Francesca Royster, a professor of English and Critical Ethnic Studies at University of California, Berkeley and author of the new book, “Black Country Music,” has written an important examination on the erasure of Black voices and music expression.
Royster embeds her own experiences along with a well researched lineage of understanding of the importance and relevance of Black artists who have contributed and explored the sounds of country music. She spoke with thelast month about the book and her unique experience completing this new and engaging work.: “Black Country Music.” You talk a little bit about why you decided to write about this genre through a Black lens.
As I started really writing about it—and I became aware of these different artists—I think the industry itself is also shifting. The question based on the Black Lives Matter movement just asks for greater historical accountability [concerning] country music and more visibility for Black country artists. Both movements were also happening as I was writing and immersing myself in the history of those things.
I really heard her doing this work on [“Tina Turns”] that, if it were really looked at head-on, would really change some of the assumptions about what country music is. And what soul and R&B’s relationship to country is. She is very skilled, very natural, drawing from her own roots in that album. And she’s making it her own.
Over the pandemic I really got involved in learning the banjo and its history and really thinking about this really subversive issue that’s connected to the songs itself. As well as to the musicians, not [just] in the past but also right now. Engaging in the past with banjo is what people are doing right now; that’s partly how I got into this Afro-futurist idea.
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