,185
♪ We are home ♪

1201
01:06:17,185 --> 01:06:22,185
♪ We are ♪

1202
01:06:22,482 --> 01:06:24,399
♪ Home ♪

1203
01:06:34,726 --> 01:06:39,726
(eerie music)
(distant crowd cheering)

1204
01:06:50,581 --> 01:06:53,331
(crowd cheering)

1205
01:07:03,910 --> 01:07:06,910
(television static)

1206
01:07:09,358 --> 01:07:11,918
- I'm like, this is the
biggest song of all time.

1207
01:07:11,918 --> 01:07:12,993
Arguably.

1208
01:07:12,993 --> 01:07:17,300
We have never seen a song in
the internet era this big.

1209
01:07:17,300 --> 01:07:19,373
And it's not just that the song is big.

1210
01:07:19,373 --> 01:07:22,040
It's big and it's controversial.

1211
01:07:22,915 --> 01:07:24,037
- [Announcer] And let
me tell you right now,

1212
01:07:24,037 --> 01:07:26,550
it's a country song, so
make some noise right now.

1213
01:07:26,550 --> 01:07:28,042
- It wasn't controversial to me.

1214
01:07:28,042 --> 01:07:28,875
I was like, that's dope.

1215
01:07:28,875 --> 01:07:30,742
But I'm saying it was
controversial to some people.

1216
01:07:30,742 --> 01:07:34,982
(voice muffling)
(audience cheering)

1217
01:07:34,982 --> 01:07:36,115
- [Announcer] Let's make
some noise right now

1218
01:07:36,115 --> 01:07:38,778
for Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus.

1219
01:07:38,778 --> 01:07:41,432
(audience cheering)

1220
01:07:41,432 --> 01:07:43,002
(television static)

1221
01:07:43,002 --> 01:07:45,478
- He made like this one beat,

1222
01:07:45,478 --> 01:07:46,311
and it was like,

1223
01:07:46,311 --> 01:07:49,811
I used it on a song, and the song blew up.

1224
01:07:50,817 --> 01:07:52,429
- You know how it goes.

1225
01:07:52,429 --> 01:07:53,262
- What was the name of it?

1226
01:07:53,262 --> 01:07:56,165
(children yelling)

1227
01:07:56,165 --> 01:07:59,301
- [Reporter] 2019 Officially
belongs to Lil Nas X.

1228
01:07:59,301 --> 01:08:02,100
- That song became the longest
running number one single

1229
01:08:02,100 --> 01:08:03,933
in Billboards history.

1230
01:08:06,341 --> 01:08:09,071
- I like Nas X, though.
- That song, that song.

1231
01:08:09,071 --> 01:08:10,933
He came out with a good song.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1232
01:08:10,933 --> 01:08:12,674
- He caught it at the beginning.

1233
01:08:12,674 --> 01:08:15,417
He wasn't even around country music.

1234
01:08:15,417 --> 01:08:18,235
So he had to prove himself

1235
01:08:18,235 --> 01:08:20,535
who he really was so he

1236
01:08:20,535 --> 01:08:23,702
can be respected out here as a person.

1237
01:08:25,096 --> 01:08:28,953
- What he did was such
a shock to the world,

1238
01:08:28,953 --> 01:08:30,250
and to the country music world,

1239
01:08:30,250 --> 01:08:32,872
especially once he came out,

1240
01:08:32,872 --> 01:08:33,851
and then it was like, okay,

1241
01:08:33,851 --> 01:08:36,987
so we have this young gay black dude,

1242
01:08:36,987 --> 01:08:40,345
and he's got Billy Ray on the song.

1243
01:08:40,345 --> 01:08:42,555
- I mean, the impact was huge.

1244
01:08:42,555 --> 01:08:43,597
Song went freakin' diamond.

1245
01:08:43,597 --> 01:08:45,773
You know what I'm sayin'?

1246
01:08:45,773 --> 01:08:49,463
It opened people's eyes and ears up that

1247
01:08:49,463 --> 01:08:50,937
we can do it all.

1248
01:08:50,937 --> 01:08:54,441
We can do whatever, it's no limitations.

1249
01:08:54,441 --> 01:08:57,500
Especially when it comes to creativity.

1250
01:08:57,500 --> 01:08:58,665
Like, it's none.

1251
01:08:58,665 --> 01:09:00,457
And with "Old Town Road,"

1252
01:09:00,457 --> 01:09:02,202
it definitely opened up, like I said,

1253
01:09:02,202 --> 01:09:05,065
people's eyes and ears to be like, oh,

1254
01:09:05,065 --> 01:09:07,732
there's black people doin' this?

1255
01:09:09,559 --> 01:09:13,142
- As a kid growing up,
what that role model

1256
01:09:14,012 --> 01:09:15,281
that we talkin' about-
- A lotta kids

1257
01:09:15,281 --> 01:09:16,430
are listenin' to that song.

1258
01:09:16,430 --> 01:09:18,319
- Yeah, yeah, so you know you need

1259
01:09:18,319 --> 01:09:20,902
some positive role model around

1260
01:09:22,031 --> 01:09:24,766
to hear something positive to say,

1261
01:09:24,766 --> 01:09:26,686
"Hey, I can do that."

1262
01:09:26,686 --> 01:09:29,353
(gentle music)

1263
01:09:44,328 --> 01:09:47,811
- Lil Nas X (voice
muffling) "Old Town Road."

1264
01:09:47,811 --> 01:09:48,888
(voice muffling)

1265
01:09:48,888 --> 01:09:51,688
And a couple days ago it
just reached number one.

1266
01:09:51,688 --> 01:09:53,411
The song made Billboard chart history.

1267
01:09:53,411 --> 01:09:57,422
It's the only song to simultaneously
appear on the Hot 100,

1268
01:09:57,422 --> 01:09:59,891
the Hot R&B Hip Hop Songs Chart,

1269
01:09:59,891 --> 01:10:02,460
and the Hot Country Songs Chart.

1270
01:10:02,460 --> 01:10:04,359
- But now Billboard has pulled it

1271
01:10:04,359 --> 01:10:07,938
from the country songs chart
because they no longer believe

1272
01:10:07,938 --> 01:10:09,529
that the song is country enough.

1273
01:10:09,529 --> 01:10:11,670
(television static)

1274
01:10:11,670 --> 01:10:13,948
- People were mad.

1275
01:10:13,948 --> 01:10:16,302
People were mad, and I'm
like, I was just watching it,

1276
01:10:16,302 --> 01:10:18,922
and I'm like, I wonder
what they're gonna do.

1277
01:10:18,922 --> 01:10:21,172
Are they gonna boycott him?

1278
01:10:22,290 --> 01:10:24,597
So I was just really fascinated by it.

1279
01:10:24,597 --> 01:10:26,630
I followed the whole thing.

1280
01:10:26,630 --> 01:10:29,371
And then when I saw kind of how
it started to resolve itself

1281
01:10:29,371 --> 01:10:32,593
and people were like,
"Well, why can't he do it?"

1282
01:10:32,593 --> 01:10:34,488
Obviously that song was massive.

1283
01:10:34,488 --> 01:10:37,679
And then he dropped some more music

1284
01:10:37,679 --> 01:10:40,179
that was not like that at all.

1285
01:10:41,448 --> 01:10:43,974
And I was like, wait,
but people like this.

1286
01:10:43,974 --> 01:10:46,391
I was like, people like that.

1287
01:10:47,855 --> 01:10:51,772
Then I was like, okay,
well, why can't I do it?

1288
01:10:53,727 --> 01:10:55,977
- There's no genre that sounds today

1289
01:10:55,977 --> 01:11:00,977
like it sounded 10 years ago,
20 years ago, 30 years ago.

1290
01:11:01,290 --> 01:11:04,187
As we've seen in country
music throughout the years,

1291
01:11:04,187 --> 01:11:06,481
as the sonics have changed,

1292
01:11:06,481 --> 01:11:09,539
there is this constant
borrowing from other genres,

1293
01:11:09,539 --> 01:11:11,289
from other sounds.

1294
01:11:11,289 --> 01:11:13,876
There is borrowing from
gospel, from black gospel.

1295
01:11:13,876 --> 01:11:15,907
There's borrowing from black R&B.

1296
01:11:15,907 --> 01:11:17,331
Now we're in this era where there's

1297
01:11:17,331 --> 01:11:20,513
a lot of borrowing from hip hop.

1298
01:11:20,513 --> 01:11:24,262
It all evolves, and that
creates more of an opportunity

1299
01:11:24,262 --> 01:11:27,285
to bring in people from outside of this,

1300
01:11:27,285 --> 01:11:29,532
particularly when the artist

1301
01:11:29,532 --> 01:11:31,470
that is doing this genre blending

1302
01:11:31,470 --> 01:11:34,720
looks like a Breland or a Blanco Brown.

1303
01:11:37,129 --> 01:11:39,406
- Lil Nas had to take some Ls

1304
01:11:39,406 --> 01:11:42,089
as a young black man in this space,

1305
01:11:42,089 --> 01:11:46,148
and I don't blame him for not
wanting to stay in this space.

1306
01:11:46,148 --> 01:11:48,599
However, by him doing that,

1307
01:11:48,599 --> 01:11:52,682
he made it easier for
me to do what I'm doing.

1308
01:11:52,682 --> 01:11:54,036
♪ Scuff these Jordans ♪

1309
01:11:54,036 --> 01:11:55,846
♪ You can say you hate me ♪

1310
01:11:55,846 --> 01:11:57,443
♪ You can call me crazy ♪

1311
01:11:57,443 --> 01:12:00,360
♪ But don't touch my truck ♪

1312
01:12:00,360 --> 01:12:03,605
♪ Skrrt ♪

1313
01:12:03,605 --> 01:12:05,632
♪ Skrrt ♪

1314
01:12:05,632 --> 01:12:08,882
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1315
01:12:10,521 --> 01:12:12,780
I put it out in September of '19,

1316
01:12:12,780 --> 01:12:15,323
and randomly in December
someone hit me up and was like,

1317
01:12:15,323 --> 01:12:17,740
"Yo, your song is on TikTok."

1318
01:12:19,184 --> 01:12:20,485
And I went and checked, and I was like,

1319
01:12:20,485 --> 01:12:24,561
every minute there was
new videos being made.

1320
01:12:24,561 --> 01:12:27,273
It put up like 200 videos in like a day.

1321
01:12:27,273 --> 01:12:30,063
And I was like 200
people made videos to it?

1322
01:12:30,063 --> 01:12:31,353
And then I went and checked the numbers,

1323
01:12:31,353 --> 01:12:33,674
and we were at like 30,000 streams.

1324
01:12:33,674 --> 01:12:35,581
And I was like, oh, we just spiked crazy.

1325
01:12:35,581 --> 01:12:37,491
I was like, this is dope.

1326
01:12:37,491 --> 01:12:38,697
And then every day after that,

1327
01:12:38,697 --> 01:12:40,905
it was just like going
more and more and more.

1328
01:12:40,905 --> 01:12:43,042
And about a week after that,

1329
01:12:43,042 --> 01:12:45,448
I started getting calls from labels,

1330
01:12:45,448 --> 01:12:47,122
and they were like,

1331
01:12:47,122 --> 01:12:49,318
they're like, "Hey, you're an artist?

1332
01:12:49,318 --> 01:12:51,400
"You're Breland the artist?"

1333
01:12:51,400 --> 01:12:53,817
And I was like, "I guess so."

1334
01:12:55,041 --> 01:12:56,141
And they're like, "We
wanna meet with you."

1335
01:12:56,141 --> 01:12:58,664
And I'm like, the first
couple calls that I got,

1336
01:12:58,664 --> 01:13:00,419
I was like, all right, sure.

1337
01:13:00,419 --> 01:13:03,146
But then I got calls from
like 15 different major labels

1338
01:13:03,146 --> 01:13:05,689
in a 24-hour span (laughing).

1339
01:13:05,689 --> 01:13:08,975
And I was like, oh, this
is for real, for real.

1340
01:13:08,975 --> 01:13:11,860
- Your song, "My Truck," was very popular.

1341
01:13:11,860 --> 01:13:14,865
So popular, in fact, that
I have a surprise for you.

1342
01:13:14,865 --> 01:13:17,519
So on behalf of Bad Realm Records-

1343
01:13:17,519 --> 01:13:18,833
- Oh y'all, oh no.

1344
01:13:18,833 --> 01:13:22,107
(Kelly laughing and clapping)
- No, oh no.

1345
01:13:22,107 --> 01:13:24,277
- So wait, on behalf of Bad Realm Records

1346
01:13:24,277 --> 01:13:25,703
and Atlantic Records,

1347
01:13:25,703 --> 01:13:28,121
we wanna present you with
a platinum certification-

1348
01:13:28,121 --> 01:13:28,954
- Don't do me

1349
01:13:28,954 --> 01:13:29,787
like that, Kelly.
- For selling

1350
01:13:29,787 --> 01:13:30,697
one million copies of "My Truck,"

1351
01:13:30,697 --> 01:13:32,291
which is hard to do right now, y'all.

1352
01:13:32,291 --> 01:13:33,791
That's incredible.

1353
01:13:36,216 --> 01:13:40,291
- I just knew there was
a lane that was open,

1354
01:13:40,291 --> 01:13:42,957
and if the lane is open for
one, it's open for everybody.

1355
01:13:42,957 --> 01:13:47,957
(wind blowing)
(city noises)

1356
01:13:54,615 --> 01:13:59,615
♪ I get red roses while you rob me blind ♪

1357
01:14:00,658 --> 01:14:05,658
♪ Red roses (voice muffling) ♪

1358
01:14:05,928 --> 01:14:10,876
♪ Oh ooh over you ♪

1359
01:14:10,876 --> 01:14:15,154
♪ And I get red roses
while you rob me blind ♪

1360
01:14:15,154 --> 01:14:18,409
♪ Red roses while the girls you hide ♪

1361
01:14:18,409 --> 01:14:21,185
♪ They don't mean a thing ♪

1362
01:14:21,185 --> 01:14:25,852
♪ They don't mean a thing to me anymore ♪

1363
01:14:29,631 --> 01:14:33,464
I feel like music is my
life, it's everything.

1364
01:14:35,942 --> 01:14:37,225
It's never been a question,

1365
01:14:37,225 --> 01:14:38,371
like, what do I wanna do?

1366
01:14:38,371 --> 01:14:40,288
What will my career be?

1367
01:14:41,444 --> 01:14:46,152
I've always just been like,
I'm going to make history.

1368
01:14:46,152 --> 01:14:47,131
I'm going to be a singer,

1369
01:14:47,131 --> 01:14:49,798
and I'm going to do what I love.

1370
01:14:52,123 --> 01:14:54,603
When people ask me why did
I choose country music,

1371
01:14:54,603 --> 01:14:57,162
I just tell them country music chose me.

1372
01:14:57,162 --> 01:14:57,995
That's how I feel.

1373
01:14:57,995 --> 01:15:01,377
(gentle music)

1374
01:15:01,377 --> 01:15:04,333
I've only been in Nashville
for two or three years.

1375
01:15:04,333 --> 01:15:06,445
(gentle music)

1376
01:15:06,445 --> 01:15:08,974
They haven't seen a lot of
black women or black men

1377
01:15:08,974 --> 01:15:11,372
in the country space.

1378
01:15:11,372 --> 01:15:12,756
And so, because of that,

1379
01:15:12,756 --> 01:15:16,133
they don't know what to expect from me.

1380
01:15:16,133 --> 01:15:17,853
I feel like especially
being in country music

1381
01:15:17,853 --> 01:15:20,783
I kinda have to be aware
of everything that I do,

1382
01:15:20,783 --> 01:15:24,297
but I'm just like, I'm gonna be me.

1383
01:15:24,297 --> 01:15:27,773
And for me, I'm like, I wanna
be as extra as possible.

1384
01:15:27,773 --> 01:15:28,779
Like that's just me.

1385
01:15:28,779 --> 01:15:31,446
(intense music)

1386
01:15:36,794 --> 01:15:39,181
(piano music)

1387
01:15:39,181 --> 01:15:40,330
- Oh yeah, I'll do freestylin'.

1388
01:15:40,330 --> 01:15:42,830
(piano music)

1389
01:15:46,063 --> 01:15:48,468
Country music was so simple
to me, and it told stories.

1390
01:15:48,468 --> 01:15:50,163
You didn't have to create a facade.

1391
01:15:50,163 --> 01:15:53,964
You just could tell
whatever story you wanted.

1392
01:15:53,964 --> 01:15:56,964
And I just, I gravitated towards it.

1393
01:15:57,994 --> 01:16:02,053
You gotta create your own path
and go for your own glory.

1394
01:16:02,053 --> 01:16:04,781
So, couldn't nobody tell
me what I couldn't do.

1395
01:16:04,781 --> 01:16:06,562
I was gonna keep on doin'
it either way it go.

1396
01:16:06,562 --> 01:16:07,603
If it didn't work,

1397
01:16:07,603 --> 01:16:12,502
I'm great with listening to
myself goin' down the highway.

1398
01:16:12,502 --> 01:16:16,530
- In 2018, I realized I
would never fit the mold.

1399
01:16:16,530 --> 01:16:19,384
I stopped asking myself if
something was good enough

1400
01:16:19,384 --> 01:16:22,298
or radio enough, commercial enough.

1401
01:16:22,298 --> 01:16:23,860
I started asking, is this me?

1402
01:16:23,860 --> 01:16:24,867
Is this who I am?

1403
01:16:24,867 --> 01:16:26,171
Is this what I wanna do?

1404
01:16:26,171 --> 01:16:28,531
Am I communicating my heart?

1405
01:16:28,531 --> 01:16:30,561
And that for me was the most freeing thing

1406
01:16:30,561 --> 01:16:34,645
that could have ever
happened to me artistically.

1407
01:16:34,645 --> 01:16:37,312
- Whenever you are makin' music,

1408
01:16:38,563 --> 01:16:42,426
and in particular, if you
have dreads and you're black,

1409
01:16:42,426 --> 01:16:45,493
then (laughing) people
automatically assume things,

1410
01:16:45,493 --> 01:16:46,968
like I'll be walkin' through the airport

1411
01:16:46,968 --> 01:16:48,985
in some random city and people be like,

1412
01:16:48,985 --> 01:16:50,333
"Oh, I love your hair.

1413
01:16:50,333 --> 01:16:51,538
"Oh, you have a guitar.

1414
01:16:51,538 --> 01:16:53,119
"Are you gonna do reggae?"

1415
01:16:53,119 --> 01:16:58,112
And I'm like, "Oh, I love
reggae, but no I'm not."

1416
01:16:58,112 --> 01:17:00,902
Makin' life easier would be conforming

1417
01:17:00,902 --> 01:17:04,390
to what people would see me do physically.

1418
01:17:04,390 --> 01:17:05,986
But I do what I do.

1419
01:17:05,986 --> 01:17:08,032
I do what my heart tells me.

1420
01:17:08,032 --> 01:17:10,065
And I sound like I sound.

1421
01:17:10,065 --> 01:17:11,651
And I don't feel like
I wanna spend my time

1422
01:17:11,651 --> 01:17:12,937
explaining all that.

1423
01:17:12,937 --> 01:17:17,669
♪ Mmmm ♪

1424
01:17:17,669 --> 01:17:19,586
♪ Mmmm ♪

1425
01:17:20,584 --> 01:17:21,495
- You know, they say,

1426
01:17:21,495 --> 01:17:23,560
country music is three
cords and the truth.

1427
01:17:23,560 --> 01:17:25,977
So, I'm just sayin' my truth.

1428
01:17:27,418 --> 01:17:29,297
This is what I wanna write.

1429
01:17:29,297 --> 01:17:30,351
This is what I wanna put out.

1430
01:17:30,351 --> 01:17:32,802
This is what I want people to hear.

1431
01:17:32,802 --> 01:17:34,955
And especially being in this space,

1432
01:17:34,955 --> 01:17:38,872
like why shy away from
who I am and how I feel?

1433
01:17:39,941 --> 01:17:42,990
♪ Sometimes mmm ♪

1434
01:17:42,990 --> 01:17:44,823
♪ Mmm ♪

1435
01:17:46,435 --> 01:17:48,171
- It is my honor and it is my privilege

1436
01:17:48,171 --> 01:17:50,680
to talk about being
black because I am black.

1437
01:17:50,680 --> 01:17:52,819
It's my honor and privilege
to talk about being a woman

1438
01:17:52,819 --> 01:17:54,152
because I am a woman,

1439
01:17:54,152 --> 01:17:56,062
and I have all of those experiences,

1440
01:17:56,062 --> 01:17:58,645
I think, reflected in my music.

1441
01:18:00,137 --> 01:18:03,192
This music thing that everyone
loves and we love, it's hard.

1442
01:18:03,192 --> 01:18:05,763
It's a whole lotta stuff that
goes on in the background,

1443
01:18:05,763 --> 01:18:07,205
and it can get discouraging,

1444
01:18:07,205 --> 01:18:09,776
but if you push through it,

1445
01:18:09,776 --> 01:18:13,047
you just never know if a
time like this will happen,

1446
01:18:13,047 --> 01:18:15,714
where we're basically seeing
a renaissance in music

1447
01:18:15,714 --> 01:18:17,605
and in country music especially.

1448
01:18:17,605 --> 01:18:19,522
♪ Mmm ♪

1449
01:18:29,274 --> 01:18:34,274
♪ As I walk through the cornfield
alone, full of emptiness ♪

1450
01:18:34,990 --> 01:18:37,148
♪ As I look to my left and my right ♪

1451
01:18:37,148 --> 01:18:39,814
♪ There's no one there to hold my hand ♪

1452
01:18:39,814 --> 01:18:41,839
♪ As my nerves get to shakin' ♪

1453
01:18:41,839 --> 01:18:45,410
♪ And my voice gets to tremblin' ♪

1454
01:18:45,410 --> 01:18:47,855
♪ Just start prayin' for me ♪

1455
01:18:47,855 --> 01:18:49,879
♪ Just start prayin' ♪

1456
01:18:49,879 --> 01:18:52,941
♪ On the ledge ♪

1457
01:18:52,941 --> 01:18:55,376
♪ I take in all of the fresh air ♪

1458
01:18:55,376 --> 01:18:58,149
♪ On my way down ♪

1459
01:18:58,149 --> 01:18:59,902
♪ A million miles away ♪

1460
01:18:59,902 --> 01:19:04,902
♪ I met an angel ♪

1461
01:19:05,015 --> 01:19:08,962
♪ And she told me everything'll be okay ♪

1462
01:19:08,962 --> 01:19:10,690
♪ That's when I woke up, baby ♪

1463
01:19:10,690 --> 01:19:15,690
♪ Show me love, show
me love, show me love ♪

1464
01:19:15,788 --> 01:19:20,788
♪ Girl I love, girl I love
you more than I love myself ♪

1465
01:19:21,106 --> 01:19:26,106
♪ I need love, I need
love, oh, I need love ♪

1466
01:19:26,340 --> 01:19:29,597
♪ We all know that a drink
can't heal my heart ♪

1467
01:19:29,597 --> 01:19:32,063
♪ That's why I need you by my side ♪

1468
01:19:32,063 --> 01:19:34,563
♪ I need love ♪

1469
01:19:37,987 --> 01:19:42,987
(low rumbling music)
(cars rumbling)

1470
01:19:54,615 --> 01:19:57,868
(doors squeaking)

1471
01:19:57,868 --> 01:19:58,799
- Okay, be cool.

1472
01:19:58,799 --> 01:20:01,981
Be cool when I let you out here, okay?

1473
01:20:01,981 --> 01:20:03,726
You just enjoy yourself.

1474
01:20:03,726 --> 01:20:04,976
Be cool, buddy.

1475
01:20:05,994 --> 01:20:07,411
That's a big boy.

1476
01:20:08,722 --> 01:20:10,785
Woo hoo hoo hoo hoo.

1477
01:20:10,785 --> 01:20:13,882
The feeling in the country is amazing.

1478
01:20:13,882 --> 01:20:15,261
It's peaceful.

1479
01:20:15,261 --> 01:20:16,455
You know,

1480
01:20:16,455 --> 01:20:20,329
when you're lookin' around at
all this stuff, you feel God,

1481
01:20:20,329 --> 01:20:21,579
you feel peace.

1482
01:20:23,445 --> 01:20:24,717
It's phenomenal, man,

1483
01:20:24,717 --> 01:20:27,801
to have my babies out
here in the open field.

1484
01:20:27,801 --> 01:20:32,589
Up under this beautiful
light from the Lord upstairs,

1485
01:20:32,589 --> 01:20:33,787
peaceful, quiet.

1486
01:20:33,787 --> 01:20:36,309
They can run around,
do whatever they want.

1487
01:20:36,309 --> 01:20:37,771
Woo, woo, woo.

1488
01:20:37,771 --> 01:20:39,045
- Woo, woo, woo.

1489
01:20:39,045 --> 01:20:40,378
- Woo, woo, woo.

1490
01:20:41,277 --> 01:20:42,922
(Shy chuckling)

1491
01:20:42,922 --> 01:20:46,005
I've been here doin' this since 2008.

1492
01:20:47,289 --> 01:20:49,647
I felt like we needed to be down here,

1493
01:20:49,647 --> 01:20:54,049
openin' the doors up because
this music is amazin'.

1494
01:20:54,049 --> 01:20:57,549
This music is beautiful and it's positive.

1495
01:20:59,087 --> 01:21:01,894
I felt like I could shine
a light on this genre,

1496
01:21:01,894 --> 01:21:04,895
and say, listen, we don't
have to just do this.

1497
01:21:04,895 --> 01:21:06,374
We can move out to the country.

1498
01:21:06,374 --> 01:21:09,983
We can be out here with horses and cows.

1499
01:21:09,983 --> 01:21:13,037
You could be where the air is clean.

1500
01:21:13,037 --> 01:21:15,125
So it's deep in my heart, and say, listen,

1501
01:21:15,125 --> 01:21:17,332
we can enjoy this dream.

1502
01:21:17,332 --> 01:21:20,011
We can enjoy this life.

1503
01:21:20,011 --> 01:21:24,231
And you can make music
in these environments,

1504
01:21:24,231 --> 01:21:26,241
about these environments.

1505
01:21:26,241 --> 01:21:28,059
And you can just sit and write a song

1506
01:21:28,059 --> 01:21:30,600
and sing a song with nothing,

1507
01:21:30,600 --> 01:21:33,576
like with no electricity,
sit outside and be like,

1508
01:21:33,576 --> 01:21:34,523
I don't need anything.

1509
01:21:34,523 --> 01:21:37,449
I could sit here and I
could write a hit song.

1510
01:21:37,449 --> 01:21:40,165
And that's powerful when you
can do somethin' like that.

1511
01:21:40,165 --> 01:21:45,165
♪ Kick it in the country,
man, eatin' on some hay ♪

1512
01:21:45,292 --> 01:21:49,614
♪ I can kick it with you big Joe all day ♪

1513
01:21:49,614 --> 01:21:52,577
♪ Don't let me fall ♪

1514
01:21:52,577 --> 01:21:55,524
♪ Baby, don't let me fall ♪

1515
01:21:55,524 --> 01:21:57,895
♪ We can do it all ♪

1516
01:21:57,895 --> 01:22:01,522
♪ Yeah, we can do it all ♪

1517
01:22:01,522 --> 01:22:06,522
♪ Winter, spring, in
the summer or the fall ♪

1518
01:22:06,916 --> 01:22:11,916
♪ Whatever you do my buddy,
just don't let me fall ♪

1519
01:22:12,591 --> 01:22:17,591
♪ We don't need no saddles we
ride bareback around here baby ♪

1520
01:22:17,968 --> 01:22:19,547
♪ All I wanna do is take you out ♪

1521
01:22:19,547 --> 01:22:23,098
♪ And show you love, my dear baby ♪

1522
01:22:23,098 --> 01:22:25,143
♪ Meet a pretty little lady in the field ♪

1523
01:22:25,143 --> 01:22:28,802
♪ Ridin' horses with me ♪

1524
01:22:28,802 --> 01:22:31,005
♪ Out in the country in Tennessee ♪

1525
01:22:31,005 --> 01:22:34,088
♪ Where we feel free ♪

1526
01:22:35,233 --> 01:22:37,983
(Shy beatboxing)

1527
01:22:40,872 --> 01:22:43,455
(gentle music)

1528
01:22:56,764 --> 01:22:59,678
My whole experience in the music industry,

1529
01:22:59,678 --> 01:23:01,893
I wished that there were
more people of color

1530
01:23:01,893 --> 01:23:04,560
to sing the songs I was writin',

1531
01:23:06,064 --> 01:23:10,797
because there's a different
way that we sing sometimes.

1532
01:23:10,797 --> 01:23:14,464
There's a different way
that soul comes out.

1533
01:23:17,894 --> 01:23:21,737
The experiences of being black in America,

1534
01:23:21,737 --> 01:23:25,658
that puts something in your soul deep down

1535
01:23:25,658 --> 01:23:29,351
to where you sing the
song a little different.

1536
01:23:29,351 --> 01:23:31,934
(gentle music)

1537
01:23:39,035 --> 01:23:41,952
- I do think that there is a shift.

1538
01:23:43,826 --> 01:23:48,076
There's a shift in
consciousness that has occurred.

1539
01:23:49,266 --> 01:23:51,516
Starting with the lockdown,

1540
01:23:52,444 --> 01:23:55,960
all of the abuses that have always gone on

1541
01:23:55,960 --> 01:23:57,012
that continued to go on,

1542
01:23:57,012 --> 01:23:59,845
but which were filmed and absorbed

1543
01:24:01,743 --> 01:24:03,451
in people's psyches and their emotions

1544
01:24:03,451 --> 01:24:06,702
in a deeper way than ever
before in my lifetime.

1545
01:24:06,702 --> 01:24:09,452
(crowd chanting)

1546
01:24:12,309 --> 01:24:14,682
Nashville is a part of a whole macrocosm

1547
01:24:14,682 --> 01:24:17,523
that I think there is a
wave of change happening

1548
01:24:17,523 --> 01:24:22,523
in a sustained way that I
have not witnessed in my life.

1549
01:24:22,607 --> 01:24:23,847
- [Reporter] That truth
earned Mickey Guyton

1550
01:24:23,847 --> 01:24:25,998
her first ever Grammy nomination

1551
01:24:25,998 --> 01:24:29,225
for her deeply personal
song, "Black Like Me,"

1552
01:24:29,225 --> 01:24:32,126
making Mickey the first
black female solo artist ever

1553
01:24:32,126 --> 01:24:34,098
to earn a nod in a country music category.

1554
01:24:34,098 --> 01:24:35,669
- Now you are headin' into the weekend

1555
01:24:35,669 --> 01:24:37,294
with a trophy already in your hand,

1556
01:24:37,294 --> 01:24:39,856
of course, that is for New
Male Artist of the Year.

1557
01:24:39,856 --> 01:24:43,618
You are the first black
musician to do that.

1558
01:24:43,618 --> 01:24:45,155
- This weekend Mickey Guyton

1559
01:24:45,155 --> 01:24:47,821
will become the first
black woman to co-host

1560
01:24:47,821 --> 01:24:50,021
the Academy of Country Music Awards.

1561
01:24:50,021 --> 01:24:51,430
She was the only black woman

1562
01:24:51,430 --> 01:24:53,760
to be nominated for an award this year.

1563
01:24:53,760 --> 01:24:55,634
But as Amna Nawaz reports,

1564
01:24:55,634 --> 01:24:57,122
a number of black women

1565
01:24:57,122 --> 01:25:01,479
are starting to gain
traction in the genre.

1566
01:25:01,479 --> 01:25:05,261
- When I started meeting Reyna
Roberts and Kären McCormick

1567
01:25:05,261 --> 01:25:07,994
and Camille Parker and Mickey Guyton,

1568
01:25:07,994 --> 01:25:11,234
I just started feelin'
like, oh, this is a thing.

1569
01:25:11,234 --> 01:25:12,067
This is happening.

1570
01:25:12,067 --> 01:25:13,484
It's not just me.

1571
01:25:14,969 --> 01:25:17,523
There is a shift happening.

1572
01:25:17,523 --> 01:25:20,084
There is a whole new sound comin',

1573
01:25:20,084 --> 01:25:23,031
and it's not to take
place of something else.

1574
01:25:23,031 --> 01:25:24,564
We just wanna join the story.

1575
01:25:24,564 --> 01:25:27,147
(gentle music)

1576
01:25:33,149 --> 01:25:36,732
- No matter how many
different ways I sang,

1577
01:25:37,676 --> 01:25:40,824
mo matter what makeup you put on me,

1578
01:25:40,824 --> 01:25:42,824
I'm still a black woman.

1579
01:25:44,917 --> 01:25:48,005
And that's never going to change.

1580
01:25:48,005 --> 01:25:52,684
And I have to be who I am and
love that and accept that.

1581
01:25:52,684 --> 01:25:55,271
And when I got to that place, it was,

1582
01:25:55,271 --> 01:25:58,805
it almost makes me teary
eyed to even talk about,

1583
01:25:58,805 --> 01:26:01,149
but it was truly one of
the most freeing things

1584
01:26:01,149 --> 01:26:03,178
I could have ever done for myself.

1585
01:26:03,178 --> 01:26:05,761
(gentle music)

1586
01:26:11,763 --> 01:26:15,135
There's so many amazing
things happening for me,

1587
01:26:15,135 --> 01:26:19,830
but there is so much sadness
because I do know too much.

1588
01:26:19,830 --> 01:26:22,401
(gentle music)

1589
01:26:22,401 --> 01:26:24,559
I know entirely too much.

1590
01:26:24,559 --> 01:26:27,559
(television static)

1591
01:26:29,934 --> 01:26:34,911
♪ My daddy work day and night ♪

1592
01:26:34,911 --> 01:26:39,911
♪ For an old house and a used car ♪

1593
01:26:40,600 --> 01:26:44,814
♪ Just to live that good life ♪

1594
01:26:44,814 --> 01:26:46,395
♪ Mmm ♪

1595
01:26:46,395 --> 01:26:49,979
♪ It shouldn't be twice as hard ♪

1596
01:26:49,979 --> 01:26:53,339
♪ Oh now ♪

1597
01:26:53,339 --> 01:26:58,163
♪ Now I'm all grown up
and nothin' has changed ♪

1598
01:26:58,163 --> 01:27:01,623
♪ It's a hard life ♪

1599
01:27:01,623 --> 01:27:04,039
♪ On Easy Street ♪

1600
01:27:04,039 --> 01:27:09,039
♪ Just white painted picket
fences far as you can see ♪

1601
01:27:09,468 --> 01:27:14,468
♪ If you think we live
in the land of the free ♪

1602
01:27:15,093 --> 01:27:19,426
♪ You should try be a black like me ♪

1603
01:27:20,318 --> 01:27:23,925
(television static)

1604
01:27:23,925 --> 01:27:27,200
(television clicking)

1605
01:27:27,200 --> 01:27:28,871
I've been in town for years,

1606
01:27:28,871 --> 01:27:30,903
and it took a song like "Black Like Me"

1607
01:27:30,903 --> 01:27:34,236
and a man dying for people to notice me.

1608
01:27:35,446 --> 01:27:37,492
How do you celebrate that?

1609
01:27:37,492 --> 01:27:40,742
(gentle intense music)

1610
01:27:42,526 --> 01:27:44,696
There are times, even to this day,

1611
01:27:44,696 --> 01:27:47,608
where I still question if I have a home

1612
01:27:47,608 --> 01:27:50,191
within the country music genre.

1613
01:27:53,021 --> 01:27:54,649
And I just have to be honest.

1614
01:27:54,649 --> 01:27:58,085
(gentle intense music)

1615
01:27:58,085 --> 01:28:01,335
I don't always feel like I have a home,

1616
01:28:02,275 --> 01:28:04,275
But I'm creating a home.

1617
01:28:06,041 --> 01:28:08,208
And I hope I'm creating a space

1618
01:28:08,208 --> 01:28:10,600
for other people of color and black people

1619
01:28:10,600 --> 01:28:12,753
to feel like they have
a home in this genre.

1620
01:28:12,753 --> 01:28:17,753
(gentle music)
(curtain clicking)

1621
01:28:25,539 --> 01:28:27,724
- It's gonna be difficult
to have conversations

1622
01:28:27,724 --> 01:28:31,454
about what we need to do or whether

1623
01:28:31,454 --> 01:28:34,277
there's actual hope and movement right now

1624
01:28:34,277 --> 01:28:38,694
when it ain't been this lit
in Nashville in a minute.

1625
01:28:40,958 --> 01:28:43,748
All these articles and that
hasn't happened in a while.

1626
01:28:43,748 --> 01:28:48,415
So if you're a part of that,
if you're ridin' that wave,

1627
01:28:53,031 --> 01:28:54,457
everything's too good right now.

1628
01:28:54,457 --> 01:28:57,040
(gentle music)

1629
01:28:58,442 --> 01:29:01,212
- It's almost come
every generation, right?

1630
01:29:01,212 --> 01:29:03,290
Where been these moments in time

1631
01:29:03,290 --> 01:29:06,700
when commercially speaking
there was potential there

1632
01:29:06,700 --> 01:29:08,744
to maybe be hopeful that something

1633
01:29:08,744 --> 01:29:11,827
was gonna change within the industry.

1634
01:29:13,103 --> 01:29:13,954
It's a business.

1635
01:29:13,954 --> 01:29:17,195
And it's a business that does
very, very well for itself,

1636
01:29:17,195 --> 01:29:19,348
which makes me cynical because,

1637
01:29:19,348 --> 01:29:21,609
from their perspective as a business

1638
01:29:21,609 --> 01:29:24,668
where the goal is to make money,
not to do the right thing,

1639
01:29:24,668 --> 01:29:26,590
there really isn't an incentive to change.

1640
01:29:26,590 --> 01:29:29,173
(gentle music)

1641
01:29:31,116 --> 01:29:33,607
- We're doin' a lotta talking
and a lotta discussing,

1642
01:29:33,607 --> 01:29:37,035
which is great, and which
is a wonderful first step.

1643
01:29:37,035 --> 01:29:41,452
But I have yet to see a lot
of action against racism.

1644
01:29:46,988 --> 01:29:51,497
- [Andrea] We're seeing
kinda surface level things.

1645
01:29:51,497 --> 01:29:53,560
Some organizations in town that

1646
01:29:53,560 --> 01:29:56,690
as they cultivate the list of who's next,

1647
01:29:56,690 --> 01:30:01,558
they're making sure there's
black faces on there.

1648
01:30:01,558 --> 01:30:03,880
The CMAs and the ACMs they're, okay,

1649
01:30:03,880 --> 01:30:05,599
we don't wanna have another award show

1650
01:30:05,599 --> 01:30:07,121
where there are no black people.

1651
01:30:07,121 --> 01:30:08,621
That is happening.

1652
01:30:12,192 --> 01:30:15,011
- But there's no consequences.

1653
01:30:15,011 --> 01:30:16,918
There's not a lot of
action of people saying

1654
01:30:16,918 --> 01:30:19,918
we are not going to do this anymore.

1655
01:30:21,475 --> 01:30:26,140
There's a lot of dismantling
that needs to be done.

1656
01:30:26,140 --> 01:30:28,390
I think if one artist says,

1657
01:30:29,275 --> 01:30:32,900
"I don't want Confederate
flags at my show,"

1658
01:30:32,900 --> 01:30:35,067
and that rule is followed,

1659
01:30:36,217 --> 01:30:37,302
it can't even be expressed

1660
01:30:37,302 --> 01:30:41,302
what a difference that
will make moving forward.

1661
01:30:46,262 --> 01:30:48,179
- Nashville is growing,

1662
01:30:49,702 --> 01:30:52,369
and Nashville is getting better,

1663
01:30:54,042 --> 01:30:57,777
but I have not seen that same growth

1664
01:30:57,777 --> 01:31:00,277
in the country music industry.

1665
01:31:01,296 --> 01:31:03,235
And I'm startin' to see it now,

1666
01:31:03,235 --> 01:31:06,909
but it makes me wonder is
it cause of what's going on

1667
01:31:06,909 --> 01:31:08,786
in our society right now?

1668
01:31:08,786 --> 01:31:12,393
Or is it because they finally get it

1669
01:31:12,393 --> 01:31:14,829
and understand that the
country music industry

1670
01:31:14,829 --> 01:31:18,329
will be better if it becomes more diverse?

1671
01:31:24,038 --> 01:31:28,038
- It's gonna take a lot
to change country music.

1672
01:31:29,630 --> 01:31:32,995
It's gotta be people behind the scenes,

1673
01:31:32,995 --> 01:31:36,412
people at record labels, people in radio.

1674
01:31:37,380 --> 01:31:42,130
It's gonna take a lot to change
and it's gonna take time.

1675
01:31:44,681 --> 01:31:47,503
- We need to own the infrastructure,

1676
01:31:47,503 --> 01:31:49,670
and we need to have black executives

1677
01:31:49,670 --> 01:31:51,958
and black business owners

1678
01:31:51,958 --> 01:31:54,714
when it comes to the music business.

1679
01:31:54,714 --> 01:31:56,559
I think that's what changes it.

1680
01:31:56,559 --> 01:31:57,646
It's not just opportunity,

1681
01:31:57,646 --> 01:32:00,250
because opportunity just
gives you the chance

1682
01:32:00,250 --> 01:32:03,520
to operate within the
parameters that's already set

1683
01:32:03,520 --> 01:32:05,644
before you walk in the door,

1684
01:32:05,644 --> 01:32:08,561
but power gives you the opportunity

1685
01:32:09,550 --> 01:32:11,300
to do something pure.

1686
01:32:14,599 --> 01:32:17,281
If we could change that,
if we could hold power,

1687
01:32:17,281 --> 01:32:19,198
I think that's the key.

1688
01:32:22,802 --> 01:32:24,149
- It's cool to be able to be in a position

1689
01:32:24,149 --> 01:32:27,573
to where I can help other artists,

1690
01:32:27,573 --> 01:32:31,619
because I wouldn't be here
without people helpin' me.

1691
01:32:31,619 --> 01:32:33,916
I feel like if I, as a black man,

1692
01:32:33,916 --> 01:32:35,574
had kind of pushed
through in this industry

1693
01:32:35,574 --> 01:32:40,162
because people believed in
me, only signed white artists,

1694
01:32:40,162 --> 01:32:44,155
I don't feel like that's
why I was placed here.

1695
01:32:44,155 --> 01:32:46,192
And I feel like if I see
other people of color

1696
01:32:46,192 --> 01:32:49,383
that are strugglin' but talented,

1697
01:32:49,383 --> 01:32:52,383
I feel like it's my job to help 'em.

1698
01:32:55,149 --> 01:32:56,203
- We literally all have to

1699
01:32:56,203 --> 01:32:59,378
be having this conversation
with each other.

1700
01:32:59,378 --> 01:33:02,263
Like, hey, did you do
everything that you could today

1701
01:33:02,263 --> 01:33:04,838
or this week or this month or this year

1702
01:33:04,838 --> 01:33:07,733
to help make this space more equitable,

1703
01:33:07,733 --> 01:33:08,975
more fair for everybody?

1704
01:33:08,975 --> 01:33:10,725
Did you do your part?

1705
01:33:12,480 --> 01:33:16,461
It means very little to
me to win a CMA, a Grammy,

1706
01:33:16,461 --> 01:33:19,391
a Billboard Award, have a
number one, or any of that,

1707
01:33:19,391 --> 01:33:22,195
if I'm not able to do
anything for the people

1708
01:33:22,195 --> 01:33:24,778
who are also trying to do that.

1709
01:33:25,794 --> 01:33:28,323
How can we help black
people win in this space?

1710
01:33:28,323 --> 01:33:30,990
And how can we help everyone else

1711
01:33:30,990 --> 01:33:32,366
who's already been in this space

1712
01:33:32,366 --> 01:33:34,383
and has benefited from those systems,

1713
01:33:34,383 --> 01:33:38,103
how can we help them understand
what's happening here,

1714
01:33:38,103 --> 01:33:40,361
and so that they can also be a part of it?

1715
01:33:40,361 --> 01:33:41,194
And I think if we're able

1716
01:33:41,194 --> 01:33:42,973
to accomplish both of those things,

1717
01:33:42,973 --> 01:33:47,390
then we can achieve real
inclusivity and real equity.

1718
01:33:49,189 --> 01:33:54,189
- There has to be not just one
or two or three black people

1719
01:33:54,273 --> 01:33:57,543
that go on to have successful careers

1720
01:33:57,543 --> 01:34:01,374
every 25 years or something like that.

1721
01:34:01,374 --> 01:34:05,124
There has to be several
black country artists

1722
01:34:06,752 --> 01:34:08,835
that have viable careers.

1723
01:34:09,957 --> 01:34:14,097
And we have to walk through
that door together as a whole,

1724
01:34:14,097 --> 01:34:17,321
as a unit, arm-in-arm,
through these doors,

1725
01:34:17,321 --> 01:34:20,995
and saying, "Hey, we're
here and we're talented.

1726
01:34:20,995 --> 01:34:23,245
"And we deserve to be here.

1727
01:34:24,670 --> 01:34:26,587
"Our dreams are valid."

1728
01:34:28,653 --> 01:34:31,754
- There's no pushing the tide back.

1729
01:34:31,754 --> 01:34:35,330
There's no turning the
river the other way.

1730
01:34:35,330 --> 01:34:37,707
It's that long arc of justice.

1731
01:34:37,707 --> 01:34:40,294
It's long and slow and
we're not there yet,

1732
01:34:40,294 --> 01:34:44,377
but I do hope and believe
that we will get there.

1733
01:34:45,888 --> 01:34:48,599
- It's a very exciting time for Nashville.

1734
01:34:48,599 --> 01:34:52,157
And I have great hopes for this city.

1735
01:34:52,157 --> 01:34:55,990
I've been here 40 years,
seen a lotta changes.

1736
01:34:57,494 --> 01:35:00,003
I have a lotta hope for this generation,

1737
01:35:00,003 --> 01:35:03,024
which has certainly went
further than anyone I've seen,

1738
01:35:03,024 --> 01:35:05,107
other than Charley Pride.

1739
01:35:06,174 --> 01:35:09,150
So I would say, learn
how to work together,

1740
01:35:09,150 --> 01:35:12,126
because there is such power in numbers.

1741
01:35:12,126 --> 01:35:14,618
Learn to write together,

1742
01:35:14,618 --> 01:35:16,618
exchange ideas together,

1743
01:35:17,673 --> 01:35:20,090
develop your sounds together,

1744
01:35:21,517 --> 01:35:23,100
support each other.

1745
01:35:26,181 --> 01:35:27,681
Help the platform.

1746
01:35:29,300 --> 01:35:33,747
Where can you go if you
don't have a platform?

1747
01:35:33,747 --> 01:35:38,025
That's what I would love
to see happen in Nashville.

1748
01:35:38,025 --> 01:35:40,596
And I think if it's powerful enough,

1749
01:35:40,596 --> 01:35:42,117
a whole lot of things could happen.

1750
01:35:42,117 --> 01:35:44,950
(energetic music)

1751
01:35:51,692 --> 01:35:53,029
♪ You can drink my liquor ♪

1752
01:35:53,029 --> 01:35:54,827
♪ You can call my lady ♪

1753
01:35:54,827 --> 01:35:56,497
♪ You can take my money ♪

1754
01:35:56,497 --> 01:35:59,089
♪ You can smoke my blunt ♪

1755
01:35:59,089 --> 01:36:00,309
♪ Scuff these Jordans ♪

1756
01:36:00,309 --> 01:36:02,019
♪ You can say you hate me ♪

1757
01:36:02,019 --> 01:36:04,499
♪ You can call me crazy, but ♪

1758
01:36:04,499 --> 01:36:06,240
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1759
01:36:06,240 --> 01:36:07,073
♪ Skrrt, skrrt ♪

1760
01:36:07,073 --> 01:36:09,092
♪ Skrrt ♪

1761
01:36:09,092 --> 01:36:09,925
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

1762
01:36:09,925 --> 01:36:11,663
♪ Skrrt ♪

1763
01:36:11,663 --> 01:36:13,227
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1764
01:36:13,227 --> 01:36:14,362
♪ Brrp, truck ♪

1765
01:36:14,362 --> 01:36:16,095
♪ Skrrt ♪

1766
01:36:16,095 --> 01:36:16,928
♪ Woo-oo ♪

1767
01:36:16,928 --> 01:36:18,454
♪ Skrrt ♪

1768
01:36:18,454 --> 01:36:20,187
♪ Don't touch my ♪

1769
01:36:20,187 --> 01:36:22,868
♪ V8 engine with the windows tinted ♪

1770
01:36:22,868 --> 01:36:24,559
♪ Boy, we came from the bottom ♪

1771
01:36:24,559 --> 01:36:26,683
♪ Got it out the mud ♪

1772
01:36:26,683 --> 01:36:30,169
♪ Whole block jumpin' 'cause
the subs stay hittin' ♪

1773
01:36:30,169 --> 01:36:33,656
♪ If they roll up on me,
know I keep one tucked ♪

1774
01:36:33,656 --> 01:36:34,489
♪ Ooh, yeah ♪
♪ Woo ♪

1775
01:36:34,489 --> 01:36:36,079
♪ Tell them boys come and get me ♪

1776
01:36:36,079 --> 01:36:37,658
♪ I be ridin' through the city ♪

1777
01:36:37,658 --> 01:36:39,517
♪ Young, rich and I'm pretty ♪

1778
01:36:39,517 --> 01:36:41,270
♪ Homie, don't get it twisted ♪

1779
01:36:41,270 --> 01:36:42,899
♪ Keep a semi in the hemi ♪

1780
01:36:42,899 --> 01:36:44,682
♪ Red cup full of Henny ♪

1781
01:36:44,682 --> 01:36:47,705
♪ My hitters come in plenties, for real ♪

1782
01:36:47,705 --> 01:36:49,102
♪ You can drink my liquor ♪

1783
01:36:49,102 --> 01:36:50,917
♪ You can call my lady ♪

1784
01:36:50,917 --> 01:36:52,617
♪ You can take my money ♪

1785
01:36:52,617 --> 01:36:54,790
♪ You can smoke my blunt ♪

1786
01:36:54,790 --> 01:36:56,233
♪ Scuff these Jordans ♪

1787
01:36:56,233 --> 01:36:57,907
♪ You can say you hate me ♪

1788
01:36:57,907 --> 01:37:00,544
♪ You can call me crazy, but ♪

1789
01:37:00,544 --> 01:37:02,384
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1790
01:37:02,384 --> 01:37:03,217
♪ Skrrt, skrrt ♪

1791
01:37:03,217 --> 01:37:05,208
♪ Skrrt ♪

1792
01:37:05,208 --> 01:37:06,041
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

1793
01:37:06,041 --> 01:37:07,530
♪ Skrrt ♪

1794
01:37:07,530 --> 01:37:09,185
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1795
01:37:09,185 --> 01:37:10,330
♪ Brrp, truck ♪

1796
01:37:10,330 --> 01:37:12,036
♪ Skrrt ♪

1797
01:37:12,036 --> 01:37:13,029
♪ Woo-oo ♪

1798
01:37:13,029 --> 01:37:14,641
♪ Skrrt ♪

1799
01:37:14,641 --> 01:37:15,821
♪ Don't touch my ♪

1800
01:37:15,821 --> 01:37:18,827
♪ Wood grain dash with
the matte black finish ♪

1801
01:37:18,827 --> 01:37:22,890
♪ And it match my shawty
with the big ol' butt ♪

1802
01:37:22,890 --> 01:37:25,027
♪ Tell them boys come and get me ♪

1803
01:37:25,027 --> 01:37:26,718
♪ I be ridin' through the city ♪

1804
01:37:26,718 --> 01:37:28,561
♪ Young, rich and I'm pretty ♪

1805
01:37:28,561 --> 01:37:30,402
♪ Homie, don't get it twisted ♪

1806
01:37:30,402 --> 01:37:31,919
♪ Keep a semi in the hemi ♪

1807
01:37:31,919 --> 01:37:33,717
♪ Red cup full of Henny ♪

1808
01:37:33,717 --> 01:37:36,755
♪ My hitters come in plenties, for real ♪

1809
01:37:36,755 --> 01:37:38,135
♪ You can drink my liquor ♪

1810
01:37:38,135 --> 01:37:39,901
♪ You can call my lady ♪

1811
01:37:39,901 --> 01:37:41,591
♪ You can take my money ♪

1812
01:37:41,591 --> 01:37:43,821
♪ You can smoke my blunt ♪

1813
01:37:43,821 --> 01:37:45,389
♪ Scuff these Jordans ♪

1814
01:37:45,389 --> 01:37:46,909
♪ You can say you hate me ♪

1815
01:37:46,909 --> 01:37:49,542
♪ You can call me crazy, but ♪

1816
01:37:49,542 --> 01:37:52,100
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1817
01:37:52,100 --> 01:37:54,898
♪ Skrrt ♪

1818
01:37:54,898 --> 01:37:56,495
♪ Skrrt ♪

1819
01:37:56,495 --> 01:37:59,478
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1820
01:37:59,478 --> 01:38:01,978
♪ Skrrt ♪

1821
01:38:01,978 --> 01:38:03,512
♪ Skrrt ♪

1822
01:38:03,512 --> 01:38:08,512
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1823
01:38:10,833 --> 01:38:15,833
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1824
01:38:17,822 --> 01:38:20,519
♪ Don't touch my truck ♪

1825
01:38:20,519 --> 01:38:23,102
(gentle music)