“I like to say my music is mixed, like me,” laughs Julie Williams, a queer, biracial Nashville-based songwriter who happens to be one of the strongest new voices to emerge in country music this decade. “I grew up loving ‘90s country, but before I moved to Nashville I didn’t necessarily think I could make that music. I didn’t think I had a place in the genre. I had so many other influences too – like the Indigo Girls, James Taylor, and other folk music – so I thought that would be more my world. But the song that changed everything for me was ‘Southern Curls.’ I was like, whoa, this is undeniably a country song, and it feels more like me than anything else I’ve ever written.”
Released back in 2021, “Southern Curls” was a breakout single for Williams and continues to inform her subsequent work in a lot of ways. Like many of the best country songs, the track flirts with an existing trope while flipping it entirely on its head, invoking the texture of her own Black hair as a foil to disrupt the traditional image of coiffed ringlets favored by white southern belles. Williams uses her hair as a gateway to discuss the still prevalent differences between how Black and white women are treated in this country, particularly in the South, and opens the conversation with a matter-of-fact account of her personal experience.
It’s a simple, riveting song, intimate and singular, but also broad enough to provide desperately needed representation for a whole diaspora of Black female artists who, like Williams, have had a hard time making space for themselves in the predominantly whitewashed genre of mainstream country. Almost immediately, the track earned the attention of fellow Black country artist and Apple Music host Rissi Palmer, who named Williams to her 2021 Color Me Country cohort, and also caught the ear of the Black Opry, who invited the young artist to join the collective on stage and on tour in 2022.
Following this up with a self-titled EP in 2023, an appearance on a PBS special about Black women in country, and a performance at Newport Folk Festival, Williams joined the CMT Next Women of Country Class of 2023. Now, she’s touring behind another new EP, Tennessee Moon, which includes a new version of the impactful song. Williams is excited about the prospect of expanding her sound – and her writing voice – even further.
“‘Southern Curls’ gave me the bravery to write songs that feel authentic to me,” Williams says. “From there, I’ve been really lucky to work with some incredible people, like my partner Jonathan Smalt, who produced my new EP, Tennessee Moon. This is a big release for me in that it feels like an arrival.”
Another part of that feeling? Williams and “Southern Curls” were featured prominently as part of a new documentary on Hulu, It’s All Country, which features legends like Luke Combs, Wynonna Judd, and Sheryl Crow, plus a never-before-seen performances from Williams herself.
While out on tour behind Tennessee Moon, which released in October, Williams called in to speak with Good Country from the road. She talked about her experience shifting from the world of public policy to the music industry, all things ’90s country, navigating the bounds of folk and other genres in her sound, and those deeply felt, close friendships that might have always been more than… just friends.
What was your relationship to country music like when you were growing up?
Julie Williams: My mom used to play a lot of ‘90s country in the car, artists like The Chicks, Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood, and Sara Evans – but especially The Chicks. I’ve been thinking a lot about them recently, especially in the last few weeks [since the presidential election]. A huge part of my musical introduction was around the time when The Chicks were kicked off country radio. Their song, “Not Ready To Make Nice,” I remember my mom explaining the lyrics to me. That was really where my love for storytelling and lyrics came from.
I noticed the lyrics in your songs right away, they’re not filler or frivolous, they’re stories.
I always thought people would only want to listen to me if I was playing the songs they already knew and loved. Once I started writing, I realized my stories have value. Growing up in Florida, I’d sing covers of Jimmy Buffett and Tom Petty, whatever songs I thought would get me the tips from the snowbirds. I didn’t go to school for music, I went to Duke University and studied public policy. I wanted to work for a non-profit and become a lawyer. But we had a student record label I was a part of, Small Town Records, and that was the first time I got the chance to start writing my own songs. I started to see the power in my own story.
How did you make the jump from studying public policy back into music?
I wanted the work I did to make somebody’s life just a little bit better, but I didn’t realize I could do that with music too. Some of the things I cared a lot about, too – issues of race, queer issues, and women’s issues – how do you get people to care about them? Part of it is through telling stories that move people. I soon realized I didn’t have to sit behind a desk all day and be a policy analyst. Music can also get me in spaces and in front of people that I wouldn’t be around.
Is there an artist who has a career path that you’d like to follow in the industry?
I’ve always been such a fan of Kacey Musgraves and the way that she’s always stood up for what she believes in. She’s never backed down in that, and she’s always put herself in her songs. Part of it is about love and heartbreak, but it’s also about following your arrow, and being yourself. Even the ways in which she’s created a whole new sound in country and in folk with Golden Hour. I fell in love with that album when it came out. I’ve always looked up to the way she can capture the simplest feelings of being a human in her songs.
How do you feel about your music as country or as folk? There are so many other elements to it, and you have a very layered, textured sound.
I have so many influences that aren’t from country, but pairing all of those things creates that mixed sound that really feels like me. As an artist, I’m constantly thinking about “How am I going to market this?” or “What genre is this going to be in?” and that can sometimes feel limiting. I don’t think my music would fit into a traditional pop-country radio sound, but I don’t think it fully fits into other genres either. I’m just trying to make what feels good for me.
How does Tennessee Moon fit into your current discography? It feels like another level.
It’s definitely a big release for me. That’s a testament to being here in Nashville for a few years and trying things out. Every time I put out music or write a song, I hope there’s going to be better ones that keep coming. “Tennessee Moon” was a really special one for me. It started with a film photo that I took of an ex while we were kayaking at Percy Priest lake at sunset. That relationship didn’t work out, but I took the photo to a co-write with a friend of mine, Melody Walker. I said, “I want to write a song that feels like this picture,” and I knew everything else was going to be around that song.
“Just Friends” is another one of my favorite songs on Tennessee Moon, and it seems like so many people relate to the experience of the blurred line between best friends and something more. How did it feel to address that?
I wrote this one with Melody Walker as well and it’s also one of my favorites. I love women, and I realized that I can love anyone regardless of their gender identity. I came to that realization in my twenties, but now that I know who I am – and who I love – I was looking back at a specific friendship of mine. Retrospectively, I realized I had a crush on this person. I was in love with this person. But getting the chance to create a pretty sapphic music video felt like ripping the band-aid off as far as talking about my queer identity in my songs. I hadn’t done that before. I’m really excited to write and put out music freely now.
AmericanaFest is HERE! The annual festival, business conference and roots-music extravaganza will once again take over Nashville beginning today, September 19, through Saturday, September 23. While of course we’re most looking forward to our event presented with Queerfest, the Good Ol’ Queer Country Jamboree, on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., the entire week is filled to the brim with must-see, must-hear, must-do events, panels, showcases, parties and hangs.
As we do most years, below we lay out a variety of items starred by BGS staff on our AmericanaFest apps – which, BTW, is a festival and conference essential. You can add performances, panels, and keynotes to your own personalized scheduled complete with lineups, panel rosters, details and more. Plus, you’ll be able to easily see which events require special tickets or advance RSVP directly in the app and which are accessible with your conference badge or festival wristband. Download the official app on the app store here. Download via Google Play here.See the full AmericanaFest daily schedule in your browser here.
We want to hear from you, too! Which AmericanaFest events and shows are you most excited for? Which of the more than 200 showcasing bands and artists are at the top of your lists?
Panels, Parties,& Events
Check-in and pass pick-up begin today, Tuesday, September 19, at 12 noon at the Westin Nashville in the Gulch, but most panels and conference programming gets rolling tomorrow, on Wednesday. If you thought ahead, you already RSVP-ed to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum’s conversation and performance by two of our faves, Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal, this afternoon at 3 p.m. They’ll chat about their careers plus the 30th Anniversary re-issue of The Wheel – hear a track from that project on BGS here.
There are quite a few more conversations, panels and events we’re eyeing this week around Nashville:
Roots & Branches – Kentucky Music – WED. SEPT. 20 10:00 AM @ The Westin Vanderbilt III
Kentucky poet laureate Silas House – who recently wrote the story behind Tyler Childers’ sensational new music video – will chat with fellow Kentuckians and musicians S.G. Goodman, Kelsey Waldon and Nat Myers about “the history, legacy and current state of Kentucky’s music and the way it has helped to shape American music…” The bluegrass state means more to American roots music than just bluegrass and these folks know it. An enlightening conversation is sure to be had.
Where the Action Is: Americana Artists and Activism – WED. SEPT. 20 11:00 AM @ the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum Ford Theater *RSVP REQUIRED*
Moderated by veteran BGS contributor Jewly Hight and hosted by the Country Music Hall of Fame, this conversation will feature performances by Adeem the Artist, Mya Byrne, Autumn Nicholas and Allison Russell, all artists who leverage their music making in Americana spaces to advance activist causes, social justice and representation and inclusion. The event promises to connect the present and each of these artists to this vibrant tradition in roots music and folk.
Hillbillies and Hot Dogs – WED. SEPT. 20 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM @ Compass Records *RSVP REQUIRED*
Our friends at Compass Records and No Depression host one of the best hoedowns every year at AmericanaFest, replete with hot dogs and the recording studio that birthed the Outlaw movement. Hear music by Robbie Fulks, Kelly Hunt, Mattie Schell and the business queen of banjo herself, Alison Brown.
NMAAM Songwriters Rounds – WED., THURS., FRI. SEPT 20, 21, 22 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM @ National Museum of African American Music
A music conference and festival in Nashville is the perfect time to visit the National Museum of African American Music, which opened during the pandemic and has slowly but surely built momentum and an audience for the history, culture, and tastemaking of African American music. And situated right in the heart of Nashville’s lower Broadway neighborhood, it’s the perfect venue to make such points. NMAAM’s daily writers rounds will feature artists and songwriters like AHI, guitar phenoms Joy Clark and Yasmin Williams, BGS One to Watch Julie Williams and more.
An Intimate Conversation with Nickel Creek & Sarah Silverman – WED. SEPT 20 1:00 PM @ RCA Studio A *RSVP Required*
You read that right! Nickel Creek and Sarah Silverman in conversation at RCA Studio A moderated by Jewly Hight!? Pinch us! Clearly one event not to miss this week. RSVP is required, hope yours has been submitted long ago!
Indigenous Americana – WED. SEPT 20 4:oo PM @ the Westin SoBro I & II
You are still on stolen land. While you occupy the historic lands of the Cherokee, Shawnee and Yuchi this week, set aside time to appreciate, ingest and center Indigenous music makers, their songs and their stories. This panel conversation on the future of the thriving Indigenous music community will feature Amanda Rheaume, Crystal Shawanda, Nicole Auger of the Indigenous Music Summit and Trenton Wheeler. More events for/about Indigenous music below.
Kentucky Bluegrass, Past and Future – THURS. SEPT. 21 2:30 PM @ the Westin Gulch I & II
From our friends at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, a conversation about the arc of bluegrass in the bluegrass state featuring BGS contributor Craig Havighurst, Bluegrass Hall director Chris Joslin, fiddler Jason Carter, the legendary Sam Bush, educator and picker Scott Napier, and Jessica Blankenship of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.
Who Are the Gatekeepers of Americana Anyway? – THURS. SEPT. 21 4:00 PM @ the Westin Gulch I & II
If your immediate reaction to this panel title is skepticism, this is definitely for you! The roster of Omar Ruiz-Lopez (of Violet Bell), Rissi Palmer and Yasmin Williams immediately indicate this conversation will critically unpack and explore the construction of Americana as a format, just how multi-cultural the music really is, and why that strength is worth spotlighting while we dismantle systems of gatekeeping and exclusion.
Transgender Artists Arriving and Breaking Through in Americana – FRI. SEPT. 22 1:00 PM @ the Westin Gulch I & II
Just a few short years ago there were almost no LGBTQ+ spaces at AmericanaFest, so we’re ecstatic to see a trans-specific space like this opened up at the conference. Hear from Ally Free, Cidny Bullens, Mya Byrne, Paisley Fields and moderator Marcus K. Dowling on historic and current challenges and opportunities for trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming Americana musicians.
From ‘Queer Jolene’ to ‘Pay Gap’: Teaching Social Issues Through Americana in the Classroom – FRI. SEPT. 22 3:30 PM the Westin Gulch III
Using two songs as a springboard, scholar-musician Nadine Hubbs and showcasing artist Beth Bombara will be joined by Aimee Zoeller, Ethan Anderson, and renowned writer/thinker Tressie McMillan Cottom to discuss the use of Americana music and texts to teach and highlight current issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and identity in university and college classrooms and academic spaces.
Americana Honors & Awards
Keb’ Mo’ attends the 20th Annual Americana Honors & Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images for Americana Music Association)
The marquee event of the week, the 22nd Annual Americana Honors & Awards will take place on Wednesday evening beginning at 6:30 p.m. See the full list of honorees and nominees here. The awards show promises appearances and performances by so many Americana friends and neighbors: Adeem the Artist, Allison Russell, Brandy Clark, Jessi Colter, Marty Stuart, Nickel Creek, William Prince, Sunny War and many, many more. Recipients of this year’s Lifetime, Trailblazer and Legacy Awards include The Avett Brothers, George Fontaine Sr., Bettye LaVette, Patty Griffin and Nickel Creek.
Good Ol’ Queer Country Jamboree at Soho House Nashville
A rare opportunity to utilize the gorgeous facilities of Soho House Nashville at this members-only and conference passholders-only event! Plus, enjoy the absolute best in queer country being made today as we celebrate the announcement of BGS’s new outlet, Good Country, coming in 2024! Space is limited, so make sure your RSVP is in for the Good Ol’ Queer Country Jamboree featuring music by Adeem the Artist, Jett Holden, Amanda Fields & Megan McCormick, Chris Housman and special guests.
The Good Ol’ Queer Country Jamboree Featuring Adeem the Artist, Amanda Fields & Megan McCormick, Jett Holden, Chris Housman, and more. Saturday, September 23, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. Soho House Nashville
Showcases, Artists & Bands
Here are just a handful of the showcases, lineups, artists and bands we’ve got our eye on this week:
Americana Proud: A Voice for All – TUE. SEPT. 19 8:00 PM & 9:30 PM @ the City Winery
Hosted by singer-songwriter Autumn Nicholas and Nashville-based drag queen Vidalia Anne Gentry, Americana Proud will bring two showtimes of their highly-anticipated showcase to the City Winery on Tuesday evening, the first at 8 p.m. and another immediately following at 9:30 p.m. Hear from artists and musicians such as ISMAY, Jobi Riccio, Kentucky Gentlemen, Palmyra and many more.
Bourbon & Bluegrass – FRI. SEPT. 22 4:oo PM to 6:30 PM @ the Vinyl Lounge
Join us and our friends from Visit Owensboro and LogStill Distillery for one of our most favorite pairings, bourbon and bluegrass presented by BGS! Fresh off of our rollicking time in Kentucky at Bourbon & Beyond, we’ve still got a hankering for whiskey and tunes – this time from Mama Said String Band and the Owensboro Bluegrass Band. Join us Friday afternoon at the Vinyl Lounge in Wedgewood Houston!
Willi Carlisle
We can’t get enough of this lonesome troubadour’s poetic, old-timey country. He’s in and out of Nashville quick this week, so catch Willi Carlisle’s official showcase at the Vinyl Lounge on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 8:00 p.m. (Read our most recent feature on Carlisle here.) Now THAT’S good country!
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Fiddler Michael Cleveland burnt down our BGS Stage at Bourbon & Beyond last weekend when he brought on his friend and ours, Billy Strings, as a surprise guest. Later that evening during Strings’ main stage set, he brought Michael out in front of 40,000 roaring fans. We LOVED that moment – don’t miss his official showcase with his band, Flamekeeper, at Analog at the Hutton Hotel on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m.
Jessi Colter
This legend of country has a new, Margo Price-produced album, Edge of Forever, out on October 27, so it’s the perfect week to check her off your live performance bucket list. Colter will have an official showcase at 3rd & Lindsley on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 10 p.m., plus she appears as part of Mojo’s Music City Mayhem on Thursday, Sept. 21 between 3 and 6 p.m. Also some good country.
Della Mae
We’ve been keeping up with Della Mae lately – from Earl Scruggs Music Festival to Bourbon & Beyond to AmericanaFest! – and we’ve loved every second. If you haven’t heard their new four-person lineup, it’s worth checking out this week. If you’re not in Nashville at the conference, stream their newly released Neil Young cover instead. (Below!)
Liv Greene
AmericanaFest is all about discovery and if you haven’t discovered this singer-songwriter yet, this week is your chance. Hear Greene’s award winning songwriting – which is equally winsome and pining while gritty and bluegrassy – on three different occasions throughout the week: Tuesday, Sept. 19, 8 p.m. at Americana Proud at City Winery; their official showcase on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 10 p.m. at the City Winery Lounge; and during the Tribute to the Songs of 1973 Part 3 on Friday, Sept. 22 at 10 p.m.
Jaimee Harris
You know what Jaimee Harris’s music is? Good country! It’s all over this AmericanaFest lineup, for sure. Harris will have your heart firmly in hand with her grounded, earnest and effacing nostalgia. It feels so country and effortlessly Americana, but with endless queer, subversive wrinkles. Get acquainted with Harris and her latest album, Boomerang Town, at several different performances during the week: Tuesday, Sept. 19, 8 p.m. at Americana Proud at City Winery; Thursday, Sept. 21, 4:30 p.m. at the Lone Star Shindig at the Bobby Hotel; Friday, Sept. 22, 1:20 p.m. at Bowery Vault for SHC East Coast Social Club; her official showcase on Friday, Sept. 22, 8 p.m. at the City Winery Lounge; Friday Sept. 22, 11 p.m. at the Basement East for A Tribute to the Songs of 1973; and Saturday, Sept. 23 at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge at 1 p.m.
Lola Kirke
All of Lola Kirke’s exes live in LA, so luckily she’s in Nashville this week! Kirke was a highlight of our BGS Stage last week at Bourbon & Beyond in Louisville before heading to AmericanaFest, where you can see her at SiriusXM Outlaw’s Americana Most Wanted guitar pull on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 12 p.m.; also see her official showcase at the Blue Room on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 10 p.m.; and at Imogene + Willie’s Round Up – a free, unofficial, buzzworthy event certainly worth a drop-by at least – on Friday, Sept. 22 at 7:15 p.m.
Native Guitars Tour – Voices of Native Americana – THURS. SEPT. 21 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM @ The Blue Room
Native leaders in music, art and fashion will bring authentic songs and stories to the Blue Room at Third Man Records on Thursday afternoon. Hear from Dach Martin, Jir Anderson, Levi Platero Band, Mike Bruno & the Myriad Mountains, Mozart Gabriel, Olivia Komahcheet, Rico Del Oro, Sage Bond and Scotti Clifford. From Native blues to crooning country and everything in between.
Emily Nenni
Get your boot scootin’ in while you’re in Nashville with honky-tonker Emily Nenni, whose country & western picked up a few tricks and twists in California’s Bay Area before landing in Music City. Nenni will jam a handful of Nashville shows into a packed tour week that takes her away from and back to AmericanaFest in the blink of an eye. Hear her at Honky Tonk Tuesday at the American Legion in East Nashville on Tuesday, Sept. 19; plus an appearance at Musician’s Corner at Centennial Park on Friday, Sept. 22 at 4:35 p.m.; and her official showcase at Eastside Bowl on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 10:30 p.m.
Autumn Nicholas
Nicholas has already appeared on this preview in a few places, and rightly so, as the North Carolinian Black Opry alumnus continues to build momentum behind their stratospheric voice and introspective, emotive songs. Hear the voice Nashville has been buzzing about for months – and that will open for Jason Isbell at the Ryman this fall – throughout the week: Tuesday, Sept. 19 at Americana Proud at City Winery, 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. shows; “Where the Action Is” panel at the Country Music Hall of Fame on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 11 a.m.; and their official showcase at the Basement on Friday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m.
Queer Cowpoke Roundup – SAT. SEPT. 23 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM @ the Groove
On your way to/from the Good Ol’ Queer Country Jamboree at Soho House on Saturday, stop by the Groove record shop in East Nashville for another LGBTQ+ centered event, the Queer Cowpoke Roundup! With music by Austin Lucas, Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Julie Nolen, Melody Walker, Mercy Bell, Secret Emchy Society, Shawna Virago and Wiley Gaby plus a special tribute to the legacy of Lavender Country and Patrick Haggerty to kick it all off.
Jobi Riccio
We are sweet on Jobi Riccio’s new album, Whiplash, a showcase of powerful, talented songwriting done up in checkered gingham and starchy denim and the perfume of broken in leather. We’ve had our eye on Riccio for a few years now, so it feels gratifying to watch the music industry discover and get behind the Berklee graduate. Hear Riccio perform during the Americana Honors & Awards on Wednesday night, but also elsewhere during AmericanaFest: Tuesday, Sept. 19 at Americana Proud at City Winery at 9:30 p.m.; Thursday, Sept. 21 at WMOT Day Stage at Eastside Bowl at 4 p.m.; and her official showcase will be at Exit/In on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. (Plus, Riccio’s social media tease a “to be announced” appearance on Friday, September 22, so keep your eyes peeled.)
The Shindellas
Americana is all about making music outside the lines, about exploring the rootsy fringes of these genres we all hold dear. The Shindellas are one of the most exciting groups to come out of Nashville in recent memory, but because of their glitz, polish and crisp production values they’re rarely categorized as Americana – which they certainly can lay claim to, through blues, R&B, soul and so much more. Their new Louis York-produced album, Shindo, drops in October, so make sure you catch them this week on Saturday. You’ll be glad you did! See the Shindellas at the 11th Annual Thirty Tigers Gospel Brunch at the City Winery, Saturday, Sept. 23 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; and their official showcase at the Basement East on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m..
Dan Tyminski
The man, the legend, he needs no introduction to the BGS reader (except, perhaps, when introduced as his mononym, Tyminski). Hear Dan fresh off his Bourbon & Beyond appearance on the BGS Stage with his new bluegrass band lineup, who are certainly worth a listen, at their official showcase on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 10 p.m. at the Analog at the Hutton Hotel. This new lineup of pickers backing up the famed voice of George Clooney on O Brother, Where Art Thou? are one of the most exciting things to come from Tyminski, musically, in the last handful of decades.
YasminWilliams
If you’ve never seen Yasmin Williams play guitar, prepare to have your mind blown. Her approach to the instrument doesn’t just wow her audiences, it wows her fellow guitarists as well, from Bryan Sutton to Tommy Emmanuel. We’ve been fans of Williams for more than a few years, since before her Shout & Shine appearance even, and we’re glad to catch her again this week at AmericanaFest: “Wide Open Spaces – The Rise of Ambient Americana” Panel, Thursday, Sept. 21, 1 p.m. at the Westin Gulch I & II; “Who are the Gatekeepers of Americana Anyway” Panel, Thursday, Sept. 21, at 4 p.m., the Westin Gulch I & II; NMAAM Songwriters Round Friday, Sept. 22 at 12 p.m.; and her official showcase Thursday, Sept. 21 at the Blue Room at 9 p.m.
Poster graphic and photo of Keb’ Mo’ courtesy of the Americana Music Association.
Lead images: Yasmin Williams by Kim Atkins Photography; Amanda Fields & Megan McCormick by Lindsey Patkos; Adeem the Artist by Shawn Poynter; Michael Cleveland by Amy Richmond.
Somehow, it’s July and more than half the year has already blown by! In many ways it feels like 2023 is still brand new, despite the calendar saying otherwise and the overabundance of amazing music that has soundtracked the past (nearly) seven months. With many more albums and songs yet to come, we wanted to reflect on the music that has stuck with us and become new favorites of ours since January. It’s a stout list – if we do say so ourselves.
We want to hear from you, too! What albums, songs, and artists have been the underscoring of your 2023? Who’s missing from our list?
Fiddler, songwriter, and activist Rachel Baiman has been a part of the BGS family for quite a while now, but recently she joined the ranks of our contributors, as well. (See her writings here.) Her new album, Common Nation of Sorrow, has been a standout for the entire team since it arrived in late March. Though she’s always helmed her creative and musical projects, in many capacities, this record marks the first time she’s been the sole producer on one of her own releases. Her fingerprints are indelible and striking; challenging and convicting. It’s introspective, but expansive.
boygenius, the record
An album so nearly perfect we just have to include it, even though some may believe its connections to roots music are tenuous at best. (We disagree, of course– and wrote an entire list of folk bands for boygenius fans to prove our point.) Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus somehow, against the odds, rise above the simple sum of their parts while reminding of former folk supergroups like Trio (that is, Dolly, Linda, and Emmylou) and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
Caitlin Canty, Quiet Flame
With its acoustic aesthetic and simple, string band underpinnings, Caitlin Canty’s Quiet Flame is a surprise superlative among bluegrass records released in 2023. Her past albums aligning more with folk, Americana, and singer-songwriter traditions, Quiet Flame was produced by Chris Eldridge and though the production values were quite intentional, the bluegrass result was more a happy byproduct than a deliberate destination. Filmmaker and playwright Noah Altshuler spoke to Canty about the project for a recent feature.
Brandy Clark, Brandy Clark
The BGS team has been fans of country singer-songwriter Brandy Clark for quite some time, so it’s more than a little bit enjoyable to watch as more and more listeners and fans discover Clark. And they have so many pathways to find her, whether through her hit, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Shucked, her collaboration with Brandi Carlile – who produced the new, self-titled album – or her many charting hit songs. There’s a point of view on Brandy Clark that we never knew we missed before, a maturity that she never lacked, but she has certainly distilled. It shines in its many spotlights. (Watch for a feature on Clark coming soon to BGS.)
Michael Cleveland, Lovin’ of the Game
Michael Cleveland has won IBMA’s Fiddle Player of the Year award more times than any other fiddler in the organization’s history. His obvious adoration for the instrument – and the life it has led him to – is front and center on his latest album, Lovin’ of the Game. Though he’s collaborated with virtuosos like Chris Thile, Béla Fleck, Billy Strings, and many more over the past handful of years, his perspective remains markedly down-to-earth. As is on display in our Artist of the Month interview from March.
Cat Clyde, Down Rounder
In mid-February, we premiered the music video for the lead single off Canadian alt-folk singer-songwriter Cat Clyde’s album, Down Rounder, and this collection has stuck with us since. For those of us with an affinity for a good red-dirt or red-rock hike, and for western, nomadic, cowboi (that is, all-gendered cowboys) aesthetics – since long before the recent rise of yeehaw culture – this album will provide such perfect daydream scoring. It’s ideal music for journeys internal as well as external.
Iris DeMent, Workin’ On A World
An album of hope – but zero toxic positivity. Iris DeMent knows how it feels to be burnt out, bedraggled, exasperated, defeated. But hope is a radical act and, in those dark moments where hope seems so ethereal and distant, existence is a radical act. The songs of Workin’ On A World never feel preachy or condescending, even while they remind of weeknight church – all-denominational, of course – and raising voices together in the face of oppression and fascism. DeMent isn’t just workin’ on a world, she’s imagining one, too. It’s our job to bring it to fruition, even if we never see it.
Amanda Fields, What, When and Without
Amanda Fields’ voice is impossibly tender, but do not let your guard down or it will bite you just the same. Especially when delivering a bittersweet, southwest Virginia-tinged lyric equally at home played by a bluegrass band or, like on What, When and Without, backed bya vibey, homespun, alt-country sound bed. For a voice and perspective as traditional as her’s, Fields still finds endless new ground to break and lines to color outside of. Her collaboration with guitarist and producer Megan McCormick (who has new solo music coming this year, as well) finds Fields’ musical output climbing to even higher levels of realization, innovation, and professionalism.
Ashby Frank, Leaving Is Believing
Mandolinist, singer, and songwriter Ashby Frank is in the running for IBMA’s Best New Artist award this year, and while reaching the second ballot in this category is certainly a well-deserved recognition, it’s a bit… inaccurate! Frank is not exactly a “newcomer,” as he has been a near permanent fixture in bluegrass, country, and Nashville for the greater part of two decades, performing with outfits like the Likely Culprits, the infamous Darrell Brothers, Special Consensus, Mountain Heart, John Cowan, and so many more. He’s even subbed regularly with the Earls of Leicester – and he’s a hit bluegrass songwriter, too, with charting cuts by Junior Sisk, Dale Ann Bradley, and more. His emerging solo career is where he’s truly hitting his stride, though, and in real time, with this outstanding “debut” on Mountain Home Music.
Brittany Haas & Natalie Haas, HAAS
Genre is dead, we know, but if it hadn’t already been dead, chambergrass, classical-meets-fiddle, string band music such as this would have killed it. It’s a glorious musical territory and is no better inhabited by anyone in this particular scene than sisters Natalie and Brittany Haas, who return to collaborating with one another in an “official” format on HAAS. Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of just how toxically masculine improvisational, jammy, virtuosic bluegrass and chambergrass have become. An album like HAAS quickly grounds this aesthetic – so far outside the realm of similar more performative, self-indulgent projects – and reminds just how much newgrass and chambergrass are still out there to be discovered and made.
Jaimee Harris, Boomerang Town
A glut of queer country records are being released at this particular moment in time and Jaimee Harris’ Boomerang Town stands out in a niche that’s becoming more and more crowded. No one welcomes this quick change in country music more than ourselves – and Jaimee, too, we’re sure – but with more voices to be heard, one like Harris’ certainly cuts through. Boomerang Town isn’t exactly autobiographical, but it drips with Harris’ lived experiences and plays as if you’re sitting quietly with her, alone in her room, as she picks each intro on her favorite guitar and every track grows into a fully-realized number. It’s a not-so-idyllic snapshot of a hometown, like country does so well, and, like queer folks the world over know so intimately, the exact hometown really doesn’t matter.
Brennen Leigh, Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet
We hope Brennen Leigh, a multi-hyphenate picker, performer, and songwriter, is never through honky tonkin’. With her latest Signature Sounds recording Leigh has raised the bar for honky tonk sounds – a bar that should never be re-lowered. Equally at home as a “sideman,” a bluegrass picker, a songwriter (with cuts by Lee Ann Womack and others), and as an in-town Nashville picker, Leigh typifies the country everyman archetype – or, perhaps, the country “renaissance man” archetype. Or both! – while doing it better than nearly everyone else in the game, currently. With Nashville’s best on the album’s roster – as band members or featured artists – Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet is a gem.
Darren Nicholson, Wanderer
Mandolinist Darren Nicholson recently left Balsam Range, the North Carolina bluegrass group for which he’s known, after criss-crossing the country – and the globe – with the IBMA Award-winning and Grammy-nominated band for decades. He announced his departure from Balsam Range in 2022 and his first release as a solo artist, Wanderer, is a huge success. Nicholson stakes out and lays claim to his own brand of bluegrass – which is rooted equally in the high country of Western North Carolina (Nicholson hails from Haywood County) and in an effervescent joy. Besides his old-time influenced, traditional mandolin picking, his smile and laugh might be his most recognizable traits. The humor he relishes in life comes forward in his playing, too. Wanderer is a harbinger of many fine solo projects to come from Darren Nicholson.
Nickel Creek, Celebrants
Nickel Creek returned and millennial roots-music fans everywhere rejoiced, joining in the Celebrants celebration. After a nearly ten-year wait since 2014’s A Dotted Line, Celebrants seemed to once again impossibly capture the Nickel Creek lightning in a bottle. A Dotted Line felt mature and confident, self-assured but not cocky. On Celebrants, the throughline could be described as gentleness and gratitude; perhaps from Thile and Sara Watkins both becoming parents in the interim. Nevertheless, Celebrants would have been one of the most notable albums released this year – and for good reason – even without these subtle growth points and nuances.
Mighty Poplar, Mighty Poplar
If ever a bluegrass, old-time, and/or string band supergroup convenes with a pun for a name and we do not react with unabashed glee, please check the collective team BGS pulse. Mighty Poplar checks all of the boxes and then some. Yes, with its particular convention of pickers this album could be seen as a “return” to bluegrass, but that’s perhaps the most boring angle on this fascinating record. It’s not merely a return to the format that musically birthed each of these instrumentalists (Chris Eldridge, Greg Garrison, Alex Hargreaves, Andrew Marlin, and Noam Pikelny), it’s a demonstration in bluegrass not just as an aesthetic and tradition, but bluegrass as expression.
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, City of Gold
Though we still have a couple of weeks until City of Gold drops, Molly Tuttle is our current Artist of the Month and we would be remiss to not include the most buzzed about bluegrass album of the year on this list. Singles “El Dorado” (above), “Next Rodeo,” and “San Joaquin” are out now, tempting and teasing another record influenced so heavily by Tuttle’s growing up in the bluegrass scene of California and the West Coast. Her band, Golden Highway (Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Dominick Leslie, Shelby Means, and Kyle Tuttle) are featured heavily on City of Gold, for which Jerry Douglas returns to producing. Turns out it’s been Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway at the end of the rainbow this whole time!
Kassi Valazza, Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing
Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, but she does know the power and magic of live recording. Her brand new album, tracked with backing band, fellow Portland, OR-based artists TK & the Holy Know-Nothings, was all tracked live, including vocals. As a result, the entire record buzzes with energy, whether toe-tapping or subdued. Sometimes, it’s a calm, warm, and honeyed patina that feels solemn and poetic, but ultimately, the entire collection is danceable. It’s tear-in-your-beer country and boot-scootin’ country – but that doesn’t make it simplistic. Which might be surprising, from someone who famously knows nothing.
Sunny War, Anarchist Gospel
Sunny War’s latest album, Anarchist Gospel, finds her sound having grown and expanded, while still held together by the most fantastic of glues: Her confounding and entrancing right hand. Yes, War combines DIY music, punk, and grunge with roots music and fingerstyle blues, but that’s decidedly not the point – certainly not the centerpiece – of her art-making. (Despite what the guitar bros might tell you.) The truth is, at times, so much more complicated. At others, it’s really quite simple and literal. As she told us in an interview from earlier this year, she just plays the songs, the licks, the hooks, the lyrics as they’re meant to be played. And anarchy isn’t just a concept.
Bella White, Among Other Things
Bella White’s breakout debut, Just Like Leaving, had already been released when she signed to Rounder Records, who then picked up and distributed the album. It received widespread acclaim as her Alberta- and Virginia-influenced bluegrass sound and Gillian Welch-like lyrics resonated with listeners and critics alike. Her brand new album, Among Other Things, then, feels like both a debut and a sophomore outing, devoid of any sort of “sophomore slump,” but capitalizing on the excitement she continues to generate in the bluegrass realm and well beyond it, too. We featured the new project with an interview in May.
Julie Williams, Julie Williams EP
We first became acquainted with Julie Williams’ music through Black Opry, the artist collective and revue who were our June Artist of the Month. In the Black Opry Revue’s simple, writers’ round format, her songs shone, gorgeous even in their very simple trappings. On her new EP, each of her songs are given the full treatment they deserve. Though they never feel lacking when delivered intimately and stripped down, unencumbered, Williams’ songs in this context soar, especially because they each give us an individualized window into her creative process, her songwriting imagination, and the production landscape she’ll continue to conquer into the future.
Jess Williamson, Time Ain’t Accidental
In May we premiered “Chasing Spirits,” a delightfully hooky number from Jess Williamson’s latest album, Time Ain’t Accidental, which we are glad to return to here. (Williamson, you may know, is one half of duo Plains with Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield.) Time Ain’t Accidental finds its home base where Williamson was raised, in Texas, and while it processes and puts under the microscope a past, failed relationship, this album is about movement, regeneration, and forward momentum. That she accomplishes this with imagery that’s pastoral, stark, and bristling is not an accident, either.
With her warm, agile voice and potent lyricism, Julie Williams is taking the country music world by storm. On June 2 she released her self-titled EP containing 6 original, remarkable tracks. Through her narrative lyrics and captivating melodies, Williams’ songs discuss a wide palate of her lived experience — as a Black woman living in the South, as a navigator of harmful sexual encounters, as someone who has loved, and as someone who has lost. Her record will take listeners on an evocative journey through her emotional landscapes, with peaks and troughs and everything in between.
Currently based in Nashville, Williams’ robust and radiant presence is enlivening the Music City landscape and beyond. Earlier this year, she was selected as one of CMT’s Next Women of Country, where she joins other major talent alumni of the Next Women of Country such as Margo Price, Kacey Musgraves, Lainey Wilson, Brittney Spencer, Lauren Alaina, Madeline Edwards, Maren Morris, Morgan Wade, and many more.
Williams is also a seasoned member of the Black Opry Revue, a collective based in Nashville that features Black artists in country, Americana, blues, and folk music. Her current solo tour is in full-swing as she enchants summertime audiences across the country.
BGS: Can you tell me a little bit about your personal history with music? Do you come from a line of musicians? Or did you find this path on your own?
JW: Neither of my parents play music or sing. There was always this joke in my family that I would listen to what my parents did and do the opposite. … There’s definitely a history of musicians in my extended family, but it wasn’t necessarily something where I grew up with everybody playing an instrument around me.
My parents always joked that I told them, “I can sing.” Ever since I was little, it was my way to relieve stress when on an airplane or a car ride or something. I was singing songs, making up songs, singing Barney songs. And I think for them, it wasn’t until they went to an elementary school play of mine, and saw me compared to some of the other kids, that they realized I actually could sing a little bit better. When I was in middle school I started singing national anthems and then I would sing at beach bars and restaurants and weddings. That was kind of my early start into professional singing. Then, when I got to college, I started songwriting and turned into the artist that I am now, but I’ve always been making some sort of noise.
You knew from the very start! On your EP, you share a lot of really beautiful narrative songs, and I’m wondering about your creative process. When does it become clear to you which of your stories needs to become a song?
I do write a lot of narrative songs. That’s what I love. I always write lyrics first. Usually, it’s just a dump, like a poem, that comes out. Sometimes [it’s] not even a really good and properly formatted poem, but then I kind of piece that together and turn it into a song, or I bring it to somebody that I really trust to help me bring the story to life, and together we turn it into the song.
I started with my creative process after I took a songwriting class when I first moved to Nashville with this amazing professor at Vanderbilt, Deanna Walker. She made the point that good lyrics should be able to stand on their own. The best songs can make you feel something from just reading. It really stuck with me.
That question of knowing which stories ultimately make it into song — I ask myself that same question all the time. Because sometimes I think, “Oh, I’m gonna write a song about that.” Then I sit and I try to conjure up something and nothing comes, or nothing that I feel is worth putting out into the world. But I don’t like to push things in my songwriting. Sometimes, if I just have a word, or I just have a phrase, or maybe a few lines about a story, I will leave it and wait. Because, six months later, something else has happened. I begin to process whatever that moment was a little bit differently, and all of a sudden, it just begins to flow.
I really like to write songs that make somebody really feel something or see themselves in a certain way or something that has a kind of unique twist, even if it’s a love song or a breakup song. Sometimes I have to wait until I can find that perspective in an everyday moment before it turns into a song.
You do that so beautifully! I’d like to ask more about those collaborators you mentioned—can you tell me a bit about your work with the Black Opry and how you became involved?
I was in Pigeon Forge, actually, to play a show at the Listening Room there with a friend of mine named Bonner. I think there were only like five people there, so we were kind of down in the dumps a bit. But I posted, “We’re here in Pigeon Forge,” and Holly G of the Black Opry, who I’d never met in person, messaged me on Instagram. She said they were having a Black Opry show at Dollywood, and we should come by after our show. We went and caught the last song of the show. [Afterward] everyone was hanging at the hotel and I got to meet Holly G, Tanner D, Aaron Vance, Roberta Lea, Crys Matthews, Virginia Prater, who is my booking agent now — a lot of the people that became part of my family. We all hung out in this hotel room, passing around a guitar, singing songs.
I just immediately felt so comfortable and at home. These people felt like my cousins! I told Holly, “Look, I would love to be involved with Black Opry. I’m single, I have no responsibility right now, just put me on the road! I will play any show, any place, any time.” She put me on a few Black Opry runs; before those runs were happening I was thinking that I was done in Nashville. I wasn’t feeling like my career was moving forward. I really felt kind of lost, creatively. I hadn’t yet found those creative collaborators. And when I did that first Black Opry run, everything just clicked and I knew I needed to be a part of it because it just felt like magic.
Wow, it sounds like your whole world expanded. Is there any advice you would give to aspiring Black artists looking to break into the country music scene?
I think my advice would be that it’s hard to do this alone. It can feel like you’re on an island. But it’s so much easier to do this work when you have other people around you that really support and uplift you. Reach out to the Black Opry, or the NSAI chapter near you. Set aside some of that energy that you’re putting towards your own individual projects into building community — even if that’s an online community at first. That’s how I met a lot of people during COVID time and after the murder of George Floyd, that’s when so many Black artists were coming out.
It just makes it so much easier to be in spaces where there are people around you who just get it, and who really believe in you and care for you and support you. Why build a car that only one person can get into and make it just a few miles down the road? Why don’t we instead all build a bus together that has space for everyone and we can all get there together? It’s just so much more fulfilling and honestly so much more fun.
What a beautiful metaphor, thank you for sharing that. Speaking of communal support and inspiration, you’re being featured as “One to Watch,” but do you have any ones you’re watching? Who is inspiring you these days?
I have this Spotify playlist called “Big Blue House and Her Sisters” of songs that feel like musical sisters of “Big Blue House.” There are a lot of artists on there that really inspire me. I would also say Denitia, a Black Opry artist who was named CMT Equal Access Artist — an incredible singer, songwriter, producer — just a powerhouse. We met at a Black Opry show in September and have become best friends. Also, you can’t be following what’s happening in Black music and queer music right now and not know the force that is Autumn Nicholas. Their performance at Love Rising had everyone in that room, thousands of people including myself, in tears. Lastly, Raye Zaragoza is an amazing Asian, Indigenous, and Latinx artist. I had the honor of meeting her on the Cayamo Cruise. She has been such an inspiration to me as a songwriter in the ways that she incorporates all of her identity into everything she makes, and her songs have such resonance and power that really make you feel. There’s no way you can listen to her songs and not feel moved and inspired by them, which is everything I’m trying to do in my songwriting, and I think she does it flawlessly.
(Editor’s Note: To kick off our Artist of the Month coverage for June, we asked legendary musician, songwriter, and co-founder of the Black Country Music Association, Frankie Staton, to discuss and explore the vital work of the Black Opry.
Holly G wanted a safe place to not only go and hear ethnic country singers, but safe places for them to sing.
I first met Holly G at the premiere of the CMT Giants: Charley Pride program. Shocked that I was invited to anything in Nashville, I was pleasantly surprised to see several people of color there. It was a great tribute to the life of one of country music’s finest voices. I was there with my two friends, country singers Valierie Ellis [Hawkins] and Joe West. When it was over, we were all introducing ourselves to each other. When I said, “my name is Frankie Staton,” people were saying how happy they were to meet me, and for a moment, I couldn’t understand why. If there was anyone that felt like a failure to acquire results in Nashville, it was me.
When I co-founded the Black Country Music Association in the mid-’90s I couldn’t get anyone signed. Not to a publishing contract or a developmental deal. There were a couple artists that generated some interest, but it just all fizzled out. I am proud of the effort we put in, but wish I could’ve done more. We weren’t able to get anyone on the Grand Ole Opry. Our successes were limited to performances on BCMA showcases, or if we were hired for an event. When you have a gigantic vision, and don’t have the results to match, it can be frustrating. It is wonderful to know, even in hindsight, we made some sort of impact.
I first met the collective Holly G founded, Black Opry, at the Outlaw House during AmericanaFest in 2021. It was so awesome, so therapeutic, so cool, so now. Finally! They are true songwriters, true singers and musicians with an undeniable love for what they do and a grand respect for each other. It is as if they understand that they were built for this moment.
I had a flashback to years ago when I wanted to go to Alabama’s June Jam in Fort Payne, AL. Alabama was a band that I could listen to all day. I loved their harmonies and was just nuts over the group. It would’ve probably been alright if I attended, but I didn’t ever go. Years later, I went to an Outlaw Concert at Bridgestone Arena here in downtown Nashville. The people around me thought I was nuts to want to go see Gretchen Wilson, Montgomery Gentry, Tanya Tucker, Big & Rich, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Shooter Jennings, Jesse Colter, and on and on and on.
My friends couldn’t relate to my love for these artists, despite all of the ways each of them inspired me. Gretchen Wilson, I knew her story! Besides being very talented, and a brilliant singer, I had read about her never having lived in a house without wheels. I always thought that one of the most talented and underrated women in country music was Tanya. I once saw her at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, and she literally tore the place apart. What an entertainer! I have respect for her journey. I had never heard anything like Montgomery Gentry, and I loved their outlaw image. I had a tremendous respect for Jessi Colter, a real trooper, with so much experience under her belt.
Although I am African American, I was deeply influenced by country and bluegrass music. Early on it was Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, and Brenda Lee, along with George Jones, Merle Haggard, Don Williams, Glen Campbell, and Willie Nelson who inspired me. I made the move to Nashville in 1981. To say I was “different” is an understatement. Nevertheless, I loved the music, wrote it, and performed all over town.
I learned, however, that there were boundaries on what I could and couldn’t do. For a long time, I wondered why this was considered “American music” when so many Americans could not sing it.
Finally, in 1997, I challenged a story that was in the New York Times about the dearth of diversity in country music. The things that the label heads said in the piece about my race made my blood boil. They said we couldn’t sing country music, that they couldn’t find credible Black country singers – while they told Black artists that they “didn’t know” what to do with them. People on Music Row would tell us to “go find Charley Pride.”
So I challenged the story. I thought, “You finally have it in print, so why not challenge the story?” I wasn’t sure how to go about it, at that point I had nothing. No Black Country Music Association. No company to promote. No foot in the door. I did it literally with just a telephone. I went to the people that I played for and asked them to sponsor musicians. I went to Jack Daniels and asked them to back me, hired studio musicians to play a show, wrote out the charts, and went to Music Row and asked the publishing houses for songs when I heard voices that were “similar” to current country stars.
I even tried to get songs that were on hold, for seemingly 20 artists, and brought them back to Black artists to sing. It was important that we had great singers, great musicians, and great songs. I worked the press, TV, radio, print media, and just pushed and pushed. We rehearsed at the Woodshed in East Nashville. We did media classes at my house. We practiced walking on stage, holding a mic, having confidence, talking to the press, and being positive. We put together an entire showcase, to be held at an iconic Nashville venue.
There we were, raising our voices for something we truly believed in at the Bluebird Café. No one was signed. There were a couple artists that had had development deals – but that was it. I was a single mom raising a son and a daughter, and for the space in my life, they had to be priority.
The Black Opry was born out of a conversation Holly started online among passionate country music fans. Holly wanted people of diverse ethnicities to be able to expound on their feelings about performing country, bluegrass, folk, and all the other idioms that we were shut out of due to race.
Black Opry entertainers are confident, but humble; moving up in this world, but still grateful. And, they complement each other beautifully. Each artist waits patiently to perform their material and receives applause with such graciousness. They are kind and supportive of each other. I have been moved by the music of Jett Holden, Joy Clark, Tyler Bryant, Nikki Morgan, Aaron Vance, Julie Williams, Roberta Lea, Kam Franklin, Leon Timbro, The Kentucky Gentlemen, Samantha Rise, Danielle Johnson, Grace Givertz and so many others.
Without a doubt, I have witnessed Black artists on the precipice of a new sunrise created by us, for us, and welcoming to all. Holly has reached out to me on several occasions to perform with Black Opry, and I have extended the invite to Valierie Ellis and Joe West, a couple of country artists of color who were here before this new exciting community of singers came along. With over 200 acts, The Black Opry has proved that we are, were, and will always be here. Now the world can see for themselves these truly gifted artists. At the first anniversary of the Black Opry in 2022, I was just stunned by the beauty of seeing them all together, excited to perform to a completely packed house at Nashville’s City Winery.
I noticed the women performing effortlessly for a huge crowd. Being that we weren’t even considered a part of this genre, this was a surreal moment for me. The memory of Linda Martell, who charted in the Top 25 on the Billboard charts, who had all the goods, the looks, the sound, and the desire to do it, and who still did not have a real career in country music, says it all. For Ruby Falls to perform at the New Faces show for the Country Radio Seminar, but not be able to tour, says it all. Or, to hear that Warner Brothers told Valierie Ellis they didn’t know what to do with a Black female country singer and that sometimes, “people hear with their eyes,” made this anniversary celebration night a full circle moment to me. To see independent artists producing their own material, not ruled by the auspices of this city and genre, is very satisfying for my soul. So many people have been blessed by the Black Opry.
I performed with the Black Opry at Exit/In in December of 2021, when we were all afforded the opportunity to meet and perform with Allison Russell, for whom there are no adequate words to describe. From seeing all the accolades and television appearances Allison has had, crossing my fingers for her Grammy nominations, and seeing her collaborate with artists – like Brandi Carlile, the musically proficient Milwaukee-born duo, Sistastrings, and the masterful, New Orleans-born guitar virtuoso, incredible vocalist, and songwriter, Joy Clark – has been a wonderful experience for me. I also just witnessed the premiere of Roberta Lea’s new video, “If I’m Too Much of a Woman” from Times Square in New York City. She was included in the 2023 class of CMT’s Next Women of Country. My introduction to all of these artists came through the Black Opry.
Black Opry serves as a place for artists, musicians, and songwriters to find in others what they may lack, which is so rich. This is a warm place to be yourself and not be ostracized for loving a music that did not love you back, historically. In its infancy, Black Opry is just beginning to break ground. In a city where there was major marginalization and gaslighting, Black Opry just walked through doors without stumbling, forging into the future without any apologies for being in the room. They will only build from here, and I know for a fact that there are no limitations, just the next opportunities.
There are moments that I can’t help but tear up at the memory of those who are no longer in it. Those who sacrificed so much for this music, but were severely shortchanged: Jae Mason, a brilliant singer, songwriter and guitarist, wrote about “Little Cowboys and Cowgirls of Color” when he asked his mom why he didn’t “see Black cowboys on TV.” Scott Eversoll, who sang the wonderful Troy McConnell song, “What Color Am I?” And, Wheels, an all-Black country band from Lanett, Alabama, that toured extensively in the U.S. before losing their lead singer, Chris, to a massive heart attack. Iconic would be the only word to describe these guys.
As a person who is blessed to witness both generations, I will always feel a sense of sadness for those who are no longer in it and a profound joy and excitement for those that are right here, right now. And I will always carry the spirit of those who tried with me.
I hope you have an opportunity to see a Black Opry concert. This is a historic, unforgettable, long-overdue celebration of some long-held trade secrets – finally here for the world to witness.
Artist:Julie Williams Hometown: Tampa, FL Song: “Big Blue House” Album:Julie Williams EP Release Date: May 12, 2023 (single); June 2, 2023 (EP)
In Their Words: “‘Big Blue House’ is a song about racism and violence through the eyes of a six-year-old girl, who is told by her father that she can’t play outside with the other kids, but she doesn’t know why. Originally written as a poem, the story came to me after reading the news of Keyon Harrold Jr., a teenager who was assaulted by a white woman who thought that he stole her cell phone. It made me think of the conversations that parents of color have to have with their children — that you might be a child, but some people in the world will see you as a threat. I knew that this story was special and that I had to bring it to life with my friend and one of my songwriting inspirations, Brittney Spencer. I brought her the poem written on scraps of white notebook paper and together we created the song that you can hear now.
“What really brought the magic was working with Nicole Neely — an amazing violinist and composer who arranged the strings and brought together an all-female lineup of players, including Monique and Chauntee Ross of the SistaStrings and Josée Weigland-Klein, to record the strings. Together with Gabriel and Gideon Klein’s production and Rodlin Pierre’s mixing magic, the song and stories came to life.
“I originally planned to release ‘Big Blue House’ with the rest of my EP that comes out on June 2, but after the recent Covenant Shooting, the expulsion of the Tennessee Three, and the continued news of gun violence and political inaction, I felt called to release the song and its message into this world. I wrote this song over two years ago, and it is heartbreakingly still relevant.”
Photo credit: Mackenzie Ryan
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