1 Recently published books on the Black presence in country music include Francesca Royster, Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2022); Alice Randall, My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future (New York, NY: Atria/Black Privilege Publishing, 2024); Cleve Francis, Beyond the Weeping Willow: A Heart’s Journey Through Music, Medicine, and History (Nashville, TN: Country Music Foundation Press, 2025). Other titles include Karl Hagstrom Miller, Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010); Diane Pecknold, ed., Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2013); Charles L. Hughes, Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2015); Nadine Hubbs and Francesca T. Royster, eds, “Uncharted Country: New Voices and Perspectives in Country Music Studies Special Issue,” Journal of Popular Music Studies (2020), 32; Pamela E. Foster, My Country: The African Diaspora’s Country Music Heritage (Nashville, TN: My Country, 1998).

2 Billie Schwab Dunn, “Country Music’s Popularity Is at an All-Time High,” Newsweek, Mach 2, 2024; Kate Hardcastle, “Cowboy Core Is Riding High: A Timeless Trend In Fashion,” Forbes, April 2, 2024.

3 Randall Roberts, “Conservative Country Fans Lash Out at CMA Performance by Beyoncé and the Dixie Chicks,” Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2016.

4 Janay Kingsberry, “The Moment That Inspired Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter,’” The Washington Post, March 19, 2024.