Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions (Hardcover)

Regular price $25.99

by Francesca T. Royster

Description

How Black musicians have changed the country music landscape and brought light to Black creativity and innovation.

.

After a century of racist whitewashing, country music is finally reckoning with its relationship to Black people. In this timely work--the first book on Black country music by a Black writer--Francesca Royster uncovers the Black performers and fans, including herself, who are exploring the pleasures and possibilities of the genre.

.
Informed by queer theory and Black feminist scholarship, Royster's book elucidates the roots of the current moment found in records like Tina Turner's first solo album, Tina Turns the Country On! She reckons with Black "bros" Charley Pride and Darius Rucker, then chases ghosts into the future with Valerie June. Indeed, it is the imagination of Royster and her artists that make this music so exciting for a genre that has long been obsessed with the past. The futures conjured by June and others can be melancholy, and are not free of racism, but by centering Black folk Royster begins to understand what her daughter hears in the banjo music of Our Native Daughters and the trap beat of Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road." A Black person claiming country music may still feel a bit like a queer person coming out, but, collectively, Black artists and fans are changing what country music looks and sounds like--and who gets to love it.

About the Author

Francesca T. Royster is a professor of English at DePaul University, author of Sounding Like a No-No: Queer Sounds and Eccentric Acts in the Post-Soul Era and Becoming Cleopatra: The Shifting Image of an Icon, and coeditor of "Uncharted Country," a special issue of the Journal of Popular Music Studies on race and country music.

Product Details

Category: Music, Entertainment

Language: English

Format/Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: New

ISBN-10: 1477326499

ISBN-13: 978-1477326497

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Date Published: October 04, 2022

Pages: 248

Terms of Sale

All book sales are final. No returns or exchanges.

Purchaser will receive a new book that has never been read.

In stock books will be shipped within 7 business days of receipt of order via a major mail carrier (USPS, UPS, FedEX, or DHL) and may take up to 14 days to arrive depending on the carrier and destination.

Special orders typically arrive 14 to 21 days after purchase date. Pre-orders typically arrive on or around book's date of publication.