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☆ Beyoncé's country songs are bringing new listeners to the genre, boosting streams for Black artists
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( Micah Washington | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

While some music critics praised Knowles' country tracks, other fans of the genre refrained from a warm welcome. Beyond just radio, Black artists and artists of color represented less than 4% of country songs played on the radio, airplay, charting songs, artists signed to major labels and award nominations, according to SongData. One such fan, Tenley Patterson, 26, said she didn't bother listening to country music before Beyoncé's releases, but was impressed with the country tracks. Rachel Whitney, head of editorial for the Nashville team, said playlists outside of the country genre are playing Knowles' country tracks, broadening its reach. The Beyoncé draw is also boosting exposure for other artists on some lists, like Lainey Wilson and Cody Johnson, who have more "traditional" country songs, Whitney said.

Persons: Beyonce, James Devaney, Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé Knowles, Tanner Adell, Mickey Guyton, Reyna Roberts, Knowles, Alice Randall, Randall, —, Rhiannon Giddens, hasn't, Jocelyn Neal, Maren Morris, Luke Combs, Kacey, Lil Nas, Nas X, Tim Mosenfelder, Neal, Knowles —, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, George Bush, Tenley Patterson, I've, Patterson, It's, there's, Z, Rachel Whitney, Lainey Wilson, Cody Johnson, Whitney, Kevin Mazur Organizations: Scott, New York, Spotify, The New York Times, Radio, University of North, NBC, Houston, CMA, Republican, Nashville, Crypto.com Arena, The Recording Academy Locations: Brooklyn, New, New York City, U.S, Texas, an Oklahoma, University of North Carolina, San Francisco , California, Iraq, Los Angeles , California

☆ Beyoncé Fan’s Radio Request Reignites Country Music Debate
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Emily Schmall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In Oklahoma, a small country music station that refused a listener’s request to play a new song by Beyoncé was forced to change its tune after an uproar from fans who say that Black artists are too often excluded from the genre. On Tuesday morning, Justin McGowan requested that the D.J.s at KYKC, a country music radio station in Ada, play “Texas Hold ’Em,” one of two new songs Beyoncé released as announced in a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday. Beyoncé, who grew up in Houston, sings about hoedowns, and the twangy song also features a fellow Black Grammy winner, Rhiannon Giddens, on banjo and viola. The station manager, Roger Harris, emailed Mr. McGowan back with a concise rejection: “We do not play Beyoncé at KYKC as we are a country music station.” In sending the email, Mr. Harris unwittingly ignited a new flame in a long-simmering debate over how Black artists fit into a genre that has Black music at its roots.

Persons: Beyoncé, Justin McGowan, Rhiannon Giddens, Roger Harris, McGowan, Harris Locations: Oklahoma, KYKC, Ada, Houston

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Country music singer Chris Stapleton, Foo Fighters, Queen Latifah and New Orleans' own Jon Batiste are among the star power set to join The Rolling Stones as headliners of this year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, organizers announced Thursday. The event will take place over two weekends, starting April 25 and ending May 5. Organizers announced last fall that The Rolling Stones would headline the festival on Thursday, May 2, as part of the group's North American tour. Because they're appearing on what would traditionally have been “Locals Thursday” at the festival, Jazz Fest added a day to the beginning of this year’s event. At the Cultural Exchange Pavilion this year, Jazz Fest will highlight the music and culture of Colombia with 17 bands performing Colombian salsa, cumbia, champeta and other regional genres.

Persons: Chris Stapleton, Queen Latifah, Jon Batiste, Anderson, Paak, Bonnie Raitt, Rhiannon Giddens, Fantasia, Irma Thomas, Jeffrey Osborne, Big Freedia, Shorty, Jimmy Buffett Organizations: ORLEANS, Foo Fighters, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The Free Nationals, Boys, Orleans, Coral Reefer, Cultural, Jazz Locations: New Orleans, Louisiana, Colombia, Colombian

☆ Black Folk Musicians Are Reclaiming the Genre
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Adam Bradley | Justin French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

[GUITAR PLAYING] I really think folk music can find its origins in all Black music. [BANJO PLAYING] The main thing about folk is it is a storytelling genre. So any genre that conveys a story to the audience I would consider folk music. [FOLK MUSIC PLAYING] There was a particular act called the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I’m also trying to lift up all the different voices so that we have a more well-rounded picture of African-American folk music traditions.

Persons: Gibson, Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson, Joe Thompson, ”, Gwendolyn Brooks, darlin ’ Corey, ’ Corey, ” I’ve, I’m, —, I’ve, We’re, ” “ Organizations: Music, East Tennessee State University, West Locations: Johnson City, That’s, New Orleans, West African, Holbrook

☆ Rhiannon Giddens Is a Songwriter, Too
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Jon Pareles | More About Jon Pareles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Giddens amassed the songs on “You’re the One” over more than a decade, channeling and mixing favorite styles, mingling homages and hybrids. Its oldest song is “Hen in the Foxhouse,” a cheerful yet pointedly feminist funky blues — with a scat-singing bridge — that she wrote 14 years ago. “In terms of my own songwriting lineage, my lyricist lineage, it’s a through line: Stephen Sondheim, Tom Lehrer, Tin Pan Alley. “She wanted this new album to be brighter and lighter and open and colorful,” Jack Splash said in a phone interview, and she wanted all of her musical influences to come into play. It has a large room where a band of a dozen musicians — merging Giddens’s folky regulars with Jack Splash’s R&B experts — could record together live.

Persons: Giddens, “, ”, Stephen Sondheim, Tom Lehrer, Tin, Jack Splash, Valerie June, Kendrick Lamar, CeeLo, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Allman, Jack Splash’s, — Organizations: Bee Locations: Miami, Louisiana

☆ The Los Angeles Opera, Post-Plácido Domingo
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Adam Nagourney | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It survived the downturn without running a deficit, relying on salary reductions, a handful of layoffs, a $5 million five-year loan against the endowment, and federal aid. Domingo’s downfall stunned Los Angeles and its opera company, which had been so closely identified with the star tenor, who had been singing there since the 1960s and was instrumental in the creation of the company. It is difficult to say precisely whether attendance was affected by the departure of Domingo, given that the coronavirus shutdown followed so soon afterward. For many years his performances had drawn the biggest crowds, and his image was as integral to the company’s marketing as Gustavo Dudamel’s is for its neighbor, the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “It is unmistakably a loss because he’s such a titanic figure in the world,” Koelsch said.

☆ Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels Win the Pulitzer Prize for Music
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Joshua Barone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Nobody has the lock on being a composer,” she said. “We’ve got to stop with separation and who gets to be called a composer. RHIANNON GIDDENS It feels amazing, because Michael and I just put into this what we know. I’ve just come from seeing a couple of the shows in Boston, where it was playing to sold-out houses [at Boston Lyric Opera]. In each city, you’ve seen people who have never come to the opera before, feeling seen and feeling moved and being welcomed into an artistic space where they haven’t felt welcomed before.

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