Last Week Was The Greatest Black Week In Country Music History

Though gains for Black artists in country are still slow to develop, they’re happening in more substantial amounts than ever.

Last week marked such a profound level of unprecedented success for Black artists in country music that if you told me that sadly deceased, groundbreaking, African-American country icon Charley Pride also kissed an angel good mornin’ in heaven for good measure, I’d be hard-pressed to be shocked by the notion.

2021 has seen America’s national racial polarization best highlighted by country music. However, for as much as the genre’s top white artists perpetuate negative stereotyping, Black artists — by defying how they have been traditionally presented in the genre — create one of the most compelling stories of “we shall overcome” since the era of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In one corner, Morgan Wallen is likely as well known for having America’s number-one album for the past two months as he is for being considered the pinnacle of a century of anti-Black racist stereotyping of white males in the genre. Of course, given that white males have dominated the genre’s marketing and revenue since its inception a century ago, it’s a case of chickens not coming home to roost but now wantonly…